[lit-ideas] Re: Ethnic Pride, Black Truck Style

  • From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 23:17:28 +0900

On 8/3/07, John Wager <john.wager1@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> 1. You should treat them all with respect because that's the kind of
> person you should aspire to become, regardless of their merit.
> 2. You should treat them with respect because such treatment is
> sometimes effective in softening the hard heart.  Being heard allows the
> speaker to also hear more closely what he or she is saying, and
> sometimes listening to one's own voice through the ears of another makes
> what one said less true. Extremism is sometimes a plea to be taken
> seriously, but once one is taken seriously, one must become serious.
> 3.  You should treat them all with respect because all extremism is
> built on a kernel of truth, and we need to find the kernel of truth
> behind the facade.
> 4.  You should treat them all with respect because you show others how
> civil discourse is possible.
>
>
>
> --
> -------------------------------------------------
> "Never attribute to malice that which can be
> explained by incompetence and ignorance."



Thanks, John W., I do agree. We live in times when demonizing the "others"
whose politics, race, sexual preference or taste in music or wine is so easy
that we need eloquence like yours to remind us of these truths.

Did I ever tell you, by the way, how much your signature line has meant to
me all these years. Or your wisdom in pointing out some months or years ago
that moral choice requires life's ambiguities, since in a black and white
world we would have no choices to make.


John M.




-- 
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/

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