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

Re: IMHO (TEP)

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

This is my problem. I don't think the love of learning can be taught. A few may pick it up, but not the majority. But they all need the learning, everyone does. So it's unfortunately important that some children have a less than enjoyable time at school, and I don't mean just socially.

I'm fifty-one years old, and I went through primary school (7 to 11) when the new ideas, that kids had to think they were having a good time at school, were just coming in in the UK. Fortunately for me, the secondary school I went to was of the old sort, or I'd never have learned nearly as much, being basically lazy. As it was I flunked just about everything I wasn't at that time interested in (history, geography, physical activity in general and so on). That shouldn't have happened.

I'm all for analysis and the process, but it's no good starting out in cooking as a profession unless you have first been not only taught the recipes, but fully stocked up with all the ingredients. I was not qualified, as a kid, to decide what I was going to need to know when I grew up, let alone what I was going to *want* to know. I get very angry at that kid sometimes... but a part of my anger goes to a system that didn't try to *make* me learn.

Re: IMHO (TEP)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

You aren't wrong, but I think you underestimate yourself. I'm "basically lazy" about a bunch of stuff... but if it's in an area of interest, or someone or something gets me interested, I'll steep myself in it, and I suspect that you're much the same way.

I think a combination of the two methods would work best, myself -- again, you need the discipline, you need the structure, and you need the basics. But you also need to get why learning is cool, so you don't just go so far and then stop.