THE WAR IS OVER... (continued)
This is a continuation of my rantings last night. They were actually part of an email I sent to a fellow blogger as we discussing some comments written by a rather conservative reader. I wrote a rather vitriolic comment which was removed, as it should have. The following was intended to explain why I wrote what I did. The name has been changed.
I'm glad we're on the same side here on this. I admire your ability to keep your head in these discussions. I just can't anymore. These past 6 years have been very hard for me & it's made me realize just how intolerant I am! I've come to the conclusion that I just don't think I could maintain any close relationships with people if I know they're politically on the right. I know...that's pretty bad of me, but I'm being honest here. Just like I couldn't respect anyone who chooses to believe in Creationism over Darwinism anymore. Or even religious extremists of the Evangelical persuasion (actually, any religion).
I've barely held onto my sanity through reading my leftie political blogs, watching The Daily Show, Bill Maher, Keith Olbermann, listening to Al Franken, reading Daily Kos & Huffington Post, or Michael Moore. I have a chronic illness so I stay home a lot & these were my lifelines. For reals.
The Carols of this world in all their self-righteous self-deluded smugness about their media-fed vision of this country have had their time & it's over! They screwed things up royally, remember? Why shouldn't we call them on it? They've brought this world to the brink of disaster -- warfare, terrorism, pollution, global warming, etc etc... you name it!
I've lost my cool. I wish I could be more like you, but I can't. I'm too old for this. I marched against the war in Vietnam many, many years ago. I was in Chicago for the 1968 Democratic Convention. I witnessed first-hand all this shit back then and here we are living through a new "fresh hell".
So now you know where I'm coming from a little better. People like Carol will never see the world accurately as it really is. They would self-destruct if they did. Looking at her blog, her feelings are all wrapped up with her father having served in the military & her nice, neat little vanilla-scented Republican world. If they really saw this war for what it was they would unravel. I've seen this with people who have a loved one serving over there. They HAVE to keep up the illusion that this is a matter of honor to serve our country, blah, blah, blah. They were saying the same things back in the 60s with Vietnam ("My country, right or wrong..."). Damn! Won't we ever learn???
Listen, thanks for letting me spew all this madness out here in this email. It was actually very therapeutic! I'm really pretty fairly sane & balanced about most other things... really I am! I think this stuff is what has caused me to seek refuge in my garden & growing things; to create beautiful art & wonderful food. To look to the deeper meanings of life. To the important stuff. The rest is fluff anyway. Life is about love & family & our kids (my are all pretty grown up now). Just like it was for the poor Iraqis, once upon a time.
Take care & keep writing. You're doing a good job. Keep in touch if you'd like. I'm here.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
THE WAR IS OVER...
Or at least, it will be. Soon, I hope. The Democrats know that this is what the American people voted them in to do. I hope they get it right or the ca-ca will really hit the fan in 2008.
The past 6 years have left me agog. If it wasn't for The Daily Show, Bill Maher, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Al Franken, Michael Moore, and others, I swear I would have gone nuts! Is it just me?? I remember telling the people I worked with in a credit union back in 2003 that the war was a lie and unjustifiable -- I was the only one taking that stand and they ridiculed me for it! Today, the worm has turned. All that flag-waving and patriotic gibberish that was being spouted as some sort of litmus test as to if you were a real patriot or not -- those days are over. Some patriots! They lined their pockets with our savings while they stole our rights and waged war in our name. Shame. Historians will judge these dark years harshly as some of the worst in American history.
And all in the name of God! The Christian God versus the Islamic Allah versus the Judaic Yahweh. Fighting in the name of God! It sickens me to think of the twisting of a beautiful message of love and brotherhood into a justification for going to war. But it's always been that way, hasn't it? Always one group pitted against another. Forget about trying to understand and get along and compromise and compare how really alike we are in so many ways instead of looking for insurmountable differences.
