We Have Met The Enemy
Mar. 8th, 2009 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
filkertomJust amazing:
It's never their side that has to accommodate mine.
It's never their side that has to perform actions of basic human politeness or the minimum functions of a successful civilization.
It's never their side that has to stop whatever idiocy, or sometimes illegality, they're doing and think about whatever bullshit just came out of their mouths.
No, my long rant commenting on the incredible brain-damaged programming of this lunkhead gun instructor into a Repub talking point mouthpiece would get me shit, because I wouldn't be fucking polite about it.
It's always the side that might actually be willing to compromise that is expected to, if only a common ground could be found.
There isn't one. Not anymore.
Approximately one-fourth of the country thinks our president is a self-proclaimed messiah, the Antichrist, a Muslim, a communist, a socialist, a sleeper agent of al-Qaida, or in the Evil League of Evil or somethin'. And/or they hate him because he's an uppity you-know-what. (Word avoided so I don't get found by the wrong kinds of searches.) There have been enough death threats against Obama in the blogosphere that the founder of Free Republic has told his readers to knock it off, and the FBI is definitely paying attention.
But that's not even what this is really about.
It's about looking at other people in our country as The Enemy, just because of what they think.
Goodness knows there are a bunch of people I have lots of trouble with, starting with George W. Bush and everyone who enabled him during his misbegotten presidency. But my trouble is based on the shit they say and do -- not who they are. And much of my anger is based on my not being able to get inside their heads and figure out how they can possibly do this stuff to their fellow human beings.
If a drowning man begs me to throw him a rope, I'm not gonna stop and ask him his religion, political affiliation, genetic heritage, or whether he thinks Harry should've ended up with Ginny or Hermione. If Dick Cheney himself were in need of aid that I could provide, right in front of me, I would give it, because he is a fellow human being.
In a lot of ways, it reminds me of the "conscience" laws. You know, the ones that let pharmacists refuse to fill prescriptions based on their morals. Exactly the same thing: If you don't want to dispense prescribed legal drugs for a legal medical procedure, or information that you volunteered to teach, because you don't agree with the morals of the person receiving said treatment or instruction... don't effing volunteer. And know in your heart that you just took yourself a little bit out of the human race.
You do what you can to help, because it helps. If you qualify it like this guy did, if you put that kind of sociological condition on it, if you divide your own people into Us and Them, you're not helping anyone.
And this migraine is killing me.
ETA: Tweaked for clarity.
Thirteen-year-old Lane Dunkley... and his father, Daniel Reddy, who live in Tulsa, went to Broken Arrow on Tuesday night for a hunter safety course normally required to get an Oklahoma hunting license.I could put a long, long, nasty rant right here. But some people would be offended, and some would chide me, and lecture me about how we, I, have to be more friendly or more tolerant or more something.
...
But when father and son arrived at the lesson, the volunteer instructor, Kell Wolf, asked if any of the students voted for President Barack Obama.
Reddy, a transplanted Californian — and former Marine — raised his hand.
According to Reddy and others in the room, Wolf called Obama "the next thing to the Antichrist" and ordered Reddy and Dunkley from the room. When Reddy refused, Wolf said he would not teach "liberals" and would cancel the course if Reddy didn't leave.
So Reddy and Dunkley left, as did a few others.
It's never their side that has to accommodate mine.
It's never their side that has to perform actions of basic human politeness or the minimum functions of a successful civilization.
It's never their side that has to stop whatever idiocy, or sometimes illegality, they're doing and think about whatever bullshit just came out of their mouths.
No, my long rant commenting on the incredible brain-damaged programming of this lunkhead gun instructor into a Repub talking point mouthpiece would get me shit, because I wouldn't be fucking polite about it.
It's always the side that might actually be willing to compromise that is expected to, if only a common ground could be found.
There isn't one. Not anymore.
Approximately one-fourth of the country thinks our president is a self-proclaimed messiah, the Antichrist, a Muslim, a communist, a socialist, a sleeper agent of al-Qaida, or in the Evil League of Evil or somethin'. And/or they hate him because he's an uppity you-know-what. (Word avoided so I don't get found by the wrong kinds of searches.) There have been enough death threats against Obama in the blogosphere that the founder of Free Republic has told his readers to knock it off, and the FBI is definitely paying attention.
But that's not even what this is really about.
It's about looking at other people in our country as The Enemy, just because of what they think.
Goodness knows there are a bunch of people I have lots of trouble with, starting with George W. Bush and everyone who enabled him during his misbegotten presidency. But my trouble is based on the shit they say and do -- not who they are. And much of my anger is based on my not being able to get inside their heads and figure out how they can possibly do this stuff to their fellow human beings.
If a drowning man begs me to throw him a rope, I'm not gonna stop and ask him his religion, political affiliation, genetic heritage, or whether he thinks Harry should've ended up with Ginny or Hermione. If Dick Cheney himself were in need of aid that I could provide, right in front of me, I would give it, because he is a fellow human being.
In a lot of ways, it reminds me of the "conscience" laws. You know, the ones that let pharmacists refuse to fill prescriptions based on their morals. Exactly the same thing: If you don't want to dispense prescribed legal drugs for a legal medical procedure, or information that you volunteered to teach, because you don't agree with the morals of the person receiving said treatment or instruction... don't effing volunteer. And know in your heart that you just took yourself a little bit out of the human race.
You do what you can to help, because it helps. If you qualify it like this guy did, if you put that kind of sociological condition on it, if you divide your own people into Us and Them, you're not helping anyone.
And this migraine is killing me.
ETA: Tweaked for clarity.
