Comments on Diaristic Notations: Three Perfect Candidates: Political Pacifism

Kate has a very good argument. I agree. It could b...

2012-01-30T13:33:11.304-06:00

Kate has a very good argument. I agree. It could be seen that veiling what could be viewed as "apathy" as pacifism, might be worse than calling a single (or, OK! a trio of Republicans) assholes, is less bad than being a veiled racist and not even realizing that racists are what they are, is what it is they are and since Kate seems to be in my favor, all the better! I too think that calling an asshole and asshole, is better than being a veiled racist, which I pray to God I am not. Kate is SMART and ARTICULATE, (whisper) even if she is a dirty, criminal on welfare who carries a gun. [that's a terrible joke, son]. xxx Miss S., still your friend, after half a century. xxx to Kate for her great analysis. Miss S.

Right. . . But yet you used my post to develop you...

2012-01-30T09:19:59.685-06:00

Right. . . But yet you used my post to develop your argument about the non-necessity of anger.

We can choose not to complain and we can choose not to be angry. --- Mr. Kim

How is ‘choosing not to complain’ different from ‘apathy’ and/or ‘complacency’?

In all seriousness now.

I think the reason I don’t think your friend S. calling one politician an asshole after he says something that S. doesn’t agree with seems ‘not so bad’ to me is because I hear a different kind of ‘demonization’ repeatedly around me that I think is far more destructive.

There’s this documentary being made about my hometown. According to the Post Dispatch the decline of my home into “urban ghetto” like conditions is due to a higher concentration of Section 8 in the area compared to most other areas. When I ask people around me if they feel this is true, most do feel it is true. But what is actually far more fascinating to me is the associations people openly make with Section 8.

“Those people are dirty.”

“Those people have no respect for property.”

“They keep having babies so they can get more money from the government.”

“They are criminals.”

“They walk around with automatic weapons.”

And a sweet little old lady at my quilter’s group actually said, “They’re animals.”

What nobody says out loud is that when they think of Section 8 recipients, they think of black people. By doing this they are not ‘being racist’. They just have a problem with welfare recipients. What bothers me about the situation. . . I think every black person in my neighborhood is viewed as a welfare recipient whether they are or not. And what these people who make these kinds of associations with Section 8 don’t realize is that I ALREADY KNOW that the stereotype for a black person is ‘criminal, violent, welfare recipient’. But yet it’s not about race . . . Even the documentary maker makes such comments.

Morton said in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. "I came away convinced that this is not an issue of race but of class and opportunities." <-- From the Post

I have people around me that are ‘demonizing’ an entire group of people. . . Dehumanizing them even. . . And I can’t even get people to admit that this might be a race issue. We are not even allowed to talk about things in those terms.

I can choose not to complain. I can choose not to get angry. . . But if I am expected to let all this just slide right off my back . . . repeatedly . . . then you have to forgive me if S. calling one politician an asshole doesn’t seem like a big deal to me.

The name calling I'm referring to was more one...

2012-01-29T21:21:06.631-06:00

The name calling I'm referring to was more one candidate against another, and Republicians against Democrats (and Demos vs Repubs).

You're right about being too serious.

Anger gets in the way of love. --- Mr. Kim So doe...

2012-01-29T17:45:51.284-06:00

Anger gets in the way of love. --- Mr. Kim

So does being too serious. Come on. You didn’t laugh at ‘Farts are too good for him’. That’s funny stuff.

We can choose to respond differently. --- Mr. Kim

Yeah. . . You can.

We can choose not to complain and we can choose not to be angry. --- Mr. Kim

Did you think I was angry when I wrote ‘Farts are too good for him’? I mean . . . really?

Calling someone an asshole is very low level ‘demonizing’. Let the people dissipate a bit of anger by using asshole as a noun. It’s not something to get riled up about. When you start to hear people talking about how they are not human. They’re animals. . . Then we can talk about ‘demonizing’.