Saturday, September 1, 2012

Rational Women Must Lead The Way

In reading response comments to a political meme about Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer the other day, someone called her a "cunt".  There were more like that, different words, same meaning.  These are the people that in many ways, are ideologically like me.

I don't like Jan Brewer, and her cohort, Arizona State Representative Kimberly Yee (Yee co-wrote a bill t.  I don't want Mitt Romney to be my president and I REALLY don't want to see or hear Paul Ryan ever, ever again.  I don't agree with their world view.  I don't like that they are in positions of power.  I would like to see them driven out of office, hoisted on the petard of their own ridiculous words and deeds.  But calling them names is beneath us.  It obfuscates the narrative they are writing, that we are part of.  And calling them names does not hurt them, it only makes us, those who oppose them (fiercely and ferociously) look like bullying idiots.

The internet and social media are, for the most part, fantastic tools.  But we have come to rely on them as oracles - we forward posts, we post comments, we sit at our desks and read the words that others write, taking them as fact, not opinion.  On ALL sides of any given point.  We are a nation of pundits now, and while I believe that honest, intelligent discourse is crucial to a civilized society, finding the facts is like looking for a specific grain of sand in a Haboob.  There's just so much out there that is hearsay, it's hard to find original content.

Don't get me wrong - I do my share of all of it.  I get riled up, I get a bee in my bonnet just like you do.  Hell, I just referred to my coochee in a comment today in a friend's post.   I guess what I'm saying is I think we can do better.  I hope that I can do better.

Rational thought, factual debate.  We can do this.  I know we can.  Stick to the facts.  The facts are repugnant enough.