More Stupid Politics (i.e. if you are going to freak out don't click here)
I finally figured out what's wrong with me and why I'm in such a red state of mind. According to Slate I'm just to darned ignorant. Well if this is ignorance then I'm a happy camper (isn't ignorance bliss?).
I don't care if someone calls me ignorant (or worse from what I hear) it just makes me laugh all the lefties are so gung ho on being tolerant as long as the object of tolerance is not a republican or Christian. Imagine if the tables were turned and Robert Bork wrote an article about how ignorant all the lefties are because they voted for Kerry. Ah well, I'm still a happy camper and my blood pressure is still low. Sound like the left is coming unraveled, when you have to come to calling your opponent ignorant you are really out of ideas.
The electorate is not ignorant, they just don't agree with the left. Disagreement is not the same as ignorance.
By the way I have friends that are far left, we have discussions, talk through issues and agree to disagree. I don't think we have ever called each other ignorant (or worse). I really enjoy an intelligent conversation with someone that totally disagrees with me, it makes me think and sometimes causes one or the other of us to change our minds. Hmmm, growth and learning from an ignorant southern bumpkin, what do you know about that?
What's hilarious, Bill, is how misinformed the authors are. Here's an example:
"The red forces, known then as the slave-power, pulled 265 unarmed men from their beds on a Sunday morning and slaughtered them in front of their wives and children."
Note that the "red forces" are identified in his discussion as Republicans... who were, of course, working very hard on abolition of slavery, and so would have been the ones being slaughtered. This is his example of the "ignorance" of the Republicans, when it's actually the Democrats who were doing the slaughtering, if you look at the parties closely enough.
Posted by Joseph B. Ottinger on November 05, 2004 at 03:47 PM MST #
I guess I should be fair, though, on a few points: one is that the idealogy of the parties in question have changed over time, and plus, the author is female, not male. But the humour remains. :)
Posted by Joseph B. Ottinger on November 05, 2004 at 03:53 PM MST #
Read this:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/298769.shtml
then take a look at this:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDEUR=X&t=1d
we are in deep financial trouble and this unilateral mentality is only digging our grave deeper!
Posted by Carlos E. Perez on November 05, 2004 at 05:11 PM MST #
Carlos,
So, Bill Clinton's financial advisor says electing Bush was bad. Oh my god! I bet Bush's financial advisor says the opposite. You are very gullible if you believe either one of them.
And the dollar is low right now. It was in 1996 too - right in the middle of Bill Clinton's presidency. http://www.x-rates.com/d/EUR/USD/hist1996.html
I guess the author of the first article didn't do a very good job of advising back then.
Carlos, why don't you want to move on and solve problems? Why do you want to sling mud around?
Posted by 12-223-246-125.client.insightbb.com on November 05, 2004 at 10:15 PM MST #
I think when you have strong passions about a point of view it is frustrating when other people don't see it the same way. Ironically, you are doing the same thing the author is: making fun of the other side. If you really didn't care you wouldn't have mentioned it but you couldn't resist poking back.
My biggest beef with the "right". Is the hypocrisy of their morality kick. It is immoral to kill an unborn child yet it is okay to cluster-bomb the Iraqi raghead citizens as long as it was unintentionally done in the quest to remove one man from power (or was it to eradicate WMDs). I personally see war as an embodiment of immorality. War == (violence + hate + death).
Gay marriage is a sin according to the bible but so is cutting your hair (Lev. 19:27), Working on the Sabbath carries a death penalty (Exodus 35:2) It is also forbidden to wear clothes made of two different kinds of thread (Lev. 19:19)
Posted by 180.189.33.65.cfl.rr.com on November 09, 2004 at 08:54 PM MST #
Agreed that when people disagree with a passionate position it leads to frustration.
I really don't care if some one calls me a name, lots and lots of people have done that and I don't comment on any of those. I really do find it strange (funny) that there is lots of tolerance for anything, as long as its not Christianity or Republicanism (for example see the story on banning Halloween at a school because its offensive to real witches). Imagine the outrage if someone wanted to ban 'Winter Break' parties because St. Nick is offensive to Christians (not that he is but imagine the out rage at those right wing whacko's imposing there outdated morals on us).
War is not immoral, there are much worse things than not going to war. Leaving Hitler in power to kill people by the millions is not moral, stopping him was. Some civilians died, that is awful but there is no more Sadam to kill thousands and dump them into mass graves. It would be lovely if we could send people like Sadam a bouquet of flowers and a nice note asking him to stop being such a bad man and then have him realize his folly. Unfortunately the world does not work that way.
If some one is picking on your little sister is it better to stop him or wring your hands hoping he goes away before really hurting her. In my book its better to intervene early, even if the bully and I both get a bloody nose.
Posted by Bill Dudney on November 11, 2004 at 10:24 AM MST #
Sorry I don't see the analogy between Iraq and my little sister. Dude we would go broke fixing all the world's problems as you are implying we should be doing. I find it a little whiny to complain about tolerance for Christianity and Replucanism when a republican just won the election who caters to Christian conservatives. Obviously over half the country is very tolerant towards those things. Hitler conquered all of mainland Europe. Saddam couldn't even conquer Iran. Getting and giving bloody noses is a lot different than killing and dying. It is an easy analogy to make when you are not putting your life on the line or pulling the trigger to snuff someone out of existence. You still haven't addressed the issue of hypocrisy. War is not immoral yet abortion is? Is it because you think God and Jesus pick sides in war and that side always happens to be the USA? When you are a soldier and you kill a man with a wife and kids, is all forgiven by Jesus because the cause was just?
Posted by 180.189.33.65.cfl.rr.com on November 16, 2004 at 12:22 AM MST #
Don't cherry pick an extreme case and project that as the stance of the "left". Your halloween example would be like me mentioning genesis being taught in schools. It is ridiculous to me to teach kids religion in school. Take them to church for that stuff and let them draw their own conclusions. Nobody probably cared that halloween was cancelled at the school. Kids are in class all day anyway. I am sure if enough parents raised hell, the school would have allowed Halloween. Every community has different standards, that is why we have a decentralized federalist government. If you want to teach your kids genesis in your school district, I say good for you. Just keep it away from my kids. We go to church on Sunday to learn about God. They go to school to learn about science and math.
Posted by 180.189.33.65.cfl.rr.com on November 16, 2004 at 12:43 AM MST #
Not saying anything about the tolerance of the country, just the left. There is plenty of tolerance in the country for rep's and Christians, just not on the left.
Posted by Bill Dudney on November 16, 2004 at 10:21 PM MST #
I think there is plenty of tolerance for Christians' on the "left". We just don't tolerate people trying to legislative their moral views upon others, ie. banning gay marriages.
Posted by Richard Cook on November 17, 2004 at 12:53 AM MST #
Richard hits the nail on the head. I see it as the other way around. The "right" isn't very tolerant of the "left". It all boils down to a difference of opinion except the left isn't trying to legislate its values onto the right.
Posted by 180.189.33.65.cfl.rr.com on November 17, 2004 at 07:42 AM MST #