Unfortunately, the hatred and the delusion of supremacy pervade human history. What we are going through is just the most current iteration of these destructive inclinations. They come from isolation and fear, and those circumstances come from a failure to engage and connect. The only way to remedy hatred and the delusion of supremacy is to strive to create community, even with those we oppose.
I can imagine the dialogue balloon in your illustration as the opening line as being one of that of the many songs of the '60s and '70s that dealt with this sort of political conflict. Particularly the R&B and jazz tunes from that era; the words and messages in them are still potently relevant.
Americans sing John Lennon's "Imagine" in one breath and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in the next. Many good people. An unfortunate blind spot reinforced, unfortunately, by big time influencers like Heather Cox Richardson. And yes, I'm a paid subscriber to her Substack and agree with much she has to say.
Can you explain what you mean by saying Heather reinforces a blind spot? Heather is an historian not an influencer. She rarely ever has opinions. She just presents facts and information.
You are contrasting the social contract, the founding principle of our democracy by which we choose to give up some individual rights or supremacies/
powers as you refer to them for the greater possibilities of what we can do together. We give up the unlimited right to shoot and kill anyone we feel offends us for a system of laws -redtrictions on absolute i dividual rights ,that allow us all to live together in relative peace, fairness and justice . What trump represents is might makes right, a jungle model that our founders surpassed with the social contract, with representative , participatory democracy where power is shared because ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. Clearer every day is the contrast to what dt and maga is trying to bully us into. The men like musk who have built such i ordinate power/ wealth on the backs of 38 billion of Govt money, OUR MONEY WHICH WE GAVE THAT INGRATE!!! He and Lutnick say "let them eat cake, " let the ordinary grandmas who need their social sec checks of THEIR MONEY, let us never forget, to eat buy meds, pay rent, the the rest of us, the suckers and losers who are decent, law abiding, respectful, grateful of our system, imperfect as it is , let them shut their mouths and not dare complain( " fraudsters/ screamers") about our stealing the bread frim their mouths as we brazenly plunder all the riches WE have amassed.caring about ourselves but not ONLY ourselves as those pigs in the WH obviously do-;greater good and e pluribus unum, how we build roads, fight disease, defend ourselves with the group we all contribute to and sacrifice for we participate as citizens in self- governing but these pigs want all the money, power for themselves alone. When you think about that scumbag "vermin "immigrant who took $38 billion from our government from our hard earned money and now turns on us the "suckers and losers" and strips us of all the goods and services we have built as a community with such sadism and entitlement it is breathtakingly staggering .
We must get over our shock in this perfidy of precedented, degeneracy and fight back and stand up and say no, you may not steal from us without consequences. You want retribution Donald? well you ain't seen nothing yet. We will run u out of town, out of our lives with our votes and our protests, maybe strikes .We will find our voices just like Cory Booker. We will stand up like Corey Booker.
We will let the spirit of our founders inspire us to rebel against this evil that Donald Trump and his billionaire buddy oligarch's represent . let's start by showing up at the protest on Saturday -hands off our democracy, -our way of life our children's future, our children's lives now exposed to every disease our science has heretofore protected us from, our vets who have sacrificed life and limb for our security, etc., etc. if we stand together and hopefully inspire people like corporate CEOs and filthy rich law firms to stand with us instead of with the fascists -
we shall overcome. It wont be easy, it wont be painless but we shall overcome. Yes we can!
She said absolute individual rights, and I agree with her, that no one can have complete freedom to do whatever you want. Freedom comes with responsibility. You gotta give for what you take. I didn't read it as equating the two.
Here's what she said, "You are contrasting the social contract, the founding principle of our democracy by which we choose to give up some individual rights or supremacies/"
that line equates individual rights and supremacies and that doesn't make sense to me.
The superiority mindset is an ideological flaw that our society has to overcome. I don't think it's related to individual rights, but I'll have to think about that more. Thanks for the comment.
Like, why do some people think they are special and shouldn't have to be vaccinated? They think they know better than doctors. They think the rules don't apply to them. Would that be supremacy? Maybe I'm conflating rugged individualism and individual rights?
Unfortunately, the hatred and the delusion of supremacy pervade human history. What we are going through is just the most current iteration of these destructive inclinations. They come from isolation and fear, and those circumstances come from a failure to engage and connect. The only way to remedy hatred and the delusion of supremacy is to strive to create community, even with those we oppose.
