Random Thoughts from the Edge
Life, The Universe and Everything
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
I'm Pissed!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
The State of the DisUnion
I’m deeply disturbed by what is happening in America today. The anger, the rhetoric, the unwillingness to listen to the other side of the argument. It seems to be the norm to just shout down the other person. Reason doesn’t enter into the discussion anymore. Simply volume. I see it all around from sports to politics to local issues. What happened to the middle ground? It seems it can only be one way or the other, my way or the highway. How did we come to this? Where can we lay the blame? I can only see one answer. US. You and me. We no longer respect authority figures. Look at what has happened to youth sports. Parents yelling at the referees and coaches, coaches yelling at the referees. Pressure to win at all costs. Then turn to pro-sports and these multi-million dollar premadonna’s throwing temper tantrums when calls don’t go their way. More recently members of Congress yelling out at the President when addressing that body of legislatures. Is there no sense of decency left in this country? With the new media, it so easy to pander to the basic elements of society and whip them into a frenzy. How did we let people like Beck, Limbaugh, Palin become spokesmen for America? Who is are these reality star people? I’d certainly not choose to associate with them in real life, why would I want to waste my precious time watching them on television. Is their so called life better than mine? I don’t think so. I feel sorry for them if anything. This rhetoric around the Ground Zero Mosque, which isn’t really at Ground Zero and really isn’t a Mosque, can’t we just sit down and take a good look at it. Wouldn’t it be a good thing having a mainstream religious organization there sharing and information people on the real values of Islam? Something to begin countering the lies and distortions of the extremists? We can’t bury our heads in the sand when it comes to Islam. I’ve never seen so many emails containing half truths and out right lies as I have seen lateley dealing with Islam. Yes we fear it and are scared of it because nobody outside of that faith really understands it. And whose fault is that? It lies on both sides. I blame the moderate Imen’s for not speaking out against the extremists and I blame the Christian leaders for not condemning the Christian radicals spreading the lies about Islam. All I know is that if the we keep ratcheting up the hatred and rhetoric in this country, we are going to be in deep trouble. Hey, at 300 years old, we are still the new kid on the block in world affairs. This experiment in Democracy can still fail and we simply became a footnote in history.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Well, there I was comfortably sitting...
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The Rest of My Life
Thursday, February 26, 2009
And here we go......
Now that the marathon Presidential campaign is over with the elections last November, I sincerely hoped that people would calm down and get on with thier lives, but it seems to have gotten even crazier. I'm hearing people talk about how disasterous the Obama administration is going to be, how he is going to ruin the country even drive it into a civil war in 2 years. People I know are buying guns preparing for the worse.
Where is all this insanity coming from? The Internet, that's where. It's so easy for a person to publish their own speculation (case in point this blog) based on the thinnest of evidence or even none at all. I guess it's really true, if it's in print it has to be real. You don't have to offer proof, just find enough people who want to believe. It's like the statement that 83% of all statistics are made up on the spot. I have begun to just delete all my emails that the title hints at some warning of one kind or another. I have enough to deal with my own fantasies much less get sucked into someone elses.
What I believe I am seeing is the hidden racist peaking out from behind people's facades. I had hoped people were getting past all that. Except for the extremists, most people I hear talk about what a disaster it was to elect Obama won't come straight out and say it's because he is black. They talk around the issues and try to hide thier racist view of him in criticism of his Presidency even before he's hardly begun. What happened to this grace period, the Honeymoon, we've given all past Presidents? Come on folks, we even granted W that courtesy. Like them or hate them, you have to admit that the Obama's are going to restore some dignity and style to the office of the President of the United States.
Well, I better pull back before I go totally over the edge in my first posting. Hate to crash and burn before I even get started. So as my favorite talking head used to say..."And that's the way it is...February 27, 2009"