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Politics : Piffer Thread on Political Rantings and Ravings -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HG who wrote (4881)	11/30/2001 1:55:23 AM
From: HG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14610

My kinda woman. Grey ! KATE NELSON: Gray areas in the red, white and blue Scripps Howard News Service nandotimes.com (November 28, 2001 1:47 p.m. EST) - A reader in Northern California called to share this joke, a longtime favorite in her agricultural community: How do you know who has the right of way at a four-way stop? Whoever's truck has the biggest tires and the most flags. She told the joke partly to make me laugh, but mostly to make a point. The U.S. flag is a potent symbol of patriotism. But some people think the mere waving of it makes them right and everyone else wrong. In so doing, they take what could be an enlightening discussion about the nuances of patriotism and give it talk-radio treatment. He who shouts loudest, wins. And once again, all hope withers that a diverse nation can discuss its way past the black and white and into the shades of gray. Or, in the words of our leaders: Are you with us or against us? Do you support the economic-stimulus package or would you cripple an economy at war? Do you back the USA Patriot bill or are you sheltering terrorists in your basement? The bombast of public discourse - or is that public discord? - isn't limited to patriotism and terrorism and taxes, of course. Politicians here and there have turned the art of making law into the grind of infinite gridlock. Citizens follow suit by staking out unyielding positions on intricate issues. On Nov. 6, for example, New Mexico executed its first inmate in 41 years. In response to the most drastic act of what we once called our corrections system, death-penalty supporters and opponents gouged out a rhetorical chasm. I sided with the opponents. But I still couldn't find a shred of sympathy for Terry Clark, the condemned man, who had kidnapped, raped and killed a 9-year-old girl. Even so, the supporters did little to win me over - especially on talk radio. Some callers offered to be the executioner. Later they debated whether God would let Clark into heaven. "Hmmmm," I imagined God saying. "Rachel in Las Cruces says 'Fry the creep,' but John in Roswell says 'Let him rot in prison.'" As a journalist, I have to share the blame. Too often, we pair the person who demands "no" with the person who shrieks "yes" and avoid the people who say "I don't know." They're too gray. Their views are complicated. Their quotes aren't pithy. By ignoring them, we ignore a democratic ideal, and in this time of war with terrorism that's hardening into a national gag rule. The older I get, the more convinced I am that there are no right answers, no wrong answers, no black, no white. We live in a swirl of grays, of ever-changing events, uncertain solutions and uncomfortable compromises. I consider myself a patriot. I vote. I volunteer. I contribute to charities. And I exercise a healthy balance of trust and skepticism over the actions of my government. Cheers to the war on poverty. Curses to the war on drugs. Seeing the long-hidden faces of Afghani women was a thrilling outcome of our latest war. But will that war ultimately avenge the Sept. 11 murders of thousands of innocent Americans? I don't know. Was executing Terry Clark the most fitting way to punish his abomination, heal his victims and demonstrate our humanity? I don't know. I do know that we won't find such answers unless we hear the people who decline to join the verbal version of "American Gladiators." The First Amendment guarantees our right to speak, but it also imposes a duty to listen. Can we be patriotic without putting on boxing gloves? Can we slow down, calm down and hear the other point of view - really, the 10 or 20 other points of view? Listen. With or without a flag, every voice deserves to be heard. And none of them should ever have to beg to differ