Letters to the Editor
Mishima666
Published Letters: 128 Editor's Choice: 29
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The actual message from the Right
[Read the article: The Internet is making us stupid]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A few years ago I spent a lot of time listening to conservative and religious right talk radio, watching right-wing pundits and news shows, and reading through conservative Christian blogs and web sites. One thing that all of these venues had in common was that everyone was angry about something, all the time.
I have a friend who knows a little about politics, so I asked him about that. The conversation went something like this:
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ME: I can't understand why all of these people are always mad about something. Everyone is angry. Christians are angry. Libertarians are angry. The pundits are angry.
FRIEND: You don't get it, do you. . .
ME: Get what?
FRIEND: This is what is supposed to happen. The purpose of all these shows and web sites and pundits is not to communicate information, but to keep people in a constant state of anger and umbrage. The goal is to keep people perpetually pissed-off. This is a case where the medium is truly the message. And the message is to be angry all the time. It is an appeal to the emotions, not to rationality.
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I think this is why it is difficult to make comparisons between left-wing and right-wing political discourse. While people on the left are angry about some things, that anger tends to be focused on specific individuals and events, e.g., Bush, the Iraq war, the use of torture, and so on.
Anger on the right tends to be much less focused. It is generalized, free-floating, and typically applied to entire groups -- liberals, humanists, secularists, environmentalists, immigrants, labor unions, the "culture of death," Hollywood, and so on.
In the time that I spent in the right-wing venues, I can't count how many times I heard people say that "liberals are stupid," or "liberals are evil." I have NEVER heard anything like that on the left. I've never heard any blanket condemnation of "all conservatives." I suppose it can happen, but I haven't heard it.
The closest thing on the left to right-wing talk radio is Air America. But even in that there is no comparison. On the left there simply is little interest in perpetual, free-floating anger. In comparison to the right-wing talk radio feral pit bull, Air America is a tame poodle, if even that.
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Remember the Equal Rights Amendment?
[Read the article: Colorado: Human rights for eggs]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One one the arguments against the ERA was that no one knew what exactly it would mean. For example, did it mean that unisex bathrooms would be mandated? These and other similar objections were raised by those on the right.
Now the religious right wants it's own legislation of which no one knows what it would do. Would a zygote count as a dependent for tax purposes? Would a miscarriage require a death certificate? Would zygotes be counted in a population census? How would the rights of the zygote be protected? Would the zygote have a guardian ad litem appointed? Would all conceptions have to be reported to the State?
These people have gone off the deep end.
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Three different issues
[Read the article: Now my mother's gone, what do I do?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think there are at least three different issues that the LW may be dealing with:
1) now that my mother is gone, where should I live?
2) now that my mother is gone, having cared for her so long and sacrificed so much to do that, what is my new role in life?
3) now that my mother is gone, what does it mean to be the last of the family? (I notice that the LW does not mention a father or any siblings.)
The first issue is basically practical and aesthetic. The second is an issue of personal identity. The third is existential. They are very different issues that have to be addressed in different ways.
The third issue is very important. I remember as an only child when both of my parents and all of my grandparents were dead. I suddenly became the "keeper of the flame." I was now the last living embodiment of whatever my family was. I was the keeper of all the family history, photos, and memorabilia. I was the only one who could tell the family stories. I was the one who now had the family recipe box, the only one who could cook dad's chile, mom's macaroni and cheese, grandma's Christmas pudding. What does it mean to be the last one? How do you "do" that? I'm still working on that one.