I called our Mom yesterday and we talked about a lot of things. One thing that came up in the conversation was, "I HATE GW Bush!" She alse thinks he's stupid. I was amazed at the amount of vitriol in her voice when she said those things. I am also amazed that this is the same person who tried to teach us not to hate others. She tried to teach us to look at all sides of an issue and come to our own conclusion about it. What happened? It seems that she has been infected with the same malady that the Left has, unthinking hatred of an individual regardless of whether that individual is personally known or not.
Where does the hatred come from? Why is so much directed at the President? I believe there are two main reasons that he is so reviled by the Left. The first one is his belief in Christ. They can't accept that someone can be in a position of power without trying to impose their belief or philosophy on the group. His belief in God, his trust in the Bible and prayer frosts the ones who believe (I have heard some express this) that it is all right to have a religion as long as it is kept to oneself. The second one is something a little less visible but no less important to the Left, GW says things and then tries to get those things done. Amazing, someone whose word means something. This is changing the whole picture of politics, after all, who really believes the elected will really do what they promise? When Clinton was in office, I disliked his efforts to move the country towards the Left, I was appalled at his shenanigans with interns and I thought that his actions on the foreign policy front were absurd, but I didn't hate him. I thought he was an embarassment when he tried to split hairs on the meaning of "is". But I didn't hate him. I can't hate him, I don't know him. I am a Christian and I am supposed to love my neighbor as myself, and I am supposed to pray for the leaders of the country. It's hard to hate someone and pray for them at the same time.
I find the level and strength of the hatred is appalling. I can't imagine the same people who want to draft and enforce "hate crimes legislation" don't see their own difficulties with intolerance. Is tolerance of the Left's ideas as important as tolerance of the Right's ideas? It would appear that everyone is supposed to tolerate the ideas of the Left, BUT the Left doesn't have to follow suit for, after all, "they are correct". Not to mention, that if we don't tolerate their ideas and agenda then they will call us all sorts of names...
Graywolf adds - I too, was quite surprised at my mother's words regarding her feelings of hatred towards President Bush, and am saddened by that attitude. My brother is correct when he states that she taught us to be tolerant of others, as did our dad to a certain degree. I wonder who has influenced her to take this train of thought? Oh, well, she's still my mom, and I still love her.
Note: This was originally posted by Dither.
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