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Politics : The Left Wing Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cosmicforce who wrote (3009)	1/14/2001 11:35:13 AM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 6089

MOrning, Cos, You slummin'? I didn't think genteel southern ladies could be left wingers! Now really! slummin'? Is that any way to talk about this attractive porch? I'm here for the lemonade and cookies Poet leaves out, not the politics. There is no label for my politics. Hmm- in college I took an Ethics course, and I remember being puzzled and fascinated by situation ethics. Being of a protected strict Catholic upbringing whose life was governed by specific do's and don't's that prescribed not only what I could eat but when, and informed me into what category every misstep fell and precisely the number of Hail Marys that would get it off my record, the thought that right and wrong had to be decided based upon the circumstances and could have different "right" responses was both terrifying and freeing. Although I later rejected it as a valid ethical system, it did swing the door open for me into examining why I thought things were right and wrong, and why I would accept any one belief system as ultimate truth without examination. I don't think I knew it was doing this at the time. A lot of college is like that-- you think you're learning nothing and then years later realize in retrospect what really was happening to your mind. Hmm- Sunday rambling-- I think I was going somewhere before I started waxing nostalgic... something to do with values? Ethics? Gentility? Oh- I know. Left wing- well, I'm neither left wing or right wing. I practice situational politics. And mostly, I don't practice politics at all. It's a nasty arena as proved by the ugliness between the RW and LW threads. By nature, I search for commonality, and there is none of that going on by either side. Instead, everyone seems bent on finding the points of greatest divergence and screaming stupid! ignorant! at each other. Poet has declared this a sanctuary-- and it isn't really for only left wingers, but for those of us who fall midway between the camps, don't WANT to have fisticuffs over every issue, and don;t feel called upon to argue about the things that they may not agree with. I find her use of banning here to be not so much a political statement, as a strict enforcement of a place for left wingers to be themselves without being attacked. Sure there are a few far lefters, but interestingly, I see this porch attracting more and more the people I consider the most rational and thoughtful people around-- people who aren't screamingly anything. And THAT's why this genteel, glove-clad VIrginia belle is sitting rocking, reading, and wondering if anyone can make a decent mint julep here. Because really, THAT is something worth fighting for.