Originally posted by Iflyfish
Well said wodd and dog.
Some would posit and have on this site that there is plenty of work for anyone who wants it and if someone is not working then they are somehow
morally deficient. They posit that if one is not well to do it is one’s own fault. I personally find this view insulting, arrogant and out of touch
with the realities of the ordinary person who has experienced what tigerdog so clearly describes.
No, we posit that when there is work available that some will not do it because they are lazy or they can make more money running drugs or they
are content to live off of the fruits of others labors. How many times over the years have we4 heard that the justification for illegal
immigration is that these are jobs that Americans don't want to do?"
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It seems to some that because they are comfortable they believe that they possess some sort of moral superiority and those who are not doing well are
somehow inferior to them. Marie Antoinette said "let them eat cake" when told that the masses were without bread. That immediately preceded the French
Revolution. That is the sort of hubris that has gripped the national consciousness of the USofA since the time of Reagan. We have idolized the rich
and ascribed to them superiority and have looked to them as role models. We don't view a Teacher or Peace Corps worker in the same way that we view
Donald Trump.
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True, we don't view everybody in the same way, have we ever? We have idolized rich whether they be magnates , movie starts or rocks stars, long
before Reaan. Some of us even idolize politicians.
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We are all one health catastrophe away from economic disaster and many of the home foreclosures that are happening are because people cannot pay their
medical bills. It would seem to me that the Conservatives who post here actually blame the victim and claim moral superiority because they have means
themselves.
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I think it is important to differentiate victims from perpetrators. It is not easy to do that. Perhaps you are confusing moral superiority
with anger. The anger is not because we have means (albeit a whole lot less), it is because we never bought into the materialistc myth of living with
debt. Some of us who have already lost a lot are now being asked to ante up more, some of that to bailout not only companies but indivduals who
carelessly lived with debt. We are angry about that and we are fearful that while the payment may not come in the form of higher income taxes, we
will bear the cost in many other ways, perhaps more dear than money.
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I recently had a Conservative friend, who was laid off and is having a terrible time finding work, lost his medical coverage and needed medical care.
So he went to the ER and waited four hours. He now understands a little of what the reality is for some 50 million people without coverage due to no
fault of their own. He now has a large medical bill and no way to pay it. This will affect his credit rating and he now is in the downward spiral that
he refused to believe happens to good people every day in the USofA.
There are solutions, but trickle down "voodoo" economics is not one of them.
Some people need simple answers and solutions to problems. They are uncomfortable with the notion that life can be chaotic and unpredictable. True
Believers, no matter what the stripe, have a sense of internal security that is built upon their belief system and they live with a great fear that
anything that does not reinforce their belief system is DANGEROUS, hence they are actually fear based though they act very self assured.
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When in human history, from the Code of Hammurabi to the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta and the Constitution dowe not strive to bring order to
chaos in an effort to frame the boundaries of some of the unpredictable ? I would submit that whatever the belief system, most, but of course not
all, view as dangerous things that threaten their belief system and may fear those , but that in the absence of such a threat can tolerate,
without fear, other belief systems that do not reinforce their own.
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Notice how the terrorist spends his days reciting the Koran, notice how rigid fundamentalists of any stripe always say the same things, over and over,
and how they reference themselves as virtuous and posit others as bad, inferior, immoral, Socialist or Communist. Fundamentalists of any stripe are
dangerous and to be feared as it is their way and their way only. These folks can be found on both the left and right on the political spectrum, both
have very clear answers as to how you SHOULD live.
In times of social unrest and upheaval nations often turn to dictators who offer certainty as a way to address social anxiety (fear without a
reference). These people offer simple solutions and often resort to force of violence to subdue the "other". Notice Chavez who has now been named
Ruler for Life. Notice how Rush Limbaugh is idolized and lionized. It is hard for the voice of reason to be heard in the context of fear.
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Until recently I was hardly aware of Rush Limbaugh, nor was virtually anyone outside of the US. But in speaking of idolizing, regardless of
one's party affiliation, was not the worldwide worship of Obama during his campaign not breathtaking? Can anyone remember any politician, even
Kennedy, ever being lionized so?
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Mexico is experiencing social and political unrest and could well turn to a True Believer, Obrador for example, to try to address the anxiety that the
Fox/Calderon Presidencies have generated by challenging the status quo and the economic downturn that is having its very real impact on the average
person's pocket book.
Just as people seek "pie in the sky when you die" when faced with personal tragedy, times of public distress can lead to a desire for certitude on the
part of leaders and this can be dangerous indeed.
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It is for this reason that one of the newest mantras, "Never waste a crisis" concerns me. Possibly it betrays the use of fear as a great
manipulative force.
Text
Iflyfish
edited for atrocious spelling, poor paragraph construction and run ons.
Iflyfish
edited for atrocious spelling, poor paragraph construction and run ons.
[Edited on 3-13-2009 by Iflyfish]
[Edited on 3-13-2009 by Iflyfish]
[Edited on 3-14-2009 by Iflyfish] |
... you DO add COLOR here !
