"I understand that I am not worth your time, so you need not read this, let alone respond. However, your posts to me are on the record, and this is an additional reply for the record."
I guess we both appreciate that X will not have read this. However, it seemed such an extreme distortion or misunderstanding of what she said, that I thought I might place my own thoughts on the record.
_________________________
The following excerpts are from the ideas posted by X.
"The voices of the people in this land have been as varied as the people who live here"
This seems to be self evident as a perspective derived from tolerance and awareness.
"there is racial prejudice enough to go around for everyone. it is about deriving a sense of self from group identity, and using group identity to become less decent, less charitable, and less just to people who are not a member of your group"
I found this quite insightful, if not exactly novel. I think it suggests that we ought all to be humble enough to recognize that many still crawl in spite of our wish to soar. To me it suggests that humanity folds itself into myriad different alliances in order to preserve certain advantages inherent in group identity
"One of our most cherished freedoms has been the freedom to hate (always has been, and imo always will be- human nature being what it is)."
This suggests (to me) that it is necessary to hate certain things, and that the freedom to do so, and to act upon such, is what ultimately preserves and protects those very freedoms. The reference to "cherished freedoms" underscores the commitment to the freedom to make value judgements for the betterment of society, even though it also allows the bigotry of the selfish and the foolish. She seems to be saying that freedom is too important a right to be sacrificed to anything, and that tolerating ugliness and hate is the price that decent people must pay in a democracy built around cherished rights and freedoms.
It is not my purpose to speak for X. I am speaking only for myself. I do not know how closely my remarks reflect her intentions. I only know that I find your interpretation of her post to be alien in perspective; and I would hate (that word again<g>) to hazard a guess as to the cause which impels you to the remark that "I think you are doing your country a disservice". I suppose you are just being patriotic--which is very nice. I just wish I knew who your enemy was... |
