The Two Things About Humanity
The "two things game" is an interesting and often fruitful intellectual exercise. To play the game, one considers and then states the two most central truths at the heart of any issue, endeavor, or area of knowledge.
Here, in my opinion and based on 29 years of playing the full contact sport of life, are the two things about humanity:
My frustration with Tuesday's election results is that I find it difficult to see them in terms other than as assaults on these ideas. In the first case, it has been well-documented that the Bush administration eschews critical thinking and instead values faith in and loyalty to established doctrine above all other things. In the second case, eleven of eleven states have expressly forbidden gays to marry (and in some cases, to form legal partnerships of any type whatsoever), which I find it difficult to see in any other way than as an egregious and pointless denial of freedom to seek fulfillment and happiness.
My suggestion of yesterday (oh, very well, my ranting of yesterday) that the election results stem from and point toward ignorance and fear came from this place. What I must concede is that I unpacked a very broad brush from ye olde rhetorical toolkit, and used it to color a wide swath of Americans as ignorant and hateful. However, it is not now ó and I would like to think that it never was ó my contention that all those who voted for Bush did so out of ignorance and hate-fear.
Now, I stand by the proposition that a non-zero proportion of those who voted for Bush and for anti-gay laws did so because they are ignorant, and because they are hateful. Further, I think that it's likely that the raw quantity of those who did so is larger than Bush's margin of victory in the election.
However...
This does not diminish my respect for the legitimacy of solid and well-thought conservative ideals, be they fiscal, moral, or otherwise. In fact, it does not diminish my agreement with many solid and well-thought conservative ideals. (Though the horrible irony of it all is that the conservative ideals with which I agree ó fiscal responsibility, meaningful compassion, an ethos of "live and let live" ó are those with which the Bush administration seems to have little truck.) Further, nothing has diminished ó and, probably, nothing can diminish ó my profound respect for those whose mighty brains promote and champion those ideals. And let me be explicit in naming and admiring Ken Hite, Don Prust, Jason McDowall, and Steve Anderson, individuals whose beliefs and discourse have substantially contributed to my formulation of two things about humanity.
Something one learns, upon becoming serious about the activity of writing, is that the first idea is never the right one. Or, at the very least, the first idea is never the best expression of the ideal that precipitated the act of writing. (Perhaps this is one of the two things about writing, or about being a writer.) The maxim "Writing is Rewriting" expresses this True Thing; only in the act of continuing to grapple with a thought can one hone it to worthiness. Unfortunately, there is no end to "continuing to grapple." A piece of writing can never be finished, it can only be abandoned; the process of thinking is the same.
Thus, Jeff Tidball ó and jefftidball.com ó are works in progress. As, I hope, are all those known to Jeff Tidball, and all those who read jefftidball.com.
With any luck, I and we will continue to have thoughtful discourse, keeping one another honest as we do so. And, with any luck, I and we will continue to pursue and enjoy the blessings of freedom in America.
And with that ó all that ó said, I discover that both my stamina, and my anger, have departed me.
Comments
"This does not diminish my respect for the legitimacy of solid and well-thought conservative ideals, be they fiscal, moral, or otherwise."
Yeah fine, Ken was irritated with the last post, I am with this one. Who wants to standup and claim that Bush actually gives a rat's ass about conservative ideals, much less well-thought ones? Balanced budget? Meaningful tax reform? Small government? Ken, you want to claim Bush is for any of that?
Bush might have just been a go along, get along president. Then 9/11 happened, and he managed to turn that single act into a referendum on all kinds of things that have nothing to do whatsoever with terrorism. 51% of America seems to be willing to give him a pass for that. If someone wants to cling to ideals that George Bush does not, in fact, act upon in deed, fine, but one shouldn't expect it of anyone else. Personally, I am nothing but disgusted by individuals who voted for him on the premise that he stands for well-thought conservative ideals when he has done nothing to demonstrate those ideals.
His entire gig is fear. Helps him and his friends make tons of money and now they are going to start the work of curtailing the liberties of those who don't live the lives they think they should. 51% of the American public has given him a pass to do that. I feel sorry for those of you that didn't, as you are now officially fucked.
[Oh, and Jeff, feel free to delete this if you don't dig my tone - I thought your first post was fine]
Damelon, I think Jeff was saying that he respects those people who voted for Bush because of one thing despite those people who voted for him because of the other thing. Jeff's clarifiying that he's not going to let one thing define how he feels about the other. That one thing and the other thing aren't the same thing is plain.
> start the work of curtailing the liberties
Speaking of which, it seems that C. Boyden Gray is floating the trial balloon of using Bush's "mandate" to eliminate filibustering in the Senate, to allow easier approval of his judicial nominees.
I have to admit that I remain flummoxed as to how conservatives could support Bush -- except through the fear that somehow Kerry, even shackled with a Republican-dominated Congress, could do even worse that the failures of fiscal and foreign policy that have been the hallmark of Bush's first term. The demonisation of "liberalism" has been so successful that there is a whole generation of people who feel that voting for a Democrat (or at least any Democrat that the RNC brands a "liberal") is tantamount to voting Socialist.
But I also remain flummoxed by how people who I otherwise regard as very bright and sensible believe in creationism, astrology, alien abduction, or what have you. So it goes.
On the bright side, Bush is going to help me personally. I'm looking forward to the elimination of capital gains taxes, "double taxation" of dividends, lower corporate tax rates, etc. The free-falling dollar makes my translation royalties from overseas worth more, and the cost of our exported games lower to our foreign customers. Granted, this may all be very bad for the country, but I wouldn't be gracious if I didn't offer a heartfelt "thank you" to the many poverty-level evangelicals who will have made this possible, and will be paying for it with future payroll tax hikes and cuts in services.
Yes Will. Jeff is a very reasonable guy. I'd thought my comment(s) would be clearly understood to be aimed at what I think might have prompted his second stab. My bad.
There it is. My first week at Atlas was met with a bitter and judgmental email from you, Damelon, even though you didn't know me or anything about me. Now my last day at Atlas is flavored with your acerbic sarcasm. I like the symmetry of it.
Very well; I will concede to your superior sarcasm and intellect. Alas, I am undone.
I would've sent this privately, but you haven't included your address, Damelon.
Wow. Things are getting pretty heated at JeffTidball.com.
Cool!
And there we have the election in a nutshell. Thank God it's over.