So I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. There are many reasons to criticize and maybe even sometimes ridicule organized religion and hypocrites who claim to be faith based. However, sometimes I think we as liberals and progressives can be a bit too knee-jerk in our criticism and too dismissive of those true believers who have nothing in common with those types other than the cross around their neck or the holy book in their home. This position is a faulty one that neither builds a coalition nor favors our goals.
How would we ever accomplish anything if we only retreat to those corners where we find only those who agree with us on everything? I think that if we were to do that we would need to create a clone so that we would have any company at all. I am reminded of all the significant progressive achievements in our history, our independence, ending slavery, the suffrage and civil rights movements, the New Deal, Medicare/Medicaid, and Social Security. All of these things were accomplished by people of multiple faiths and no faith at all. Basic human decency can be found anywhere, just like the opposite.
It may cause strain and frustration being in the “big tent,” but it’s well worth it when we are all–or at least most of us–pulling in the same direction. It also separates us from groups that would impose litmus tests on their membership. Those who don’t believe in a higher power don’t like their beliefs (or lack thereof) being insulted by those that disagree and vice-versa. One thing we should accept about each other is maybe–just maybe–each side believes in what they do as strongly as the other. I think that would be a start.
Besides, if we are to excise people of faith, that means we have no use for folks like MLK, Gandhi, John Lewis or our current President. And I have no interest in being a part of any group that would feel that way.
Let’s be kind to one another. We’re all we’ve got.
The top 3 definitions of stupid:
1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse.
2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes.
3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless.
… Although we’ve all heard the phrase ‘Ya can’t fix stupid’, in the context of these definitions, you can.
The GOP’s reasoning abilities are definitely in question, but eh.. I’m an optimist. There’s got to be a number of them that just haven’t heard anything different and I choose to seek them out and educate them and moreover, spur other people to do the same. How many of them just have had the unfortunate circumstance of having Fox news be the first they’ve ever really watched. How many people were raised in a redneck community that have never been exposed to anything other than the rights bigotry?
There are a ton of ways that we as progressives/liberals/democrats can affect change. We all bring different skill sets to the table. I’m combative and verbose, some are quiet and meek. Some argue incessantly… My goal here is to hopefully provide some optimism to those who don’t know quite what to do and some idea of how to do it. In fact, all my posts usually have some form of ‘share share share’, ‘educate the masses’ or some other sentence hoping to motivate people to be a part of something and helping them to enact change. I’m not advocating being the hippy, peace loving, drum banging eternal optimist that is oblivious to the fact that there are some truly angry and aggressive people that will do their best to destroy you socially, monetarily, emotionally or intellectually. What I am advocating is that people do something… anything to help get the word out. Figure out what that means for them individually and do it. This is most assuredly a war…
People like you and I are doing our part to rally the troops, lets empower others to do the same.
“You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.”
- Robert Heinlein.
I think often we demonize and vilify the GOP and the conservative base, thinking that because they are opposed to causes that support social and global well being, they are evil. We keep seeing example after example of self-serving, short-sighted issues and agendas that that seemingly depend on stepping on the necks of others to assure their success. I think that makes us a bit jaded when it comes to our perception of Republicans as a whole. I think we need to take a step back and take the mental image of horns off of our opponents. It’s easy to get caught up in our self-righteous indignation and forget that in the end, we all want the same thing. We are connected. Having no sense of global or interpersonal connectedness is wrong. To not have the idea ‘that we are all connected’ in all our policies and politics, I think, will assure our mutual downfall as a country and further out, as a species.
The GOP masses and conservative base might not be villains… they just might be stupid. The top of the GOP heap are manipulating their base with emotional issues like sex, race and abortion to suit their own ends. Telling the masses to ‘STOP ABORTION’ while sliding in ‘right-to-work’ through the back door. They point their fingers and scream about terrorism, while silently removing right after right of the American people. The elite enflame their base this way because the people stand behind those emotional issues and will vote solely on those issues. I firmly believe that if they knew the large scale ramifications of what voting for the GOP means, they wouldn’t do it. They’re shooting themselves in the foot and they don’t even know it. As a whole, Republican issues are generally selfish and one sided, taking into account nothing and no one in the pursuit of their ends. As a whole, Democrats are generally committed to the larger community whether local, national or international and believe that we all have some responsibility for the whole. If you look just at the broader issues, you’d think that everyone would be a Democrat.
The SOPA black-out, The Komen fiasco, and the Occupy Movement, to name a few recent items, show just how powerful people are when they act together. Extraordinary resistance to ridiculousness. If you look at what the collective power of what people can do in a very short amount of time, you can see that if we each do our part, we can assure that there will be more progressive liberals than ever before. Don’t talk about abortion, race or sex issues that enflame their belief. You can’t get anyone to change their minds on serious issues like abortion so don’t even try. Talk instead about human issues that affect us all. Start discussions about workers rights, corporate personhood, birth control and taxation. Get your facts and then go to the formerly close minded and broaden their horizons. Ask questions of them that stimulate their humanity and then link it to the broader issues in politics.
Extraordinary resistance to ridiculousness. If every person out there takes a stand, raises their collective voices and types with their collective fingers we can raise the knowledge level of those ‘low information’ voters. We can help assure that ‘fair & balanced’ is just that.
…you can fix stupid
-PLoA