So you think it is his job to tell people how to think? I don't think it is anybody's job to tell me how to think. But then, I'm not a "liberal" Democrat. Amazing that I grew up in a family where people blessed themselves whenever they mentioned Franklin Roosevelt's name. Where did I go wrong? Or is it at all possible that the Democrats changed course? Oh no, that's unthinkable, right? And even if they did, was I not obliged to follow wherever they led?
Yes, it is absolutely his job to assert facts. That is what a leader does in a Democracy. As Adams wrote, if we suffer the minds of our people to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives. A leader does not defend mass ignorance, even when it is useful to them. Defending such willful ignorance, especially as it is in this case thinly-veiled bigotry, is a sad thing -- by any person or party, private or public. It reveals a dearth of character.
Sorry, and surprised, to see you disagree on that, especially in such terms, as a person who otherwise values truth.
Well, he stated what he thought. I still don't see that gives him -- or anyone else -- the right to tell anybody else how to think, let alone "the American people." What I really don't understand is why the issue of Obama's birthplace is still with us. It would certainly be in the President's interest to get it out of the way and one would think that would be easy to do. Sorry if I sounded testy. I had spent a good part of the day working on something and getting nowhere. One other thing, though: Boehner and Obama, it seems to me, have nothing to do with the piece I linked to, which had to do with making sure that certain people are kept primitive as a sort of living fossil.
I absolutely thought you were linking to this bit of horror: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49441.html
ReplyDeleteSo you think it is his job to tell people how to think? I don't think it is anybody's job to tell me how to think. But then, I'm not a "liberal" Democrat. Amazing that I grew up in a family where people blessed themselves whenever they mentioned Franklin Roosevelt's name. Where did I go wrong? Or is it at all possible that the Democrats changed course? Oh no, that's unthinkable, right? And even if they did, was I not obliged to follow wherever they led?
ReplyDeleteYes, it is absolutely his job to assert facts. That is what a leader does in a Democracy. As Adams wrote, if we suffer the minds of our people to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives. A leader does not defend mass ignorance, even when it is useful to them. Defending such willful ignorance, especially as it is in this case thinly-veiled bigotry, is a sad thing -- by any person or party, private or public. It reveals a dearth of character.
ReplyDeleteSorry, and surprised, to see you disagree on that, especially in such terms, as a person who otherwise values truth.
Well, he stated what he thought. I still don't see that gives him -- or anyone else -- the right to tell anybody else how to think, let alone "the American people." What I really don't understand is why the issue of Obama's birthplace is still with us. It would certainly be in the President's interest to get it out of the way and one would think that would be easy to do. Sorry if I sounded testy. I had spent a good part of the day working on something and getting nowhere. One other thing, though: Boehner and Obama, it seems to me, have nothing to do with the piece I linked to, which had to do with making sure that certain people are kept primitive as a sort of living fossil.
ReplyDelete