Welcome to France, 1938.
I've been sitting aside watching the tone of my country's politics become something to be ashamed of.
I have friends snarling at each other on Facebook, charges of utter tyrrany (about something that passed using the democratic process) and the continous non-stop use of "fascist", "socialist", "communist" and "Nazi" being tossed around with all the brains and wisdom of a six year old.
Last year, professional silly person G Beck got everyone all riled up about how partisan things have become and that we didn't have the patriotic spirit of 9/12/01. Well, on that limited point he's right. The rest, well......
Now, I'm not sure if this is the continuation of the post-boomer mentaility of "if I don't get things the way I want them, I'm going to stamp my feet and yell and scream and generally behave badly until you give me what I want", but the level of just plain stupid behavior out there is mind boggling. It is also a very serious threat to anyone who might really want to cause us harm.
This why we are now like France in 1938. The divisions right now parallel the interwar periods in France. We are so wrapped up in yelling, screaming and making sure that our opinions are the only ones that exist, that we are not paying any attention to anything else. And now it seems the party that didn't get its way won't even do its job.
One of my neighbors, who is a little too much in the "this is the end of civilization as we know it" mode, was wailing out loud about how he's not sure what he's going to do, he's going to be told every last detail on how to live his life and all the world is against him and he should just leave and on and on. He was clearly enjoying feeling repressed. He was really enjoying being angry (hey, I was a student activist many moons ago, and it felt cool).
But it's time to grow up.
THIS IS NOT THE ENABLING ACT OF 1933.
THIS IS NOT DICTATORSHIP. You were not ignored, incapacitated or imprisoned. You were out voted after being turned out of office in 2008. See actions previous to that to see why...
THIS IS NOT A MASSIVE COMMUNIST TAKEOVER. It's a set of rules and taxes. Those can be modified, changed and perhaps even eliminated. See note above, and try to fix what you did wrong to make everyone so mad.
It's time to work on what we have, make it better and hold our breath that the next election cycle is actually not a string of attack ads. If you want my vote, TELL ME WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO, NOT JUST WHAT YOU DISLIKE AND WHY THE OTHER GUY IS HITLER.
I've been sitting aside watching the tone of my country's politics become something to be ashamed of.
I have friends snarling at each other on Facebook, charges of utter tyrrany (about something that passed using the democratic process) and the continous non-stop use of "fascist", "socialist", "communist" and "Nazi" being tossed around with all the brains and wisdom of a six year old.
Last year, professional silly person G Beck got everyone all riled up about how partisan things have become and that we didn't have the patriotic spirit of 9/12/01. Well, on that limited point he's right. The rest, well......
Now, I'm not sure if this is the continuation of the post-boomer mentaility of "if I don't get things the way I want them, I'm going to stamp my feet and yell and scream and generally behave badly until you give me what I want", but the level of just plain stupid behavior out there is mind boggling. It is also a very serious threat to anyone who might really want to cause us harm.
This why we are now like France in 1938. The divisions right now parallel the interwar periods in France. We are so wrapped up in yelling, screaming and making sure that our opinions are the only ones that exist, that we are not paying any attention to anything else. And now it seems the party that didn't get its way won't even do its job.
One of my neighbors, who is a little too much in the "this is the end of civilization as we know it" mode, was wailing out loud about how he's not sure what he's going to do, he's going to be told every last detail on how to live his life and all the world is against him and he should just leave and on and on. He was clearly enjoying feeling repressed. He was really enjoying being angry (hey, I was a student activist many moons ago, and it felt cool).
But it's time to grow up.
THIS IS NOT THE ENABLING ACT OF 1933.
THIS IS NOT DICTATORSHIP. You were not ignored, incapacitated or imprisoned. You were out voted after being turned out of office in 2008. See actions previous to that to see why...
THIS IS NOT A MASSIVE COMMUNIST TAKEOVER. It's a set of rules and taxes. Those can be modified, changed and perhaps even eliminated. See note above, and try to fix what you did wrong to make everyone so mad.
It's time to work on what we have, make it better and hold our breath that the next election cycle is actually not a string of attack ads. If you want my vote, TELL ME WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO, NOT JUST WHAT YOU DISLIKE AND WHY THE OTHER GUY IS HITLER.
