These days, I tend to wake up and, before I turn on the radio, wonder what sort of fresh hell is awaiting me in the news. This morning, it was hearing that an appalling number of Trump supporters were freaking out over NPR's tweeting of the Declaration of Independence, believing that the public radio network was fomenting revolution against their God-Emperor. I can hardly fathom how anyone so ignorant of the foundational documents of our nation can claim the mantle of patriotism.
My favorite quote from Al Franken is:
If you listen to a lot of conservatives, they'll tell you that the difference between them and us is that conservatives love America and liberals hate America. ... They don't get it. We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America like a 4-year-old loves his mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a 4-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world. That's why we liberals want America to do the right thing. We know America is the hope of the world, and we love it and want it to do well.
Love should be rooted in understanding, and love of country should be rooted in learning the unvarnished history of America and, as Al Franken exhorted us to do, to improve the culture. The lofty ideals espoused in the Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness) were espoused by men who owned slaves, who denied women full participation in civic life. Our society has evolved to the extent that women and minorities are considered, in principle if not practice, full citizens... much to the dismay of some on the Right.
Perhaps the most cringeworthy response to NPR's Declaration tweetstorm was this guy's... as an added bonus, he blames feminists for his 'blacklisting':
Ex-writer for big news. Blackballed media journalist thanks to left wing/feminist job lynch mob.
I guess it's easier to blame a bunch of womyn for your failure than to admit that it's due to your dumbassitude.
Bastard in Picture Not Shown at Actual Size
About Me
- Big Bad Bald Bastard
- The Big Bad Bald Bastard is a character played by Monsieur _______ of the City of Y______. The role of the Bastard is a handy one to play on subways, walking the streets, and in dive-bars, when being a nerdy, bookish sort is not to one's advantage.
2 comments:
What we're seeing evolve (or devolve if you prefer) in real time is at the very least unusual, perhaps unprecedented in such a large, wealthy nation. An unexpected line is being drawn, and sides are being chosen. Surprisingly - nay, shockingly - it's not a racial line that will end the grand American experiment. It is strictly one of ideology, dimly understood at best by the vast majority on both sides. We only seem to know that 'we're' right, and 'they're' wrong, and the other side is dangerous. We look at their ideological hatred and we see it (correctly) as antithetical to our values. They look at our values and see them as antithetical to their ideology.
Of course, it gets better with the huge amount of firepower and ammunition floating in our society, and it's only a matter of time until some kind of breakdown occurs.
The thing is, Mr. Bastard, you're RIGHT when you point out the bag-of-rocks stupidity of the garden variety right-wing American Loonie, but you also have to recognize that you're doing your own small part to drive the wedge between us and them ever deeper.
[Mind you, that's not a suggestion that you stop expressing your views, just an honest acknowledgement that the divide between huge groups of Americans holding vague but angry ideological views is growing.]
Also worth noting, as long as I'm saying things that might piss off my fellow liberals, a large portion of the left wing is in the process of following the tea-party playbook into stupidity and dishonesty. The Sanders campaign was a great example - nobody had any idea WHAT policies they espoused, how they might fund them or pass them through Congress, so they decided it was just easier to lie and smear their ideological opponent. And along with the cyber and social media attacks, it's all going to get much, much worse...
It's depressing how uniformed people who claim that they are the saviors of Western Civilization are... how can they save something they can't even recognize, and wouldn't value if they did?
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