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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mph who wrote (11049)	3/31/2004 11:58:20 AM
From: cnyndwllr	Respond to of 81568

Mph, re: "The rhetoric of the extreme left is divisive and very anti-US, IMO." ALL extreme views are divisive by definition if there is any group with another view. What's "anti-US" or anti-American about extreme views, however? This country was founded on views that were considered radically extreme at the time of the creation of this nation and it was benefitted by advances from "extreme" views and ideas in the decades that followed. Many of the things that we take for granted as a part of our political and economic life were once considered dangerously radical, including the right to form labor unions and the right of women and minorities to vote freely. We've always had extremists in this country, the difference is that ONE GROUP of extremists is now of the opinion that those that do not agree with their point of view are not only extremists; they are also somehow unpatriotic, anti-American and needful of being purged, struck down or otherwise suppressed in their views. That group's patriotically and religiouly fueled ire is a powerful and corrosive acid that undermines the free exchange of ideas and opinions that have made this country a country that changes over time and readily adapts to new and better ways of doing things. If you want a counter example to the way this country has freely adapted to new ideas and new situations, look at what happened to the Muslim world. At one time it was the most enlightened and vigorous society in the world. The strict, unbending tenents of it's religious conservatism, however, have left it as a failed model and have left its people mired in ignorance and poverty. Be very careful when you step on the neck of the free exchange of ideas by labeling those who disagree as enemies.