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The deep Crisis of the West
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The American democracy is eroded by political fundamentalism
19.11.2018. After last week's mailings of crude bombs to several prominent liberals, Democratic and Republican leaders rose to denounce the acts and declare this is "not who we are as Americans." We aren't all bombers, true. But we are in a dangerous, explosive place in America. Thus begins editor Nolan Finley of The Detroit News his opinion piece Be honest, we hate each other:
We hate each other. It's no longer a matter of incivility; it's open hostility, visceral loathing. Extreme intolerance of anyone who challenges our perception of the truth. And there is no moral high ground.
[...]
Too many Democrats are drenched in self-righteousness, convinced of their superiority over the deplorable masses. They can't grasp that intelligent people can look at the same set of facts, apply to them their own values and experiences, and come up with different opinions.
The possibility they might be wrong, or there is any validity in contrary views, or those who disagree with them aren't evil or ignorant or cowed by their husbands, is unfathomable. They are too smug to harbor self-doubt.
[...]
Their resistance has morphed from opposing policies and appointees to undermining the presidency to, now, the formation of mobs. And they justify it, as Hillary Clinton articulated last week, because conservatives have a different vision for the country than they do.
Public shaming of their opponents is easier than engaging them in persuasive debate. Better to harass them in public, threaten their families, troll them on the Internet and violate their right to privacy than to prevail on the strength of earnestly expressed ideas.
Disagree with what someone is saying? Shout them down. Chase them from the podium. Go after their jobs.
The catch phrase answer to all of our problems is, "We need to have a national conversation."
But we are as far from a constructive dialog as a nation can be. Conversing requires listening. And we don't want to hear what the other side has to say.
Winning is all that matters, and we're so convinced we hold the keys to wisdom that we think it's OK to do so by any means necessary.
For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction.
The left bullies, the right bullies back. They shout, we shout. And when it spins out of control, a left-wing wacko shoots up a Republican baseball practice and a right-wing nut mails out bombs to Democrats.
Yes, this is who we are. And it's who we'll be long after Donald Trump is gone. He hasn't changed America; America's character has changed.
Read the entire opinion piece in The Detroit News. Hat tip Sylo Taraku.
Not always on the right side of truth
08.11.2018. One of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh's accusers admitted this week that she made up her lurid tale of a backseat car rape, saying it "was a tactic" to try to derail the judge's confirmation to the Supreme Court. Another Kavanaugh accuser admits to fabricating rape story.
Will not help us build a good society
04.11.2018. A leftwing student union president has sparked outrage by vowing to deface a mural commemorating the fallen World War One heroes as they are "white men". Thus reports the Sun in Outrage as University of Southampton Student Union leader vows to paint over mural commemorating WW1 war dead as they are 'white men' ahead of Remembrance Day (my emphasis):
Emily Dawes, president of Southampton University Student Union, threatened to paint over the uni's Rothenstein Mural, which depicts students who died during the Great War collecting degrees that they didn't get to finish.
She tweeted: "Mark my words – we're taking down the mural of white men in the Senate room, even if I have to paint over it myself."
Many were outraged at Dawes' pledge, which came on the centenary of the end of WW1 and the day before the Royal British Legion launched its Remembrance Day Poppy Appeal today.
One fumed: "The white men who died so you can spout such hateful nonsense?
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"A state created by hard working brave people: most of whom were the white men you profess to despise."
Another said: "Is this the mural to those heroic students from the university that had to forego their studies in order to fight for the freedom of Europe in WW1, and never got to graduate? I'm trying to think of a reason why anyone would actively want to deface a war memorial..."
[...]
Dawes finally issued a grovelling apology one day after her original tweet and two hours after The Sun Online published its story.
She said: "Firstly, and most importantly, I would like to apologise for the offence and upset I have caused with what I have said. I never meant the disrespect to anyone past, present and future.
"I had no intention of the tweet being taken literally, and upon reflection realised how inappropriate it was.
Read the entire article in the Sun.
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