I made a comment on the previous blog that I wanted to see a return to those times when we were not persecuted for our political beliefs. When I made it I was thinking of the years of GW Bush being in office when if you were not for him you were clearly a terrorist sympathizer and some went to Gitmo for just that reason.
But when I stopped to think about it more fully I realized we are a nation founded on hate and fear. Our history is so full of it from the Pilgrims that came here to escape England - or so we are taught (and were seeking a new land); To the burning of witches in Salem (many just because they owned land);To the massacre of Indians (because we wanted their land); To the Irish who came here after they were thrown off their land back home; To the blacks because the got too uppity (and also owned land); To the Chinese that stayed after they built our railroads; To the Japanese we imprisoned because we thought they were the enemy on our land; To the hippies because they wanted peace in Vietnam (and oddly did not own land unless you count communes). And here and there for just the briefest of moments what we or our ancestors all came here to find - Peace and acceptance.
I was lucky enough to experience Camelot. In the brief days of John F. Kennedy, ultimately killed by a hater that feared him. I was in college and we could sit around and debate both sides of an issue all night long and still be friends even after heated words. We understood that the difference of opinion was what made horse racing possible. And the losing horse was not put to death.
But that was such a brief and shining time. Maybe the only time like it in our entire history of hate and fear except when the founding fathers gave birth to this nation conceived on liberty and freedom religion and belief. It has been a great experiment but I think it is doomed for failure because we now to again make wrong anyone that does not believe as we do. So sad. It must truly dismay our friends around the world. They have all looked upon the leadership of the United States for so long. And all I can say is don't follow us down this road. And we have been on this road of hate and fear for so long I seriously doubt we can turn from it.
The election is in under 60 days and what began as free and open debate on the issues has degenerated into fear and hate again. Hillary started it. She gave McCain the script. Palin's church believes that when we all self-destruct here in the lower 48 we will seek refuge in Alaska. There is that fear again. It is played to all the time. Raised to a fever pitch so you can win an election. Elect me or we are all going to hell. A vote for the other side means the end of days.
And so we walk into the voting booth to vote our fears and hates and not the issues. The real issues. Not those tired old red flags the politicians and fear mongers bring out all the time and wave around. For them 9/11 was a blessing because it is the fear that can always be brought back out and dusted off to make us all fall into line. No wonder there are those that believe Bush let it happen. It was so perfect for him so that he could get his agenda of hate and fear and export it around the world.
Enough. This is getting us nowhere. You cannot be a productive and expanding culture if you are constantly afraid or mired in hate. It is immobilizing. And what does a few burned witches achieve but a pile of ashes and relatives that won't forgive. Doesn't this sound like Muslim extremists? Only here it is faith based in a different faith of fear and hate. But it is still fear and hate. And not the way to run a country.
I agree with you on many levels. The people in our country have a long ways to go in regards to tolerance and respect for one another.
ReplyDeleteFor the record it's not the hat, but your beautiful pictures and writing that drew me to your blog. We share a love for the arts.
:)
Thank you for making a comment. I do not want to discourage open debate but I also want to avoid religious discussions because they are even more personal than politics and difficult to maintain a balance on. Our debate on "Would you trust the Woman" has caused one friend to delete me because I requested you take the religious discussion to your blog.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I said it too curtly but I was also upset at your remark about anti-Christian. I pride myself in not being anti any religion. That did lead to the Holocaust and also to witch burning.
We do need to get beyond hate and fear. I had a dear friend once that said tolerance was the answer. It isn't easy but I think it is a very good thing to practice.
I got into this political blogging because of friends in Europe and Australia that did not understand what was going on here. Now I seem to be stuck.
Originally this page was to be poetry and art and maybe I will start another here on blogger to get back to my original purpose.
And there it is: when these folks keep bringing up God in their campaign just to keep the voters in line, yes, you've reached into the world of extremism...almost like the mullahs that put the leader of Iran in charge there. Hate and fear rule the day. I am tired of extremists here, but, like you said, you try to maintain tolerance. I just wish that word was a two-way street.