Bush & his ilk are so wound up with all this "rapture" nonsense that you have the Evangelical Christians from the far right trying to send help to & buy up land in Israel so as to speed along the destruction of Jerusalem that's supposed to usher in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Wow! Do these people believe in fairies, too, I wonder?
I used to teach on the college level before I became sick and I often had Moslem students and became close with a few. I became interested in Islam and as I taught the Humanities (& art history) and I came to understand the essential beauty of this religion -- just like all religions on the surface stand for love and the desire to live a just life. Of course, in practice, things get jarbled. But like so much in life, the good of the majority becomes tainted by the bad of the very few. Just today I heard how the conference of U.S. Catholic bishops in Baltimore decided that as a Catholic, one should not use birth control (don't even THINK of abortion!), being gay is just "disordered" and not a sin unless you act on your impulses, and if you don't buy their whole program hook, line & sinker, don't bother taking communion. Nice. Still, 96% of American Catholics just ignore this, so I see that as some hope. Still, I have tried to come back to the Church, but with such big gaps with my beliefs and their fundamental teachings, I don't think I will ever be able to do so.
I'm so bad at arguing "constructively" with conservatives -- I tend to insult when I should be able to dazzle 'em with some cold hard facts that completely blows their arguments to hell. But that's hard to do, at least for me. So much to remember. I get the general outline down, alright, but I'm a little fuzzy on the details.
More later...
Or at least, it will be. Soon, I hope. The Democrats know that this is what the American people voted them in to do. I hope they get it right or the ca-ca will really hit the fan in 2008.
The past 6 years have left me agog. If it wasn't for The Daily Show, Bill Maher, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Al Franken, Michael Moore, and others, I swear I would have gone nuts! Is it just me?? I remember telling the people I worked with in a credit union back in 2003 that the war was a lie and unjustifiable -- I was the only one taking that stand and they ridiculed me for it! Today, the worm has turned. All that flag-waving and patriotic gibberish that was being spouted as some sort of litmus test as to if you were a real patriot or not -- those days are over. Some patriots! They lined their pockets with our savings while they stole our rights and waged war in our name. Shame. Historians will judge these dark years harshly as some of the worst in American history.
And all in the name of God! The Christian God versus the Islamic Allah versus the Judaic Yahweh. Fighting in the name of God! It sickens me to think of the twisting of a beautiful message of love and brotherhood into a justification for going to war. But it's always been that way, hasn't it? Always one group pitted against another. Forget about trying to understand and get along and compromise and compare how really alike we are in so many ways instead of looking for insurmountable differences.
Bush & his ilk are so wound up with all this "rapture" nonsense that you have the Evangelical Christians from the far right trying to send help to & buy up land in Israel so as to speed along the destruction of Jerusalem that's supposed to usher in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Wow! Do these people believe in fairies, too, I wonder?
I used to teach on the college level before I became sick and I often had Moslem students and became close with a few. I became interested in Islam and as I taught the Humanities (& art history) and I came to understand the essential beauty of this religion -- just like all religions on the surface stand for love and the desire to live a just life. Of course, in practice, things get jarbled. But like so much in life, the good of the majority becomes tainted by the bad of the very few. Just today I heard how the conference of U.S. Catholic bishops in Baltimore decided that as a Catholic, one should not use birth control (don't even THINK of abortion!), being gay is just "disordered" and not a sin unless you act on your impulses, and if you don't buy their whole program hook, line & sinker, don't bother taking communion. Nice. Still, 96% of American Catholics just ignore this, so I see that as some hope. Still, I have tried to come back to the Church, but with such big gaps with my beliefs and their fundamental teachings, I don't think I will ever be able to do so.
I'm so bad at arguing "constructively" with conservatives -- I tend to insult when I should be able to dazzle 'em with some cold hard facts that completely blows their arguments to hell. But that's hard to do, at least for me. So much to remember. I get the general outline down, alright, but I'm a little fuzzy on the details.
More later...
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