enough of the neo-con poison

Rod Dreher presents a well-crafted piece against the destructive poison Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and others are injecting into civil discourse.

How low will these people go? Look, I think it's important to talk about black male violence, or at least as important as it is to talk about any other important social trend. I don't think we should be squeamish about discussing it in a responsible and fair-minded way, despite what the politically correct say. But good grief, Limbaugh is up to something wicked. He's plainly trying to rally white conservatives into thinking that now that we have a black president, blacks are rising up to attack white kids! Christ have mercy, what is wrong with these people?

I won't have anything to do with it, not even tangentially, which is why I took down the post. I can't see this as anything other than Limbaugh deliberately trying to whip up racial fear and loathing of the president. This goes far, far beyond tough criticism of Obama. Does that man Limbaugh have any idea what rough beast he's calling forth?

via Rush Limbaugh hits racial bottom, digs – Crunchy Con.

The term "civility" is a term of conformity to certain often tacit rules that govern behavior in a given social structure. Those rules develop and change over time as people develop and change over time. Even the word "nigger" was once participant in a form of civil discourse. It was used to devalue what the modern white man considered barbaric and uncivil by virtue of skin color and lineage back to the slaves. It separated the grotesque from the ideal of pure humanity. It was a term placing the same value on other humans as one would place on dirt that cannot yield any harvest. The civil rights movement opened up many minds to see why such demeaning language was not just harmful to those at whom it was directed, it was actually harmful to all of our society.

Martin Luther King's dream is quite radical. Injustice and civility cannot coexist. Being civil is a function of being free. When our discourse abuses freedom by demeaning others, it is something that affects not only the freedom of those tho whom it is directed, it affects the freedom of those who make such utterances.

Justice is a holistic concept. When one person suffers injustice in a civil society, all suffer injustice because the system has been broken. Those within such a system are now captive to their own need to exert power over others.

The voice of this generation of talk show bigots is fueling a new movement of injustice built on the shoddy foundation of a people who seem to have forgotten the meaning of not only love thy neighbor, but tolerate those who are not like you in order that we won't kill each other. On a foundation of narcissism we are all conspirators in re-inventing a society that is no longer civil. It is no longer civil because our discourse does not serve the end of living together and working together so that we all may prosper. It is a discourse tearing this down as it incites division and hostility only for a small minority to serve their own selfish gain.

The key to what we wish to be is that to which we direct our attention and hence that which we consume. If we want to achieve truth, beauty, and goodness, then these are what we need to consume. Listening to the poison thereby consuming it gives it power. When we attend to something we feed it. Perhaps it's time to fast.

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