On occasion, I voyeuristically look at sights that cater to the right-wing. Sometimes, at least pieces of their stories or opinions make at least some sense. To me, these writings mostly seem so devoid of reason, and are so convoluted in their conclusions, it is difficult to know if they are kidding or not. But they no doubt feel the same about the liberal left, and they in fact leave me notes on occasion that I choose not to publish, mostly for the amount of vulgarity in them. If it was funny vulgarity, I might just approve the comment, but needless to say, those that are cursing at me usually are not in a jovial mood.
Often, the points of view regarding certain topics seem so divergent that it is difficult to believe that both parties are looking at the same information, but while facts themselves do not lie (at least not that I know of), this is not to say that the interpretation of these facts, often based upon a preconceived notion, can easily seem to be bullsh*t. And lets face it, when we read something we in no way agree with, we simply place it in the B.S. pile, and do not take it seriously. This is not always done out of malice, but simply out of a sense of personal beliefs.
As of late, I have noticed a number of writings warning their fellow Americans to be wary of the incoming Congress and Presidential administration, as they are planning to corrupt the Constitution and everything this nation stands for. Now from my point of view, these warnings are coming 8 too years late. We have already thrashed the Constitution, and have been abusing the very country these people are NOW trying to protect. Here is the SHORT list of what we know of; torture, warrantless wiretapping, outing CIA agents, invading the wrong country, rampant cronyism so disgusting that it severely hampered relief efforts within the U.S., and was disastrous in Iraq. Tanking the economy, but we magically have trillions to give the financial industry. And programs like Extraordinary Rendition became a convenient way to “disappear” certain people, into prison sites unknown. We even managed to kill at least one innocent man in the Rendition Program, a taxi driver that became an “unperson” in the language of 1984. Habeus Corpus was viewed as a luxury unworthy of people that we in fact were holding in custody, even though we hadn’t exactly figured out what we were going to do with these people for the rest of their lives. If these prisoners/enemy combatants/whatever/ had at the very least been convicted of something, that would be one thing, but to simply hold people until they die because of what you SUSPECT they might be? Just how American does that sound to all of the people now so afraid of the incoming politicians? And I still read how Obama will turn us into socialists by people that have failed to realize what exactly nationalizing the banks will mean.
But it is difficult to know why I bother writing these words, people will cling to their beliefs, and call those that see things differently their enemy. Sometimes that enemy is battled with weapons, other times with votes or words. But we all manage to believe that we are at least trying to do what is right, even though things so often turn out so horribly, horribly wrong. We have to keep trying, but must we cling to the notions of “We are right, and they are wrong?” As convenient as these labels may be, they do not seem to help us in any real way. Is that it? Are we too lazy to truly fight, and now we just rely on politicians to both save us and be the ones to blame? Not that the politicians seem to mind, a feeble-minded constituency is a happy constituency, as long as the economy is doing well. Lets face it, the only thing they need us for is the votes to gain or remain in office, aside from that, we seem to be the last thing on so many of their minds. Not that this is anything new in the world, of course.
P.S. If you have never seen the movie “The Grand Illusion,” give it a try. It is an old movie, but definitely one of the greats.
