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)

[dadandgirl.livejournal.com]

I see something different. My daughter is 9, coming up toward the end of that early school experience. We've volunteered at her school regularly, and had a good chance to see her classmates grow and change.

In kintergarden, all the children had a love of learning. I mean literally all - not a single exception. They were all excited to be there, and the most basic steps: counting to 100, learning to write your first words, and the most basic science, were received with amazement. As time went on they began to lose that wonder. It happened at a different point and a different rate with each kid, but I can see it happening.

I have to suspect that we don't need to teach children a love of learning - they've already got one. We need to preserve it. From there, we can build on discipline and analysis - I do agree that you need both.