shatto
02-05-2013, 04:14 PM
Presumably, we all got the email.
Some thoughts about the voting:
Execution videos are grotesque.
My wife would never, never, never watch one because it would offend her sensibilities.
She tends to ignore and deny the existence of things she doesn't want to face.
Certainly, many are in her camp and have similar philosophies.
At the other end of the spectrum are the guys who swerve to hit the squirrel, cat, dog or skunk on the road and think killing things is fun.
But, fact is, we need to be able to access reality from time to time to be reminded why we have been,
are and will be at war and just who the enemies are.
The reason we lost the Viet Nam war is that anti-war propaganda made people forget the real reason we were there, and, no, it wasn't because Kennedy and LBJ were war-mongers.
We lost our understanding and our will and the politicians followed.
The exact same people and their descendants are doing the exact same thing now.
Today's, we, our society, are being forced into a nightmarish state where we are not allowed
to use words and phrases and express certain ideas.
We are being forced to not think by allowing ourselves to adhere to tightly defined parameters of the use of the language.
And websites are to some degree or another following along.
Free speech means 'free' speech.
Free speech means free ideas and free thought.
Free speech means for every Jeff Foxworthy you have ten foul-mouths, who haven't learned what Walt Disney's pirates knew fifty years ago, that you can 'cuss' a blue streak without using disgusting, foul language.
It means we may be offended by the way thoughts are expressed, but, dammit, they should be expressed because we can learn something from everybody because everybody knows something we don't know and sometimes it is valuable.
So, lets embrace the messiness and irritation and chaos of people saying what's on their mind.
And endeavor to do so politely.
Some thoughts about the voting:
Execution videos are grotesque.
My wife would never, never, never watch one because it would offend her sensibilities.
She tends to ignore and deny the existence of things she doesn't want to face.
Certainly, many are in her camp and have similar philosophies.
At the other end of the spectrum are the guys who swerve to hit the squirrel, cat, dog or skunk on the road and think killing things is fun.
But, fact is, we need to be able to access reality from time to time to be reminded why we have been,
are and will be at war and just who the enemies are.
The reason we lost the Viet Nam war is that anti-war propaganda made people forget the real reason we were there, and, no, it wasn't because Kennedy and LBJ were war-mongers.
We lost our understanding and our will and the politicians followed.
The exact same people and their descendants are doing the exact same thing now.
Today's, we, our society, are being forced into a nightmarish state where we are not allowed
to use words and phrases and express certain ideas.
We are being forced to not think by allowing ourselves to adhere to tightly defined parameters of the use of the language.
And websites are to some degree or another following along.
Free speech means 'free' speech.
Free speech means free ideas and free thought.
Free speech means for every Jeff Foxworthy you have ten foul-mouths, who haven't learned what Walt Disney's pirates knew fifty years ago, that you can 'cuss' a blue streak without using disgusting, foul language.
It means we may be offended by the way thoughts are expressed, but, dammit, they should be expressed because we can learn something from everybody because everybody knows something we don't know and sometimes it is valuable.
So, lets embrace the messiness and irritation and chaos of people saying what's on their mind.
And endeavor to do so politely.