A FB acquaintance posted something that made stop and think. My conclusion is that many of these folks live in constant fear.
Let's think about some of them:
Being scared is something I can deal with. What makes me frustrated is that instead of accepting and dealing with their fears like normal adults, they seem to insist on wrapping themselves in the flag and insist that they are fighting for "freedom".
The challenge I posed to them is what happens when your "freedom" harms other American citizens? I mean we know for certain that:
Let's think about some of them:
- Fear that our democratically elected government will somehow be over run with tyrants that want to do something "Bad" to them.
- Fear that someone with a "bigger gun" is out to harm them.
- Fear that a vaccine will harm them.
- Fear that a mask or gloves may harm them.
- Fear that a test may identify them as having COVID 19.
- Fear of a loss of personal control in their lives.
- Fear that people of different religions / cultures will somehow harm them and their way of life.
Being scared is something I can deal with. What makes me frustrated is that instead of accepting and dealing with their fears like normal adults, they seem to insist on wrapping themselves in the flag and insist that they are fighting for "freedom".
The challenge I posed to them is what happens when your "freedom" harms other American citizens? I mean we know for certain that:
- Irresponsible gun owners who do not keep their weapons secure indirectly cause a lot of deaths in the USA. These people either have their weapon stolen or sell it to questionable citizens.
- Rapid fire large clip rifles that have little to no practical use in hunting or personal protection are the weapon of choice for mass murders due to their very lethal capabilities.
- Large groups of people not being vaccinated leads to outbreaks of various really nasty and deadly viruses.
- And in this case we have a nasty virus that can be transmitted for up to 2 weeks before that carrier shows symptoms. And these folks want to congregate in large groups, not wear masks, not wear gloves, etc.
10 comments:
It's the fear that terrifies me. FDR had it right.
--Hiram
These are the by and large the same people who had an aneurysm about Colin Kaepernick's silent, not hurting anyone protest.
Hiram,
I assume you mean this speech
Sean,
Agreed, though I think that was because they felt his behavior was disrespectful to the flag, our country and our service members. I am not sure that was fear driven like these others.
"I am not sure that was fear driven like these others."
Sure, it was. They are afraid of black people using their voices and disrupting systemic racism in our society.
Both siderism is something I react viscerally against. Both sides don't do it, at least not in the same degree. And when they do do it, it's because they aren't really on different sides. Instead of reacting as Democrats or Republicans, they might just be acting as politicians.
I don't think I base my politics or my world view on fear, although there are certainly things I am frightened of.
--Hiram
Sean,
I think we will have to agree to disagree.
Most of us were conditioned to stand at attention, take off our hats, etc during the national anthem.
Kneeling was not going to be accepted no matter the individuals race.
Hiram,
I am not sure about you, since you are usually vague about your beliefs...
But I think Liberals may be even more fear based than Conservatives. They always seem to be worried about something, and demanding that government fix it.
These dudes that are protesting have not exactly proven themselves to be sticklers for the Flag Code.
Source?
But I think Liberals may be even more fear based than Conservatives So
I can tell you, I have been asking and examining that question recently. I do think being a good citizen can also mean thinking about and sometimes criticizing our country, in ways that aren't necessarily based on fear. Taking one's hat off at ballgames isn't, in my view, the only way to express patriotism.
There are things that terrify me almost beyond words. There is a view out there, for example, that the burden of dealing with the virus should fall on the states. Well, that can happen, for some pretty good reasons. States can't run deficits, and at the moment states aren't taking in money. Si if the states are the ones who are going to fight the virus, the virus will go unfought. For me, that's pretty scary.
--Hiram
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