I can imagine the dialogue balloon in your illustration as the opening line as being one of that of the many songs of the '60s and '70s that dealt with this sort of political conflict. Particularly the R&B and jazz tunes from that era; the words and messages in them are still potently relevant.
Americans sing John Lennon's "Imagine" in one breath and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in the next. Many good people. An unfortunate blind spot reinforced, unfortunately, by big time influencers like Heather Cox Richardson. And yes, I'm a paid subscriber to her Substack and agree with much she has to say.
Fred
Can you explain what you mean by saying Heather reinforces a blind spot? Heather is an historian not an influencer. She rarely ever has opinions. She just presents facts and information.
I suggest you read my post titled "Letters from a Blind Spot" on my Substack, if you want the basis of my statement. Thanks.
Can't find it.
Sorry. Lazy on my part:
https://open.substack.com/pub/fredjohnson/p/letters-from-a-blind-spot?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=nd67q
Thanks, Walter. We’ll see if I’m attacked for that comment.
You are contrasting the social contract, the founding principle of our democracy by which we choose to give up some individual rights or supremacies/
powers as you refer to them for the greater possibilities of what we can do together. We give up the unlimited right to shoot and kill anyone we feel offends us for a system of laws -redtrictions on absolute i dividual rights ,that allow us all to live together in relative peace, fairness and justice . What trump represents is might makes right, a jungle model that our founders surpassed with the social contract, with representative , participatory democracy where power is shared because ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. Clearer every day is the contrast to what dt and maga is trying to bully us into. The men like musk who have built such i ordinate power/ wealth on the backs of 38 billion of Govt money, OUR MONEY WHICH WE GAVE THAT INGRATE!!! He and Lutnick say "let them eat cake, " let the ordinary grandmas who need their social sec checks of THEIR MONEY, let us never forget, to eat buy meds, pay rent, the the rest of us, the suckers and losers who are decent, law abiding, respectful, grateful of our system, imperfect as it is , let them shut their mouths and not dare complain( " fraudsters/ screamers") about our stealing the bread frim their mouths as we brazenly plunder all the riches WE have amassed.caring about ourselves but not ONLY ourselves as those pigs in the WH obviously do-;greater good and e pluribus unum, how we build roads, fight disease, defend ourselves with the group we all contribute to and sacrifice for we participate as citizens in self- governing but these pigs want all the money, power for themselves alone. When you think about that scumbag "vermin "immigrant who took $38 billion from our government from our hard earned money and now turns on us the "suckers and losers" and strips us of all the goods and services we have built as a community with such sadism and entitlement it is breathtakingly staggering .
We must get over our shock in this perfidy of precedented, degeneracy and fight back and stand up and say no, you may not steal from us without consequences. You want retribution Donald? well you ain't seen nothing yet. We will run u out of town, out of our lives with our votes and our protests, maybe strikes .We will find our voices just like Cory Booker. We will stand up like Corey Booker.
We will let the spirit of our founders inspire us to rebel against this evil that Donald Trump and his billionaire buddy oligarch's represent . let's start by showing up at the protest on Saturday -hands off our democracy, -our way of life our children's future, our children's lives now exposed to every disease our science has heretofore protected us from, our vets who have sacrificed life and limb for our security, etc., etc. if we stand together and hopefully inspire people like corporate CEOs and filthy rich law firms to stand with us instead of with the fascists -
we shall overcome. It wont be easy, it wont be painless but we shall overcome. Yes we can!
It's not right to equate individual rights with supremacy--that's way off base.
Read your history of the social contract I didnt say ALL rights are forfeited.
U misunderstood, perhaps intentionally?
She said absolute individual rights, and I agree with her, that no one can have complete freedom to do whatever you want. Freedom comes with responsibility. You gotta give for what you take. I didn't read it as equating the two.
Here's what she said, "You are contrasting the social contract, the founding principle of our democracy by which we choose to give up some individual rights or supremacies/"
that line equates individual rights and supremacies and that doesn't make sense to me.
I see what you're saying. I think that individual rights can go too far, which can lead to superior feelings over others.
The superiority mindset is an ideological flaw that our society has to overcome. I don't think it's related to individual rights, but I'll have to think about that more. Thanks for the comment.
Like, why do some people think they are special and shouldn't have to be vaccinated? They think they know better than doctors. They think the rules don't apply to them. Would that be supremacy? Maybe I'm conflating rugged individualism and individual rights?
But more than one, right? Which channel?
"Slick looking newscasters come on screen and ridicule boys for doing such things as drinking soda through a straw."
Dan Rather did this?
No. It was a right wing guy.