Overheard From Another World

[filkertom]

The biggest reason I haven't indulged in as much political stuff lately is that there has been so much outrageous bullshit happening that I would spend all my time documenting it. (I follow a number of excellent blogs:

• AmericaBlog
• Crooks and Liars
• Daily Kos
• Atrios' Eschaton
• Firedoglake
• Glenn Greenwald at Salon
• Digby's Hullabaloo
• Think Progress

They really seem to have their fingers on the pulse, and they link to lots of other excellent blogs when someone gets a scoop or an insight that needs more notice. I also get e-mailings from Salon.com and the Huffington Post.)

In any case, not as much politicking, 'cause life's too short. But some stuff just cries out for attention. Like this:

Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan’s minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.

In a speech at the convention, Larsen told those gathered that illegal immigrants “hate American people” and “are determined to destroy this country, and there is nothing they won’t do.”

Illegal aliens are in control of the media, and working in tandem with Democrats, are trying to “destroy Christian America” and replace it with “a godless new world order — and that is not extremism, that is fact,” Larsen said. […]

Republican officials then allowed speakers to defend and refute the resolution. One speaker, who was identified as “Joe,” said illegal immigrants were Marxist and under the influence of the devil. Another, who declined to give her name to the Daily Herald, said illegal immigrants should not be allowed because “they are not going to become Republicans….”

Read the whole story, if you've had your morning caffeine. In my view, it's symptomatic of The Great Problem, the one that's really been plaguing the whole country since 9/11, and you can probably guess it: fear. So many people afraid of so much. Especially afraid of what they perceive to be different from them. Fear paralyzes them, prevents them from seeing and admitting the truth, makes them easier to control.

Sad, really.

What do you perceive as the biggest problem we face at this point? Any damn thing, just be serious about it. It's easy to say some politician's or celebrity's name or a bad TV show as a quick one-liner, but if you actually have reasons, please lay 'em out.

ETA: A couple of people suggested I add Digby's Hullabaloo to the blogs, and they're right. I usually just read it by way of links from Atrios, but it's truly brilliant.

Comments

[billroper]

The biggest problem that we face, in my opinion, is that collectively we aren't wise enough. There are many, many problems out there that need to be tackled, but it's not enough to be smart enough to have an idea of how to solve them; it's necessary to solve them in a wise fashion as well.

I view intolerance as a major problem -- on a global basis! -- but I find that I'm not nearly wise enough to be able to draw a big bright line between behaviors that should be tolerated and those that shouldn't. Oh, sure, some are clearly way over here and some are clearly way over there (in my opinion; your mileage may vary), but some calls are just going to be harder to make. And when it comes down to it, I think that we're really bad at achieving a wise consensus on those close calls -- again, not just in the United States, but on a global basis.

I could go on down the list, but I think you've gotten the idea by now. :)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Heck, I think we have trouble trying to reach a consensus in the average town. :) And something was pointed out to me recently that I simply hadn't considered before: The very concept of tolerance itself is flawed, because tolerance implies that whatever you're tolerating is indeed inherently bad, becuase after all you have to tolerate it rather than accept it or reject it. That's assumed in the very word. I'm following your lead in not even beginning to draw that big bright line, at least not here... but there's lots of food for thought.

[batyatoon]

...Huh.

I don't think tolerating something rather than accepting or rejecting it is a bad thing. In fact, I think it's kind of vital to be able to tolerate something regardless of your personal opinion of it. Tolerance doesn't imply that what you're tolerating is an inherently bad thing -- quite the opposite. It implies that it's something you may think is bad but it's not your business to interfere.

There are some things I think should be accepted rather than simply tolerated, but ... well, tolerance is something one can insist upon. Acceptance isn't.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're not wrong. Unfortunately, a lot of people thing that, if they think something is bad, they must do something about it. And they consider tolerance to be giving in to badness.

The other problem with tolerance is that it's a tipping point. No resolution; just status quo. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, if you're inclined to live and let live... but there are way too many people who are not.

[batyatoon]

Unfortunately, a lot of people thing that, if they think something is bad, they must do something about it. And they consider tolerance to be giving in to badness.

Precisely the attitude that needs to be changed. If you can get people to believe that it's okay to not interfere with something they perceive as bad, you don't have to get them to believe that it's not bad -- just that it's not their business.

In other words, all that is really necessary for the triumph of Not Actually Evil is for the self-righteous to do nothing.

...*eyes self* Okay, that was unsettling.

[avt-tor.livejournal.com]

June Callwood, who passed away recently, had a great quote:

"If you happen to see an injustice, you are no longer a spectator, you are a participant. And you have an obligation to do something."