My damn rant on the left, some on the right, and so on.

[The Straight Story]

I do not mean this in a mean spirited way of course, but I have seen threads of late/early on in DU timeline (well, since dipshit was inducted into the highest office of course) about the end of the world, concentration camps, et al and then some.

We point to the signs of this happening, have threads about * preparing for martial law, and it seems some are running around as though the end was near.

Ok - disclaimer. I don't mean all. I mean some, got it? May not apply to you, that is cool. We are a diverse group. I am just making an observation about some trends I have seen over time here.

To wit:
1. Iraq War getting ready to go. I remember hearing here that * would plant WMD's so he would be vindicated. It never happend. If they found WMD there they were planted, if they didn't then he lied - and why would he lie about believing they had them if he is all evil, all he had to do was plant em. To me, he thought they had them as did Gore and Clinton. I still think he is a nutjob though on the whole damn thing. Maybe I just distrust all our government....

2. * was gonna erase all our rights, put people in camps, and so on. Didn't happen in first 4 years, still has not happend. The right said same thing about clinton (I know, I worked for a gun reloading company that worked closely with militia at the time, they were certain clinton was behind Oklahoma city bombing and waco was a coverup).

3. End of the world, rapture, etc and so on are selling points by the right. We have, at times, end of the world from global warming (been hearing that for years), * is gonna end the world as we know it, peak oil, over population and starvation (remember that from the 70's? we were not supposed to make it past 2000 I think).

And so on. To me it appears we all have similar fears, for different reasons, and we manifest those in different ways.

But I also feel both sides are right on all this. The end times were to be turbulent, and like a woman in birth. As things get closer together the end was to be seen as near. * and his nutjobs are but one piece in this.

The right may say "Well, the world has warmed and cooled many times, it is a cycle, quit whining and blaming mankind for it all, especially the US" and the left may say "They have been talking about the biblical end of the world forever and nothing has happend, quit trying to scare us all ya freaks"

The left may say, "Mother earth is gonna kick your ass for treating her like crap" and the right "Father god is gonna kick your ass for treating him like crap".

The left may say, "We get our morals from our beliefs, that mankind is in all this together and we should work together and do things our way" and the right says "We get morals from a creator, we are all in this together and his wisdom will help us all do better, so do things our way".

Right, left, philosophy, religion, belief, and so on.

Who is right is dependent on what right is, and who is to say what that is except those who have the power to make changes on a broad scale?

Morals are based on a belief (imho). Which is right depends on what the outcome is you desire, and on the foundation you have for them. Belief in no supreme being could well translate into the survival of the fittest, in which case the fittest would be the ones with the most power (here and now the right wingers).

I dunno, I am now to the point of rambling with no point at all. I guess I just wanted to get answers to things which have no answers.

We talk, we debate, we learn, we progress. The right is off it's rocker, and some on the left seem to be that way at times as well. Insanity seems to have overcome sanity in this world of ours.

The simplest of solutions is peace and love, working together to find answers and to help one another. That simple thing seems to have left the building. Perhaps I am just trying to cope.

Apologies to any offended by this thread and it's crazy twists and turns as I sat here trying to coherently write it. Confusing times beget confusing threads I suppose...

[minnesotaDFLer]

1. bravo

:applause:

[Syrinx]

2. hmm

"planting WMD's"

I remember a story about that. Anyone got a link. They tried it but got caught.

"erase all our rights"

Patriot Act, Patriot Act II, Patriot Act III? REAL ID? Bankruptcy law. Etcetera. More's coming.

The very "mainstream" effort to overturn the fillibuster rule, and the role of the judicial branch of government.

No, we're not paranoid, they're just out to get us.

[The Straight Story]

3. I agree really

Just an interesting context is all to me in the larger scheme of things and my own life history.

I was hard into the right wing in the 90's, and a child of the 60's and 70's. All this I see now seems redundant in a sense.

From hal lindsey to leftist blogs, I have seen it all before as they say.

As a christian who believes the end times are near, I have heard scorn from others like 'hell, they been saying that forever' and I can relate - and see how it relates to us here and now on DU and other progressive sites. Ironic in a way.

I believe the end times are near, and that * is a part of it all. A small part, maybe a big one. It is just striking to me the similarties of then (70's) and now - politically, environmentally, and religiously.

[Syrinx]

5. I hear you

I don't really know what is meant by "the end times," unless it is global nuclear war.

