|
Forgive me, Ralph, but your words were no less charged... but I don't feel like arguing the issue from an extremist standpoint, which is where you're trying to place me, so I'll just move on.
It seems it's become downright impossible to discuss any subject in America, if part of the premise of that subject is that people should do something that they are not doing, or stop doing something that they have been doing. Obama's campaign is based on the idea of a need for change, but Americans don't really want change... they just want to do whatever they want, including the things they can't do now, and have it all cost them less. How that is accomplished is not important, as long as nothing is taken from them in the process. And anyone who openly suggests that something will be taken from them, is automatically classified as anything BUT an American.
This is why the most successful Presidential campaigns have "I'll lower your taxes" as their primary focus: Americans don't care about hybrids, terrorists, glass ceilings, smoking, paper-vs-plastic... they just want mo' money, and willfully ignore the details.
And in all the discussions I've had on this, or any other site, I've seen little to suggest that this essential point is anything but truth. (Nor that America is the only country with this affliction.)
How is America to grow, to improve, if its overarching motto is "Free to do what-the-h*ll-ever I want"? How can Americans learn, when they believe no one has a right to tell them anything, and they have no good reason to listen? How can new ideas be proposed, when those proposing are instantly labeled Fascist upon opening their mouths? How can Americans cooperate, when each of them believes that they, and only they, should be King of the Hill?
And if you disagree with this assessment, how do you explain the fact that Americans are expressly warned not to discuss religion and politics in sensitive forums? How is it that intelligent, passionate people on this site have not been able to work out solutions to things that concern them, like copyright issues, without coming to verbal blows?
I get tired, feeling like I can't venture an opinion on anything without the expectation that someone will inevitably come along and b***h-slap me for my trouble. (Funny thing about "freedom of speech": It's celebrated when you're saying something the majority wants to hear, and barely tolerated at all other times. ) I feel I am allowed to entertain... to be a class clown for others' enjoyment... but not to teach, not to advise, not to evangelicise. No one wants my opinion... they only want empty words to chuckle at. No wonder my most popular titles have been the most empty in terms of real-world content or lessons.
Makes you wonder why I'd willingly walk into a blatantly political rant... doesn't it?
So, anyway, I've said my blatantly political piece. Let the b***h-slapping commence.
|