ReplyDeleteWhen are we going to see beyond these cheap facades? If these republicans were truly so Christian, then what do their actions say? What is so Christ-like about praying for a pipeline, then turning around and making rape victims pay for their own rape kits? How Christian was it to let thousands suffer during Katrina? How Christian is it to deny folks homes, food, and care, yet, make us responsible for bailing out the very banks that put families on the streets? What is so Christian about ignoring the climate and the planet that God made? Alaska is melting too...
There is no place in government for this. And it keeps showing us, again and again, that republican campaign has no substance, no issues to run on. Only the death of the American Dream.
You said that the ten commandments they were rewrites of Hannarobi's laws predating Christianity.
ReplyDeleteI said that..."Conspiracy theories such as the one you assert hold no water and are considered anti-Christian."
That is not defaming you ma'am, it is a rebuttal to your opinion that I, as a Christian find offensive and is against the teaching of my religion. I have made no personal attacks against you. Please re-read what I wrote. A debate to me is an opportunity to understand another person's perspective and to voice my own. I find that blogging with others who don't share my views enriches my understanding of people and the world around me. How boring would it be if we all agreed?
If see that my opinions are not welcome on your blogs and I will refrain from posting on them. It was never my intention to hurt your feelings or defeat your purpose. I'm sorry if my opinions have offended you.
djeseru...
I am a American, a mother, and a Christian and I am only accountable and forgiven for my own actions. I do not stereotype people or hold others guilty by association of any flag or title they choose to fly.
:(
Just to clarify Hannarobi is credited for the original writing of laws to govern civil societies and in the lengthy list are 10 very much like those Moses in the old testament (written later and the religion of Abraham and not Christian yet) brought down from Mt. Ararat.
ReplyDeleteThat may not be what any specific Christian religion teaches but it can be proven. And to believe that does not make me a part of any anti-Christian group or belief. And I think I have a right to say what is on my blog. I could have deleted it all before it was ever allowed on.
So by allowing it here I have entertained open discourse. I am just as much entitled to my opinion too without deflamatory comments
I am not stereotyping, labelling, nor trying to fit everyone into a "category." I am only calling them as I have seen it again and again these past several years. I tend not to label or categorize since words mean less than actions.
ReplyDelete:(
Charley, as a Brit, I admire you bravery into entering into the political arena. The danger is that opposing factions don't debate or discuss, but simply hunker down in their trenches heaving bombs at each other... And before opposing factions unite to rend the foreigner, I have to say, sadly, the same phenomena happens over here.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the early settlers. The 17th century was an age of bitterness, religious intolerance, and often savagery, throughout the European world, and it was carried over to the Americas with them. In the British Isles at the same time, witches were being burnt, so called" heretics" executed barbarously, and Scots and Irish massacred on purportdly religious grounds, but often in fact because they weren't English.
As you say, I doubt that humanity has changed a lot. The same "killer angel" instincts are there, just clothed with different ideologies and dogmas.
I know better than to dip a toe too far into US politics, ut It can't be emphasised too much with what almost desperate interest Europeans are watching this election. And I'm stating only facts when I assert that all polls show overwhelming backing for Barak Obama, seen as almost the last hope of restoring that faith and hope in the US, which might in a way be a dream rather than a reality, but such a longed-for dream.
Sorry, what a pessimistic post this is :-(
For teh record, and yes I am a teacher, no witches were burnd at Salem in 1692. Witchcraft was a felony in teh colonies, and the penalty for a felony was hanging. Witches were only burned in Europe.
ReplyDeleteQuite apart from that, great post.
Yes, I do realize they were not burned. It is such a nice image though. But I also don't think they were all hung. Wasn't one of them "pressed" which is where you put the boards on the chest and then pile on stones until they are dead. And even your friends will add stones so your death can be quick.
ReplyDeleteWith burning your friends also brought wood to make your death faster. All of it was about getting the property the condemned owned. They even had to pay for the wood for the fire.
Thanks for keeping me honest here.
In Britain there were slight variations. It was generally more hazardous being a witch depending on the religious tendencies of an area. Particularly nasty in Presbyterian Scotland and Eastern (Puritan) England. Burning, hanging, pressing and drowning all used, particularly if the local "mob" decided to take the "law" into their own hands.