But have you ever seen a time where the supposed paranoid rantings of a "fringe" have so well reflected the actions of "mainstream leaders" and the apparent complicity of the media?

[The Straight Story]

7. By end times I mean

The end of man as ruler of this planet, and his demise by the hand of either god or mankind himself.

Science has given us the tools to kill us all, and greed, et al, has given us the motive to use those tools.

From a biblical perspective - I feel that god has seen all this coming down the pike. IE, man was seen for what he was and what he was capable of early on. He gets better at warfare, so much better that he will exterminate himself. And so far that seems to be on track.

I think, personally, that we live in the last days of man as the main factor on this planet. Mankind has become too powerful and evil at the sametime to carry on for long. A nuclear war is inevitable - and the losers will be us all. Perhaps the bee's will survive it and take over (unless vampire mites destroy them)...

As a christian I see the end times in a broader light - an indication that man has rejected god (morals to some) and decided we are all that is important and that the fittest will survive (ie, the rich and powerful). We lose our morals and push on without them (those in power that is) and this leads to an end of days for the majority of us.

But I digress I suppose. It is late, I am tired, and somewhat depressed over mother's day.

Sorry if I trailed off topic there.

[Syrinx]

8. I agree and disagree

And on both those of those points I feel I'm getting close to the fringe.

But mostly I disagree.

Good luck to you. I lost my dad not three years ago, and that has given me a lot to mull over.

Good luck to you! I'm afraid of death as anyone.

[Psephos]

4. Brave post

Wear your Kevlar jacket.

There's more wisdom in this post than I've seen in ages.

Want some penetrating insight into why left and right both are utterly convinced of their own morality, and of their opponents' depravity?

Check this out:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684831074/qid=1115535385/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-6269496-1419300?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Peace.

[The Straight Story]

6. Thanks for the link, let em flame away :)

I used to be on the right, then the left, and now I am somewhere in between.

I saw the same things in Carter days as I did Raygun and bush 1 days as I saw in clinton and bush 2 days.

Whip up fear, in a nutshell. Not to say the fears are not founded in truth, but simply to say that the truth is a moving target and how you see that target varies with your beliefs.

9/11? I remember Okie city. Clinton was behind it all you now, like he was waco. Maybe he and bush were both evil as the day is long in the summer.

There are those who do not trust the government at all (and surprisingly, the right wing nuts in the milita are the ones I have seen who don't trust any of them at all), trust just those with a letter after their name you have, and never trust someone who has an opposite letter.

The left thinks (some do, not all of course) that getting someone with a D in office will make it all better, the right thinks that an R will save the day.

I am older and more cynical perhaps, I don't trust the whole damn lot of em. I hammered on clinton like I do on * - they both were worlds away from being the best they could be for us all. Clinton was way better then * will ever hope to be, but both fall short - as do so many others from congress on down.

What ever happend to making a stand for the little guy? I am not about to give anyone a pass just because they call themselves progressive or democrat. I personally know (and am related to) elected dems that are more racist and right wing then republicans (and was also related, an uncle, to a man that was a dem mayor and worked his butt off for the little guy).

Democrats, republicans, I don't care the party affiliation someone has. I want someone who does the job for us, the people. Following a party seems to be a bad way to go in some ways, but I understand that the dem party is closer to the end goals then the repub party.

What we need is not a party, but a mindset. Parties fracture all that and allow in all sorts of things which push us more towards moderation.

Sure we lose elections now - but that is because we don't stand on principles and ideals (imho). We try to please all groups, and that simply is not humanly possible.

The right blames the left for PC things, zero tolerance, et al, and the left blames the right.

It has been my experience here and elsewhere that both sides really do want something similar. For the government to get the hell out of our lives and to let us be free as possible. From smoking in bars to garage sales without permits to schools, et al.

Freedom is something we all want, we just need to get people to see what freedom really is and to vote for that. From abortion to gay rights to the rights of the business owner and individual.

I may be wrong I suppose, but I for one see freedom as the main issue - less government and more government in different ways.

[anarchy1999]

9. "Labels" are meant to divide. Left, right, conservative, liberal, and so

on and so forth. All are "labels" meant to divide. It is power, "divide and conquer". It is classic war for goodness sake. Go figure.

Once again, can we please just celebrate some love today? Happy Mother's Day to all. Now, go make it happen, somewhere!