of planks and petri dishes
This may be coming a bit late, but a friend asked my thoughts and these are they:
Yes, I'm upset. I'm upset and I'm heartsick. I really didn't think we as a nation were blind and ignorant enough to vote like we did. And don't mistake my meaning. I said like we did, not for whom.
You see, if the nation had voted in dear ol' GWB because it liked his economic policies or cared about education or truly believed in the righteousness of the death penalty or could legitimately laud his international and environmental policies, I'd be okay. I wouldn't necessarily agree, but I could in good faith say, "Yes, our system works. Tough luck this year. We'll do better next time." Unfortunately, however, that's not the case.
I'm so totally sick because I feel the slippery slope of the paradigm shifting under my feet and I can't seem to find my hiking boots. Who do I call for a belay? We've moved away from rational or even vaguely practical thought. This was an election grown in a Petri dish of fear and our nation is gobbling it up, skipping the forks and shoveling it in with both bare hands, no time to even pass the salt. We're like those disgusting world championship eater people, engorged and smeared with our fear.
Not that fear is always bad. It can be useful when deciding whether one should or should not go night diving in shark-infested waters while sporting a paper cut. Good use of fear there. But fear should be a motivated warning, not a way of life. And we as a nation have taken our fear to that life-defining hysterical level. (Sharks are now intrinsically evil, totally out to get us. Don't even look at the ocean! Who loves the desert, people!) We're thisclose from barricading ourselves in our homes, building bunkers and stocking canned food stuffs. Except that that's not our style. No, we go on the offensive. We tend to prefer imposing our will on others. We're oh so cool that way.
And let me just be clear -- I'm not talking about fear of the terrorists. According to the polls -- and you can take those for whatever they're worth -- the people didn't vote on the war or terrorism. No, the fear that motivated this electorate was fear of self, fear of our own humanity. Fear of any morality that doesn't look, smell and taste just like our own, but that maybe. . . just maybe . . . on some level reflects our own urges and proclivities.
Thing is, you can't legislate morality in a free society. And THAT's what scares me.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others,you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)
What if they legislated your plank?
Yes, I'm upset. I'm upset and I'm heartsick. I really didn't think we as a nation were blind and ignorant enough to vote like we did. And don't mistake my meaning. I said like we did, not for whom.
You see, if the nation had voted in dear ol' GWB because it liked his economic policies or cared about education or truly believed in the righteousness of the death penalty or could legitimately laud his international and environmental policies, I'd be okay. I wouldn't necessarily agree, but I could in good faith say, "Yes, our system works. Tough luck this year. We'll do better next time." Unfortunately, however, that's not the case.
I'm so totally sick because I feel the slippery slope of the paradigm shifting under my feet and I can't seem to find my hiking boots. Who do I call for a belay? We've moved away from rational or even vaguely practical thought. This was an election grown in a Petri dish of fear and our nation is gobbling it up, skipping the forks and shoveling it in with both bare hands, no time to even pass the salt. We're like those disgusting world championship eater people, engorged and smeared with our fear.
Not that fear is always bad. It can be useful when deciding whether one should or should not go night diving in shark-infested waters while sporting a paper cut. Good use of fear there. But fear should be a motivated warning, not a way of life. And we as a nation have taken our fear to that life-defining hysterical level. (Sharks are now intrinsically evil, totally out to get us. Don't even look at the ocean! Who loves the desert, people!) We're thisclose from barricading ourselves in our homes, building bunkers and stocking canned food stuffs. Except that that's not our style. No, we go on the offensive. We tend to prefer imposing our will on others. We're oh so cool that way.
And let me just be clear -- I'm not talking about fear of the terrorists. According to the polls -- and you can take those for whatever they're worth -- the people didn't vote on the war or terrorism. No, the fear that motivated this electorate was fear of self, fear of our own humanity. Fear of any morality that doesn't look, smell and taste just like our own, but that maybe. . . just maybe . . . on some level reflects our own urges and proclivities.
Thing is, you can't legislate morality in a free society. And THAT's what scares me.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)
What if they legislated your plank?
posted by jill at 11/09/2004 09:06:00 PM
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