Letters to the Editor
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Great Post -
If only people would listen. I, too, am exasperated with the mindless drivel that is being spun about Rev. Jeremiah Wright. I believe that, post-9-11, Americans have traded logic and common sense for a misguided definition of patriotism. Where is the desire for dialogue and common understanding of issues to continuously make American better? Not unlike Barack Obama's description of Dr. Wright's beliefs being "static", I believe that too many folks believe that America is operating at her best and cannot get better. As Skybird notes, any thinking person knows that this is not true. Instead of trying to understand the situations Dr. Wright describes, we automatically go to the defensive posture that it's treasonous to even suggest that America can do better. And when you add in the brain-dead, corporate-owned media howlers, you get sound bite loops that are designed to whip us hysteria and fear. I just finished watching the Frontline series on Bush's War and it really makes me fear about the gullibility of our citizens and despair about our long-term prospects.
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Thank you, Fester!
Now I'm inspired, and a bit more optimistic!
I appreciate that!
Lord knows I need all the optimism I can get these days.
I don't know what to think about McCain. I want to think that even he'll be an improvement (faint praise, of course), but I just don't know.
He certainly seems a less of a hollow man, for what that's worth, but I fear his militarism.
Powerful narcotic it must be to have all that power, especially if you're the sort who's predisposed to find pretense to exercise it.
But you're right, it's an eternity (in campaign time) between now and November, so we trudge along, with hope, hard work and sobriety.
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@ Wahle Peoples
You want despair?
Rent "No End in Sight."
Or maybe rage.
Either way, we are in quite a pickle.
Oh, and then there's climate change, the macdaddy of all pickles.
Hold on to your hats.
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All or Nothing Thinking
Gary, while knee jerk patriotism is wrong, so is knee jerk anti-Americanism. Americans are tired of extremes in politics which is why we want a moderate like Mccain. Like it or not, the Dems (NOT Hillary only) have just destroyed the party. It is in shambles. Mccain represents change from Bush politics. Many Democrats will crossover for the first time to vote for a Republican. Wright is a problem, nobody told Obama to join that congregation. The USA will be worse under an Obama rule than under Bush. Obama will rule like another Mugabe and the his win would be revolutionary and be the beginning of the end of the United States. How do you like that for Wrightian hyperbole?
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@brunhilde
The last national politican who felt he could be frank with the American people and still keep his job was Jimmy Carter in 1980 and we all know how that turned out. No presidential candidate wants to be identified with the Gary Kamiya wing of the democratic party, period. Democratic candidates cannot even hint that they might raise taxes much less talk trash about 9/11. Obama has carefully avoided the "hard left" label in the primaries and has even hinted that he may not end the war as soon as people think he will. Despite the hysteria, Obama does not want to rock the boat, not yet, at least. All of his talking points are at "38,000 feet" which is by design. He is letting people extrapolate what he is saying to suit their own personal worldviews, which is great as long as skeletons stay in the closet.
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Reductive argument
Isn't it possible that both 9/11 and the response to it were both wrong and reprehensible? Or are you arguing that sometimes blind hatred and wanton bloodletting are justified? So what if Wright has good reason to feel oppressed and "unpatriotic"? Crowing that the chickens have come home to roost argument is a reductive and, frankly, simple-minded argument. Bin Laden wanted to punish the U.S. for setting up bases in Saudi Arabia. If Nigeria had constructed bases in the sacred crucible of Islam, he'd have wanted to blow up Nigerians. He's an extremist, not freedom fighter. He thinks of himself as the keeper of the flaming sword. Get your facts straight. And note that I haven't used the patriotism argument, because, in fact, i don't believe in it either. I simply detest hate and violence in all their forms. Apparently Gary and Rev. Wright (and Barack Obama) believe you can parse both in such a way that they can seem the to be "understandble," even "reasonable." That's nonsense. Let's get the hate--and the religion--out of our politics and our government once and for all. Look to the French, they have the right idea about truly secular government.
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To Weeping for Brunn...
Weeping, my reaction to the Rev. Wright may not be an in-depth look at the man, but I do have a history with religious bigots and I don't like them. This comes from living in a very churchy and hypocritical town as a child. Out of that past comes my dislike of fire and brimstone being spewed from the pulpit...I associate that with bigotry whether this is true of the Rev. Wright or not. I am not a religious person and I resent preachers preaching at me. Some of Rev. Wright's comments may have been taken out of context by the media but Obama did himself no favors by trying to minimize his relationship with the pastor. It seemed false to me. After all he had been attending his church for twenty years.
As for America needing to look at itself and its foreign policy, I have to agree with Wright but I still do not like the language he used. It was pompous, offensive, and thunderous! Perhaps this is the way black preachers talk, but I doubt it. I don't recall that kind of language from Martin Luther King or Obama for that matter. It was a political blunder to have Wright in the campaign and it was a political necessity to run him off.
Patriotism is used by many hypocrites to hammer away at opposing views. That is an unkind fact and I suspect it is true in most countries. I do believe in having a world view that is inclusive and one which seeks understanding with other nations. Moreover, I like Obama's call for more dialog with other countries. This has been the one of the major failures of the Bush Administration and one of the principal reasons I want the Republicans out of office.
I am a political creature and don't feel the need at all to explore Rev. Wright except for his role in the political arena. I may even agree with Rev. Wright about many things, but his language needs tempering if he is going to be part of a political campaign where enemies can capitalize on it to whip up the right-wing base.