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Sunday, January 01, 2006 Extremism Is No Excuse In my last blog I wrote about Intelligent Design. There was a detailed response which labeled me "Either you are being intellectually dishonest or hypocritical". Needless to say I was hurt and offended, particularly as it came from a friend whose opinions I respected. I did not always agree but I believed in reading his positions. To make a strong, rapid reply would have started a firefight, so I passed and said nothing. It made me think about how extreme so many positions have become. Many of us, myself included, have a visceral dislike for the Gang of Four (Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld). I have tried in the Civic List and other methods of communication to tone down the rhetoric. I have even posted items of the radical right. This is not only a question of manners but of sense. Extremism can be counter-productive. Note the fact that the Yippies gave us Richard Nixon as President. Their extreme actions at the 1968 Democratic Convention created fear in the minds of the public. This fear was enough to defeat Humphrey. The fear of terrorism catapulted the Cheney cabal into a position of power beyond what they were expecting. Marsha Erman, a friend of my Hawaiian days, called to say that we have Blue and Red States. However we are all one. How about the Purple States? She has a point. It is not only America but we have a world that should be considered as one. All humanity is linked in one form or the other. By any standard or viewpoint we are going through tremulous times compared to the halcyon period following WWII. We are faced with great natural tragedies from different causes that have affected all types of people in many different areas. We are faced with a Civil War in Iraq. America has a crisis of governmental control. Social services are under attack. Compassion gives way to greed. The space between poor and rich has become a canyon. These are just a few of our mounting problems. Extremism is not the answer. We live together on this planet. Americans need to return to a period of more civil discourse. We need to respect our neighbors all over the planet. We need to understand there are climate changes that are affecting the entire world. There is nothing created by nature or humans which cannot be dealt with if we work together. Moderation and working from the center will make fear not so powerful in the minds of all. Extremism will only create fear that is the mother's milk of political control. |
ARTICLES
OF NOTE
The Season's Message Want To Express It Again Remarks for Friends of Conservation Probably Our Major Problem Today All In The Name You Give It We All Have The Same Problems Questions About HAIR Fury, Rage, Sadness, Embarrassed, Ashamed Answers for Simon ARCHIVES December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006
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