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 ...

[caseyjo]

http://hubpages.com/hub/Fundamentalism-our-Nations-most-dangerous-ism

[caseyjo]

Tell me what's wrong with society.
When everywhere I look I see young girls dying to be on tv, and won't stop til they've reached their dream.
Diet pills. Surgery. Photoshoped pictures in magazines. Telling them how they should be. It doesn't make sense to me..
HAS EVERYBODY GONE CRAZY??

I guess things are not how they used to be
There's no more normal families
Parents act like enemies
Making kids feel like it's world war III

No one cares, no one's there
I guess we're all just too damn busy
Money's our first priority
It doesn't make sense to me

Tell me what's wrong with society
When everywhere I look I see
Rich guys driving big SUV's
While kids are starving in the streets
No one cares
No one likes to share
I guess life's unfair

-simple plan.
crazy



Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.



The way I look at it many of us have lost whole dimensions to our souls....I think much of it stems from childhood where so many of us are taught to be the best, to get ahead at any cost, competition is far more important than sharing. Billboards, TV, radio, teachers, churches...Teaching us all about the power of money, and all the things, things, things we can have, and we lose our souls...our hearts. When the word love is made fun of and guns are cherished.......Children grow up narcissistic unless they have parents who teach them love, understanding, and there is more to life than money....There is another dimension inside those who love that they can never know...Those adults and children know where the sidewalk jungle ends and the heart begins...

[animak]

I am reading a book called The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby which discusses how the rise of religious fundamentalism, the failure of public education to create an informed citizenry, and the predominance of video over print culture have converged to encourage anti-rationalism in American thought. This is accompanied by an unwillingness to consider other arguments and try to come to any understanding of issues. The book's blurb says that Americans today have embraced a universe of "junk thought" that makes almost no effort to separate fact from opinion.

I think it is wonderful that you encourage dialog with someone of a different political stripe. Isn't that how political discourse in a democracy is supposed to work?