polarization and paranoia
A friend of mine sent me a link to a site with photo's of an anti-war/anti-Bush rally that was held in a well known western city. may of the pics were amusing, while serious, but there were an equal number that were disturbing as well.
It is no secret that the war in the Mideast is not popular with the American electorate, but the images that I saw, (and some of the captions), put an "all-or-nothing" twist on the whole thing; you are either completely with us or you are against us. That has always been a part of the political landscape, (it is not a healthy thing, imho), but the thing is, many, many of the signs and placards that were carried were overtly anti-semitic, and blamed 'Zionists', Israel and one even referred to the "Jewish Conspiracy" for the ills of the world. Others blamed the GOP, while others compared W to a well-known German dictator from the 20th century, (an apt comparison I admit, but in this case self defeating). For the record, there were some well presented points, and I enjoyed seeing them, they were factual, to the point, and did not overreach.
I was amused that there was even a Republican Party booth set up, (likely to recruit persons revolted by what they saw...), and that the webmeister was shocked, shocked!, that persons so obviously incorrect would even be there, you know, in a public place.
Where am I going with this?
I don't know.
But I am really concerned that in order to be against the war, it is necessary to be grouped in with anti-Semites, revolutionary wannabes, and all manner of intolerant ideologues who demand that you accept them, conform to their views, or risk being, you know, something.
It seems to me that the mixing of many things, while tempting from a narrow viewpoint, is really self-defeating. It completely drowns out any chance to plant a seed in minds that might consider an issue, and possibly reach an agreeable conclusion.
We are a long ways from being a mature democracy. We may be experiencing something analogous to the idealism of youth, or the senilty of old age.
Again, I just don't know.
It is no secret that the war in the Mideast is not popular with the American electorate, but the images that I saw, (and some of the captions), put an "all-or-nothing" twist on the whole thing; you are either completely with us or you are against us. That has always been a part of the political landscape, (it is not a healthy thing, imho), but the thing is, many, many of the signs and placards that were carried were overtly anti-semitic, and blamed 'Zionists', Israel and one even referred to the "Jewish Conspiracy" for the ills of the world. Others blamed the GOP, while others compared W to a well-known German dictator from the 20th century, (an apt comparison I admit, but in this case self defeating). For the record, there were some well presented points, and I enjoyed seeing them, they were factual, to the point, and did not overreach.
I was amused that there was even a Republican Party booth set up, (likely to recruit persons revolted by what they saw...), and that the webmeister was shocked, shocked!, that persons so obviously incorrect would even be there, you know, in a public place.
Where am I going with this?
I don't know.
But I am really concerned that in order to be against the war, it is necessary to be grouped in with anti-Semites, revolutionary wannabes, and all manner of intolerant ideologues who demand that you accept them, conform to their views, or risk being, you know, something.
It seems to me that the mixing of many things, while tempting from a narrow viewpoint, is really self-defeating. It completely drowns out any chance to plant a seed in minds that might consider an issue, and possibly reach an agreeable conclusion.
We are a long ways from being a mature democracy. We may be experiencing something analogous to the idealism of youth, or the senilty of old age.
Again, I just don't know.
posted by eccentric recluse at 7:02 AM
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