I would sugest that a problem lies with the way we use "liberal". For citizen A, it stands as an article of dogma that a liberal MUST be for gun control. For citizen B, isaaaoft ("it stands as an article of faith that", not some new-wave software company) a liberal MUST be pro-choice. For citizen C, a liberal MUST be for a generous policy on immigration. D, champion of otherlysexuals. E, social engineering via taxation. On and on... so many shibboleths.
(There was a Biblical story in which two tribes were at religious war. One tribe controlled a river crossing and used a regionalism for the word "river" as an ethnic litmus test. The word was shibboleth to one group and sibboleth to the other. Those seeking to cross the river in order to escape a Rwanda-style neighborhood watch campaign were interrogated by the river guards. If you said it the wrong way, your blood was added to the river.)
"liberal" is not a precise term anymore; the religion is shattered unto a dozen pieces. It really is in our interest, "us" being those who feel parental toward this thread, remembering when it was a place where all ideas played like otters in the stream, to be gentle with hot-button words and the hot-button ideas that they represent.
DAR is like one of those insect metropolides made entirely of mud, wax or paper. It is a jewel of breathtaking complexity and sentimental value to us once-upon-a-timers that is made entirely of that mundane stuff: the printed word. DAR deserves its hour on the Discovery Channel imo.
Keep Dar beautiful, I implore y'all.
peace out, js |
