[Dialogue] Being a Republican

[Wayne Nelson]

> As a joke, ya gotta laugh.  That¹s the way I took it.
> 
> Don¹t tell me you haven¹t laughed at Jeff Foxworthy. I certainly have. Mind
> you, that kind of humour gets old very fast. I do not think that all rural,
> labouring people are as he depicts them. None of us does and neither does Jeff
> Foxworthy.
> 
> Some of those points illuminate paradoxes. Some act as if they are
> illuminating paradoxes, but are just illuminating the fact that we don¹t like
> something.  Like the one about  women being prevented from making decisions
> about reproduction with a full spectrum of options. What that has to do with
> the regulations placed on businesses is a bit puzzling ­ at least at the
> surface. 
> 
> Some are just plain fun at someone else¹s expense - - because it is there to
> be exploited. I¹ve never been close to a hunting accident, but I know a lot of
> hunters and, believe me, no one would ever think of something like that as
> funny. It is only when it becomes an opportunity to make fun of someone we
> don¹t like that we make a joke of it
> 
> One of the things that has become quite apparent to me is that, at the macro ­
> national, provincial - level, it is becoming more and more difficult to bring
> people together, find common ground, build consensus etc.   As a society, we
> seem to be demarking the lines between Œus and them¹ more clearly.   We¹re
> more and more pushy about what we want and we¹re more impatient. We¹re seeing
> groups pushing their specific agenda in very aggressive ways. We¹re intent on
> getting what we want. We¹re becoming more and more annoyingly ideological.  We
> are more willing to scorn those we don¹t understand or agree with than we are
> to understand and empathize.
> 
> I think it is related to what John Epps was saying about the spirit of the
> times.  Retreating to angry aggressiveness and marginalizing those who do not
> agree with our position is our escape response to having all of our rugs
> pulled out from under our feet.
> 
> I don¹t understand the whole conservative swing our society is going through.
> You know that it cannot be total nonsense. You know there are thoughtful
> people  -  just as concerned about the future as you or me.
> 
> Wayne
> 
> 
> 
< >  < >  < >  < >  < > < >  < >  < >
Wayne Nelson - ICA Associates Inc.
655 Queen Street East ­ Toronto, Ontario M4M 1G4
416-691-2316 - http://ica-associates.ca - wnelson at ica-associates.ca


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20060403/58504272/attachment-0002.htm