Dante
simulacrum..facsimile..imitation..replica...copy..
Wonder what the zealots and fear brokers among us, who possess passionate certainties think: you know, those who are ignorant of the dangers of unquestioned, passionate conviction; those who revel in incivility, discord, and bitter disharmony; the ones who celebrate the paralysis of the national will?
How does one put up a link for this type of OP?
How about this:
There are people out there in America who identify so much with a political or social movement they think that they personally are the movement. These people willingly sow incivility, bitter discord, disharmony, and celebrate the paralysis of the national will. They are the ones trained and fed by what former US Senator, Thomas James McIntyre (February 20, 1915 – August 8, 1992) called the “Fear Brokers.” Throughout the last 4-5 decades these fear brokers have fed, and continue to feed these ‘zealots of the political extreme’ with what Eric Sevareid called “dangerously passionate certainties.”
I believe our ability as a nation to meet challenges near and far depends mainly upon a prior condition: keeping and honoring an agreement that guided the framers and founders of our nation; a basic degree of mutual respect regardless of political and ideological differences. I’m not sure, but I think somebody once said something like “It isn’t the genius or adequacy of our leaders or their policies and programs that has helped America meet challenges and cope with issues grave and threatening, but the pathology of the body politic itself.”
"Mine has been, here, an unelected, unlicensed, uncodified office and function. The rules are self-imposed. These were a few:
"Not to underestimate the intelligence of the audience and not to overestimate its formation.
"To elucidate, when one can, more then to advocate.
"To remember always that the public is only people, and people only persons, no two alike.
"To retain the courage of one's doubts as well as one's convictions in this world of dangerously passionate certainties.
How does one put up a link for this type of OP?
How about this:
There are people out there in America who identify so much with a political or social movement they think that they personally are the movement. These people willingly sow incivility, bitter discord, disharmony, and celebrate the paralysis of the national will. They are the ones trained and fed by what former US Senator, Thomas James McIntyre (February 20, 1915 – August 8, 1992) called the “Fear Brokers.” Throughout the last 4-5 decades these fear brokers have fed, and continue to feed these ‘zealots of the political extreme’ with what Eric Sevareid called “dangerously passionate certainties.”
I believe our ability as a nation to meet challenges near and far depends mainly upon a prior condition: keeping and honoring an agreement that guided the framers and founders of our nation; a basic degree of mutual respect regardless of political and ideological differences. I’m not sure, but I think somebody once said something like “It isn’t the genius or adequacy of our leaders or their policies and programs that has helped America meet challenges and cope with issues grave and threatening, but the pathology of the body politic itself.”
The Press: Sign-Off for Sevareid
"Mine has been, here, an unelected, unlicensed, uncodified office and function. The rules are self-imposed. These were a few:
"Not to underestimate the intelligence of the audience and not to overestimate its formation.
"To elucidate, when one can, more then to advocate.
"To remember always that the public is only people, and people only persons, no two alike.
"To retain the courage of one's doubts as well as one's convictions in this world of dangerously passionate certainties.
