[lit-ideas] Re: Strauss
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:30:29 -0500
AA:
>>Bill Moyers did a show entitled something like Can Faith Bring Peace? Given
>>that faith has been the catalyst for most of the violence in the world, that
>>seemed a ridiculous topic for a show.<<
I'll bet that tribal territory (and its latter day nationalisms) has been the
catalyst for more violence in the world than faith, any suggestions (besides
violence) on how to prove who's right?
>>They should have retitled it Can Faith Ever Bring Anything But Violence?
>>Needless to say, I didn't watch it.<<
There you go. You can take a horse to water....
>>Paula Zahn (CNN) is apparently going to be doing a show on how the
>>Evangelicals are excited and happy that Armageddon is finally here, i.e., the
>>conflict in the ME, the WWIII that Newt Gingrich is promoting. I'm not
>>going to watch that either.<<
There you go.
>>It's too depressing to think how genuinely, hopelessly stupid people are.<<
That's the exact same thing they say about "us", you know.
>>This isn't Joe Deli Owner promoting WWIII. It's the former Speaker of the
>>House, possible candidate for President<<
It always surprises me when people use expressions like "Joe Six-Pack" or in
this case "Joe Deli Owner" -- it certainly smacks of class bigotry. I realize
that what is meant by inversion is that the person in question is a person of
influence, of access to power, or access to the press, etc., but that's not
what the experssion says, the experssion demeans a class of people -- in fact,
the vast majority of people -- as being dismissable. And yet those
dismissables are the only ones who have the power to stop those in power. It
seems to me that instead of calling people without influence and power
denigrating names, one should focus on getting the message across to them that
they have the power to change the world if they'd only exercise it.
>>And of course it's all the Islamists fault. I'd only be curious to know who
>>the Antichrist is. Clinton?&n bsp; If Marlena is still around, maybe she
>>could tell us?<<
Defenseless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
-- Auden
Mike Geary
Memphis
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