Letters to the Editor
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a joke?
this is a JOKE to you? how very sad.
blank indeed. nothing there...
this is no joke. the only way we're going to be able to tackle the "substantive" issues is as a nation, i'm afraid. to do that, we have to talk to each other, and more importantly, LISTEN.
what i hear from you makes me wonder if that's even possible as it seems some are just not listening.
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blankity blank blank blank
blank, is your mind as blank as your posts?
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@str8face
Thanks for your response!
Well, obviously I've no answers, though I do have suggestions.
One would be to turn off the television and read more poetry.
The former kills empathy dead and leaves us hollow shells whereas the latter exercises our sensitivity and empathy and humanity.
No, I'm not suggesting that if only we were all poets there'd be no more war.
I am suggesting that cheap "content" (as found in television) cheapens us all and leaves us less empathetic.
how do we reach those whose minds are already made up about those "other" people? can we?
We can't, at least, not deliberately.
We can only look to our own souls and strive to be as virtuous as we can be, especially in our encounters with other people.
There's only so much we can control in this world, and none of us can change minds that don't want to be changed.
Except, of course, through spectacular acts of martyrdom, self-effacement and the like. It would seem that allowing yourself to get hosed down by the police for all to see has the potential to cut right to the consciences of people. But there will always be those who are unmoved, so what can you do?
I do believe that we're better off using our imaginations and creativity (art, drama, music, etc.) than polemical discourse.
What can I say--things are real fucked up.
In short, though, empathy, listening to other people, forcing yourself to care about people you're not naturally disposed to care about...
That's a good start.
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@ str8face
One other thing, as long as I'm admonishing.
Don't allow yourself to get drawn into unproductive discourse.
Don't allow yourself to be baited.
That way, too, madness lies.
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ah yes, the bridge
Sometimes in my passion, I forget to watch where I'm going.
I even thought exactly that as i was hitting "send": DO NOT FEED THE TROLL.
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What the Baghwan meant was blah blah blah
What's it with the Obama folks that they always resort to writing winding epistles 'explaining' what their messiah meant or meant to say whenever he says something dumb or called on his hypocrisy and doublespeak?!
Until now, after being exposed for the sweet-tongue hypocrite he is, Obama has, through his surrogates, used the race card to win caucuses in the South with mainly black support. He sucessfully used the race card against Bill and Hillary just before the SC primary when their comments were cropped and taken out of context, and given a racist label. He and his campaign did that even though they knew that Bill and Hillary are not racists, and never been that. And the media gladly ran away with that. Result. Obama won the SC primary, and the Clintons are still being villified and called racists by Obama's supporters!
However, now that the shoe is on their baghwan's own foot, they are crying foul, accusing the media and anybody who even in a whisper whispers Rev. Wright or Obama's white grandmother (his black grandmother is living in Kenya a tiny hut, with no running water or electricitty! If Obama were honestly the agent of change he's lulled his supporters into buying, with houses so cheap as to be almost free, one would have thought he would have helped his almost blind old black grandmother out of her destitute status by at least buying a decent house for her, wouldn't he?. But nada. Yet, folks in America are buying into his doublespeak rhetoric!), the Obama sturmtroopers are all over the place, either throwing accusations of bias or asking the world to move on. I hope they've spoken to the Republican smear machine, asking them to move on in November if Obama is the Democratic party's nominee. Arianna trashes Hillary, and she's applauded. Joan writes a measured and objective article, and she's crucified! The Baghwan folks only love one type of opinions. Pro-Obamas!
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str8face
I'm glad you took time out of your busy day of righting the world's wrongs to admonish a complete stranger for something even you think is trivial and silly. Because, THAT's how the rest of us will learn to happily bow at your god-like brilliance.
thank you and in'shallah.
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The Audacity of Truth
I found Pastor Wright's comment's distasteful and his embrace of Louis Farrakhan abhorent. That being said, trying to belittle the anger of Black Americans is not only misguided, it is wrong. The worst evil the world faced was the Nazi's in World War II. Black soldiers faught and gave their lives but were not allowed to stay in the same barracks with White soldiers and were treated like third class citizens at best. Yet, when they died, their blood was no different than their White counterparts. They returned home to water fountains they were not allowed to drink from, restaurants they were not allowed to eat in, and had to sit in the back of the bus. The Tuskegee episode had the American government using Blacks as experimental guinea pigs. While I too find accusations of the government manufacturing the HIV virus to murder Blacks outrageous any Black American that was taught about the Tuskegee disgrace has reason to doubt their government. Voter suppression of Blacks was rampant and even as recently as the 2000 election for President there were allegations of attempts to turn away Black voters. The entire world saw Black bodies floating down the flooded streets of New Orleans as the federal government stood by and did nothing as the Black neighborhoods of New Orleans were destroyed. Today, in 2008, Black men are still stopped at random by policemen for the sole reason they are Black. A Black man trying to catch a taxi in most major cities in America has a less than 50% chance the taxi will stop for them. Yes, I abhor what Reverend Wright says. I am White and I am Jewish but I still can understand his anger and the anger and doubts of most Black Americans. We can criticize him all we want for hating us but history shows his animosity is most definitely not make believe. There were wrongs that were righted and wrongs and injustice that still must be righted, but we do our country a great disservice by dismissing everything the man said as ranting and raving. We cannot move forward if we cannot understand our past and we must embrace each other as equals and treat each other as we would like others to treat us.