Got a comment yesterday from reader bob plt187:
Sometimes you folks at this site piss me off. I think you're a far left version of the far right and I'm going to wipe you out of my computer. But, I'm addicted to your blog. Why? Because of posts like this. Good job Gordon. I'm proud of you.
And it's been bugging me all night; at least the part of being "a far left version of the far right".
I would beg to differ, on several points.
1. Talking Points: Far right blogs regurgitate talking points from the conservatives and Republican Party without question. Regardless of how stupid or contradictory, if Rush or Billo or any other of the so-called "leaders" say it, it must be true. Here everything is questioned. It's not a question of ideology but of 'doing the right thing'.
2. The Future: The far right looks to the past, we look to the future in hopes of leaving a better place for future generations to live in, long after we're gone. The right does not care about anything but the 'here and now'. The actions of conservatives over the last 30 years, the last 8 years especially, will haunt this nation for a century or more. Now is the time to lay the foundation for a mechanism to correct those mistakes.
3. Racism: There can be no doubt the right is racist. Just a look at the demographic of the Republican Party says more than a thousand words. Listening to their words just reinforces it. When people talk about "real Americans", you know they mean "white, Christian, Americans". We are a nation of immigrants, from the days of Columbus, yet the right seems to forget that fact. Immigrants come in many different colors, speak many different languages, and worship many faiths yet, to the right, they don't qualify as Americans. We would not be "America" without a population as diverse as ours is.
4. USA Über Alles: Sorry to break it to people but we are not some kind of 'chosen land'. In the last 50 years, the world has gotten smaller and we have to learn to live with people in other nations. Imperialism is a dead ideology and we cannot go with the assumption that we can take whatever we need from whomever we want. We cannot force people to see things our way at the point of a gun. We've done that for too long and it's come back, now that the world has shrunk so, to bite us in the ass. Yes, we believe the United States is the best place to live, but we also believe that because people live in different circumstances, they aren't necessarily wrong. If we cause a ripple in the pond, it causes a tsunami in other places. We have to learn to manage our power responsibly, to make as little impact on others as possible, something the right does not see and doesn't appear to care about.
5. Gamesmanship: Unlike the right, we realize that politics is not a game. Political action has definable consequences. It's not a question of which side wins but one of doing what's best for the nation. When every other 'western' nation assures the health of their population is protected, in the most economical way, the right would deny our people that same protection. When the world is coming around to realizing people of the same sex can have mature, loving relationships and the benefits that come from it, the right would continue to deny them that happiness. To them, whatever the ideology prescribes is what should be, solely because it is opposite of what the left wants. In this land based on rights (check out the "piece of paper" called the Constitution), to deny people said rights is completely antithetical to what America is all about.
6. Science: Science is fact, or the pursuit thereof, and we realize those facts do not obey ideology. To put religious dogma on the same plane as scientific fact is ludicrous. To question evolution at this point in time is insane. To question man's effect on the planet is also. We know scientific fact transcends ideology and regardless of who wins an election, the facts will not change. Willful ignorance, by any party, is wrong and we believe that strongly.
Lastly, the term "far left" usually means Communist (not good), as opposed to "far right" meaning Fascist (also not good). I prefer the term Progressive. Progress is what brought the human race to the heights we have attained during our existence. In the past 50 years we have come farther, technologically and scientifically, than we have throughout our history. In the next 50, we will go so much farther and we have to be ready or that. We have to be ready for the vast changes that will take place and longing for the past will surely stagnate us, while others who have already grasped this will leave us behind.
The main difference between Progressives and Conservatives is we are going forward with our eyes open and staring reality straight in the face, not backing into it, looking back at the past with relish. The future will be here soon enough and unless we are open-minded about it and willing to live in it, our progress as a nation will cease, and then we will wither and die (see: Egypt, Rome, Greece, the Ottomans, the Japanese, the British et. al.). Here at the Brain, we want this great experiment known as America to thrive and prosper, now and in the future and it has nothing to do with ideology, it has to do with doing what's right and reminding our readers of that fact.
By the way, Bob, I'm proud of Gordon too and I'm glad you continue to read, regardless of how we piss you off.
No comments:
Post a Comment