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3.10.2003
Some ideas on what I see as I surf around the blogging universe. Bruce - satumma@hotmail.com ----- On being: A lefty, progressive, anti-war, etc... The idea is not to be partisan. That's what I feel must be fought. We stand for ideas, not alliances. You can't fight demagoguery and hateful attacks by attacking back with the same methods. Many people in the anti-war camp feel that the best way to defeat this war is to engage the hawks with the same level of illogical baiting. Some even feel that they do so in the cause of furthering their own party interests. This is destructive. I don't just despise people like Rush Limbaugh because he is promoting an agenda that I believe is wrong for this country and for any other country for that matter. What I fight is the methods as well as the message. We can't fight the assault on our ideals by thinking that we can use the same slandering methods to our own ends. This should be critical in our opposition of the war, on the grounds that is will undermine the ideals that America stands for. Not simply because stopping this war will give Bush the biggest black eye he has ever seen. I am heartened and saddened because I feel that the "left", a term that I use to mean progressive minded people has the best minds working for it. People that are adept at understanding long term goals for humanity, who articulate their message with consistency. People not prone to follow the winds of popularity. We stand for the advocacy of reason. What's good for us is good for others. We don't reserve the best for us and relegate the rest of humanity to dustbin. I am saddened when others that I agree with use methods that are below the quality of our thought. We don't need mindless parrots making our case for us. We should distance ourselves from them as well as the parrots from the other side. We cannot build our cause by simply being in opposition of the right. That in essence is what we should be fighting against. That is what the current administration is about, they are there because they criticized the Liberals for years that they were doing everything wrong. Well, of course now that they have control they are clueless, finding it is easier to attack people for their ideas than to have any of your own. They got what they wanted without a clue of what to do with it. That is our fate if we build our support by drawing caricatures of our enemies. You cannot build a base of support by feeding people's ignorance. For they will turn on you as soon as a louder voice drowns you out. You cannot build a base of support by arguing without reason, for you supporters will then be swayed by other arguments with little or no merit as well. Only a well reasoned and honest position will win in a free marketplace of ideas. We should not seek to limit the discourse. Or demonize others that disagree with our stance. We should support those that advance the ideas of reason, fairness, equality and justice, regardless of their party affiliation. We should forge respect in others by our willingness to listen. We will stay above the ad hominon and straw man attacks that only drive people of compassion away from political discourse. Ours is the victory of time. History has shown that our ideals have always won. People fought for equality and won. People fought for justice and won. People fought for freedom and won. Now we will fight for peace and unity and we will win, not because we attack louder, or slander our enemies. The weight of peoples sense of what is right and what is wrong will always prevail over the course of time. We must simply harbor that message against the tides of power. We must reject the rhetoric that says that we are better than they. We are them. We must reject the idea that power is more important than ideas. We must reject the argument that reality means acting in ways that contradict our ideas. Power will draw ire onto us faster than honey will draw the ant. Compassion for our enemies will soften their hearts. We must reject the urge to act in all matters. We must not be provoked by the hate of others. Action is not always the appropriate response despite the calls that "like must beget like". Jesus said turn the other cheek but we have never let ourselves take that advice to heart. Instead we are provoked by hatred to respond with violence. We must not forget that Ghandi won. Most importantly we must not defend bad ideas, poor reasoning or false arguments because we wish to defend the messenger. And likewise we should not dismiss good ideas, sound reasoning or true arguments because we care not for the messenger. There are still many problems to solve and we need all the help we can get. If the world were perfect we could stop thinking. If we knew with absolute certainty that we are right then we would stop listening to others. We are not always right. Nobody is right all the time. Mistakes will be made. We must forgive ourselves for our own ignorance. Forgive others for their arrogance. And remember that we are all just humans, nothing else. | |
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