Scared stiff or just reactionary?

[Vernon Windsor]

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.": Douglas Adams, author of "A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy."

When George W. Bush was running for his second term, I put an advertisement in a local paper seeking a Republican to have a conversation with about the election, the country and the political climate. I found a man a few years younger than myself and we started a series of wide-ranging conversation via email. He was intelligent and thoughtful and discussions sometimes got heated, but never disrespectful as we tried to understand how we came to respective opinions. It was enlightening and powerful and I'm glad I did it. It has given me a context to evaluate was passes for political discussion here.

The intelligent people are still out there, but it is hard to hear them. Reasonable voices are drowned out by idiocy, bigotry and intolerance. Hatred grows exponentially and is increasingly coming from those who self-identify as Christians. The sharing of ideas seems to have gotten lost in political tribalism. The rude, the loud, the misinformed and the mean now hold sway, forcing everyone else to either flee or defend what amounts to nothing more than party talking points. Blatant racism, homophobia and even sexism are vigorously denied and/or defended as political freedom of speech or Christian belief. What it is, is racism, homophobia, and sexism.

I certainly have nothing against Christians, but many of them sure do have some serious blind spots. Are they modeling the behavior of Christ with this nonsense? I don't think so. I only wish they would stop trying to justify this nasty behavior by evoking their religion, or for that matter, the constitution. Didn't they have mothers? My mother taught me how to treat people long before I was five years of age. Now, according to some, we're not even supposed to complain about their bad behavior. Now that sort of reminds me of episode 23 of "Moral Orel," where Orel struggles with the concept of "turning the other cheek." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbe820j-oWU)

All those people screaming at townhall meetings were knowingly engaging in mob intimidation. If people of color had that something similar to them, someone would have called out the National Guard. I thought it was a great teachable moment. I hope many parents took advantage of it with questions and comments like these...

"This is how idiots misbehave when they are scared enough to accept programming from people that makes them act counter to their own interests."

"This is the way corporate interests sow and nurture divisions among the people, so they can continue to profit at the people's expense."

"Here is how racism finds expression in the United States in the 21st century. You can tell it is racism because the only thing that has changed between that period when there was no protest and the current one is the anxiety of a segment of the population because of race."

"Notice how conservatives and Republicans can lie and continue to lie, seemingly without consequences as long as they stick to their particular political narrative."

"Notice how spineless some Democrats can be when their corporate funding is at stake, regardless of their stated principles. If something doesn't compute about how a legislator is voting, follow the money"

"Watch whose writing blogs about what, and how vociferously they repeatedly claim to not be reactionary, bigoted, or racist. Draw your own conclusions."

Joni Mitchell gave voice to the times in the lyrics of her song "Sex Kills."

Doctors' pills give you brand new ills
And the bills bury you like an avalanche
And lawyers haven't been this popular
Since Robespierre slaughtered half of France!
And Indian chiefs with their old beliefs know
The balance is undone-crazy ions-
You can feel it out in traffic;
Everyone hates everyone!
And the gas leaks
And the oil spills
And sex sells everything
And sex kills ...

[Vernon Windsor]

Identify it. Name it. Call it out. Repudiate it.

[caseyjo]

So true...Fear mongering is set up intentionally to work on your lower emotions, but is usually set up looking like it comes from high moral ground. I have never seen the results of it more clearly than I have these last couple years....Very ugly

[caseyjo]

I do have to ask myself has my human conditioning gone to far? Can I give up all the junk ( In my head and out) that's been accumulated? I am trying, but society has really done a job on me. It takes a lot of inside work to change what has already been done.

[caseyjo]

Racism is the result of greed in my mind...... Keep them poor and wanting....that way they will work their behinds off.

I know the suffering of the poor while the rich continuously use them by bringing up welfare as a way to take eyes off themselves while they rob us blind.

They talk about the poor stealing from the rich, but if money is supposed to be about fair trade, it is not even close...There is no such thing as fair trade in our country. The poor should put out what they think their work is worth and NO More than that. We should teach the selfish, not bow down to them or make idols out of them as so many do.

I believe when the whites took blacks for slaves in this country they needed to find a reason to make it OK in their minds, so they managed to spread a viewpoint of them being less than. They did the same to the American Indians when they took their land....Greed is the culprit of war and people use their Gods and spin the words of their holy books to the way they want them. ...

[Vernon Windsor]

Yes, Kittycat, I saw that clip. In fact I posted it on Left-Wing Politics in a discussion. There was an earlier video of the same thing happened when a sick woman was trying to speak at a townhall meeting on health care. These are not really isolated incidents. There are far more of them than most people are willing to admit. We have to get a grip. If the last three years have shown us anything, it is that while you may be "on top" today, you could be pretty close to "the bottom" tomorrow. What goes around, comes around.

[Kittycat]

It made my blood run cold!!! Very scary. What's this country coming too. Alot of these people seem to be doing this in God's name. It baffle's the mind. Obviously we must have different God's.

(I'll be in hot water for that last remark. :)...)

[caseyjo]

I was thinking about your question last night Kitty. What if all the people who have compassion left this world and went away, left these people to their own devices? They would soon start to hate each other. Without kind people to hate, the only thing left would be each other...Hate and anger IS what it is..It wont disappear if kind people dissappear.....A world without love has no beauty. The poets would be gone, the blues singers too, tears wold be exchanged for rage and anger, the sun would be shinning, but it would feel like dark clouds.

I found the video on youtube Kitty......It is plain scary....Like a nightmare when you think of it on a larger scale.

[Kittycat]

Vernon, have you seen a clip on TV from Columbus, OH showing a man with Parkinson's disease sitting on the street with a sign and a large group of very angry, (assuming here) teabag people screaming at him, telling him to go get a job, the gov't shouldn't support people like him, etc. You get the point. It was disgusting, and heartbreaking to see people act that way and I'm sure they think they're great Americans. Whatever happened to compassion for our fellow man?

[caseyjo]

I lost my writing twice somehow..I'm getting impatient now....There are plenty of people in the dominate culture who believe in community, people who believe in civility....working side by side with all people to find solutions. Seems we have been lost in a shuffle of screaming banshees with guns who use the reference to them as ways to intimidate.....I hope the coffee movement brings many of us together who want to peacefully make the changes we need for all Americans and our planet to survive. Without much needed change we are about to embark on big changes in our ecosystem and wars the selfish seem intent to create...How sad.

[Vernon Windsor]

Thank you, caseyjo and animak, for your comments. I think you both bring up very valid points. With the lost of print media and the advertising that supported it, real journalists are becoming an endangered species. That, coupled with the necessity to generate revenue forces some media outlets and publications to move toward salacious and/or confrontational stories to attract readers. In either case, there is a loss of depth and integrity in what gets printed and reported. Witness the stories that rise to the top of the news or the front page of the paper. Without journalists fulfilling the role of educating the public, the vacuum is filled by pundits and political operatives.

Caseyjo speaks of the difference between competition and community as value priorities. A sense of community is often quite strong in Native and ethnic groups where moving forward together and taking care of each other is traditional and expected. Not leaving people behind is a basic tenet. I'm not sure the dominant culture shares that view. "Survival of the fittest" and "rugged individualism" is championed instead. One might view the political polarization so prevalent in the country as being between those who tend to view the nation as a community and those who view it as a competition. Simplistic, yes, but worth consideration. It would explain many of the policy positions that characterize the various factions.