ReplyDeleteIn Wales, as one would expect, they tended to be a bit more "adult" and tolerant about such things. At least until the damnable "Roundheads" took over ;-)
Giles Corey was pressed to death because he refused to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
ReplyDeleteTorture was an acceptable means of getting people to enter a plea.
A guilty plea would have meant that he forfeited all of his property (and thus his children's inheritance) and a not guilty plea would have meant his death.
This is an example of how the events of Salem 1692 were unusual - usually a guilty plea meant execution. Everything reversed - guilty meant you were allowed to live in 1692 so that you could name other witches. Not guilty was all but a death sentence.
Why does this sound like G.W.Bush's handling of prisoners in Gitmo? I cannot imagine him reading history but perhaps one of his staff has.
ReplyDeleteI was in the play The Crucible and played one of the witches, understudied for the head witch as it were. Frankly I do not think we have advanced much since those days.
We simply have different fears and prejudices, (or maybe the same ones under different guises). For "Irish Catholic" read "Muslim", for "witches" read "Gays". When even the Church (for what its worth) ties itself into knots over the exact sexual tastes of its clergy, when the world is faced by major problems literally of life and death, I suspect we have advanced very little in the last few centuries. Humanity is far too often (not everyone, not always) obsessed with the fundamentally trivial at the expense of the real issues of the world.
ReplyDeleteThis may be getting a bit out of my realm of politics into religion which I incidentally see as totally separate from spirituality. But I was watching a program about the religions of Abraham on PBS I believe and they had a Priest, a minister, a Muslim leader, and a rabbi discussing the similarities between Muslim, Catholic, Jewish and "Christian" faiths. And the Rabbi said to paraphrase, "when religions start being about the religion and not about the spiritual lives of the followers and we are CEO's as opposed to spiritual leaders we have strayed."
ReplyDeleteI think you can apply that same thing to politics now. It is not all about good government or providing for the people but to preserve the party be it Republican or Democrat, Labor or Tory, Right or Left. It has started being about grasping and keeping power and we do that through fear and hate. And to elevate your group you need to pick someone for everyone to hate or fear or both.
We have gone astray. We have lost our way. Speaking of that I have decided to leave this blog about politics and issues and have begun another about the Creative Journey:
http://binford-bellstudio.blogspot.com/
re: does GWB read history - a few years ago I went on one of those wonderful vacations when all you do is relax, dip your toes in the lake and read all of the books you've meant to read all year. When I came home, I made the mistake of telling a friend about it - apparently while I was away, the White House released the list of books GWB planned to read on his summer vacation, and several of them were on my list as well.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, the ons I remember: one on the influenza epidemic of 1918 and a bio of John Quincy Adams.
Call me paranoid but I would be inclined to believe he read about the influenza epidemic because he wondered how he could use Bird Flu to his advantage.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is obvious why he would be interested in John Quincy as the first son of a president to become president and was not exactly a popular choice. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ja6.html
But then you no doubt read the biography. Did GW? Anyone can put a book on their reading list. I have one whole self of well intentioned nonfiction I have only gotten a chapter or two into. But they are on my reading list.
How did you do on yours?
One of my pet rants is that politicians not only never learn from history, but are all too often totally ignorant of it. Why on earth, for example, considering that in the last 150 years or so, Britain has been involved in three wars in Afghanistan (one defeat, one messy temporary victory, one limited win)did Blair commit us to another endless war there?
ReplyDeleteTheir total lack of knowledge of almost everything historical is quite mind-blowing.
As for politicians' holiday "reading lists", you may call me cynical- (most people do, anyway ;-0 )but I suspect these are compiled and released simply for effect. GWB , I suspect, actually spent his holiday mouthing his way through the latest "Micky Mouse Annual"
Update on this blog. I got a tip about Palin's church and its pastor Dr. Murthee and it seems that my use of the burning witches was not very far off. Her pastor is a witch hunter and given all the upset over pastors in this election I just wonder why the new media has not done more about this. Afraid they will be hunted down and condemned as witches?
ReplyDeleteHere is the link.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/20/01739/4479