Dear True,
I am delighted to learn that the March 8th Bluewater Cafe Upper Deck Forum will be a presentation by the Duluth Speak Your Peace group so eloquently described by Pastor Bill Christ in his News Herald column last week.
I highly recommend that you attend.
Nancye Belding
For more info, check the website:
Speak Your Peace - What's it all about?
True Comments:
True makes a sincere effort to be uppity, and embraces biting sarcasm and is more than willing to unequivocally condemn and point out stupidity in the public arena, and other crimes against common decency. That being said, while True endorses civility in general public discourse, experience has shown that those who point to a mote of incivility in the eye of another often boast a beam of the same in their own. True will continue to call a spade a spade, will make every effort to be factual, and does not use profanity and will generally not tolerate profanity in the submissions the public makes to the site unless they serve a useful purpose.
All this is by way of introduction to a comment that follows the above announcement that Nancye Belding submitted to True North. Nancye's post concerns the Speak Your Peace Campaign which she strongly supports and has stressed the importance of True North taking to heart. The comment on her post contains some profanity and quotes some scurrilous statements attributed by left wing bloggers against, mainly, the Republican establishment. Considering that the profanity as presented is not gratuitous, and serves the useful purpose of demonstrating the problem, we will not take it down. It is more an indictment of some of the whacko’s who so easily are attracted to the extremes of the both left and the right.
True does not in any way endorse these quotes. They have been allowed to stay on the site simply because their existence supports efforts like the Speak Your Peace Campaign. Tasteless and hateful speech is a problem from all sides of the political divide.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
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1 comment:
“Speak Your Peace, The Civility Project” sounds very interesting. I wonder if the folks over at my favorite “progressive” blog, DailyKos, would be interested?
1. Pay Attention.
“Well, George Bush told us we would have to sacrifice... (or did he? I don't pay attention to the asshole.)” – marjo, 9/11/06
“Pay no attention to hand-wringers like Ihlin, who has been pounding her bullshit on this blog since I have been here, about the Democratic Party taking black people for granted, and, you know, some black folks really DO hate gays, and you know, some of us ARE religious, bla, bla. That's not even relevant. Bush wants to KILL you! His buddies are the same damn segs who LYNCHED you when you got too biggity.” – Ivan, 9/12/05
2. Listen.
“NPR sickens me anymore. I really can't believe what comes out, so I don't listen anymore. That happened slowly, but it happened.” – bronte17, 1/15/07
“I don't listen to any military brass because they have been brainwashed for so many years that it is all they know. These people are paid killers.” – Owllwoman, 11/28/06
“Remember wingers will spin it that they won even if they lose the House and manage to squeak by one seat in the Senate. That is who full of spin and crap they are. But pay no attention to them.” – wishingwell, 11/6/06
3. Be Inclusive.
“Continue to not give the Minority a voice in legislation. Seriously. Put the GOP on probation for their excesses of the past and keep them out of bills and amendments and hearings and subpeona's [sic] until they prove that they have earned the responsibility to be legislators and leaders again, given the hideous work they have been doing since 1994.” – Duckman GR, 10/18/06
The GOP Congress members who are now in the minority....I really, REALLY worry about them. Shouldn't we be endeavoring to keep them busy? Some harmless but thoroughly engrossing and time-consuming activities? I'm absolutely straight-faced serious. I think it would be very useful. One could both tie them up and flatter their egos at the same time, and hopefully keep them out from underfoot. – LNK, 1/4/07
4. Not Gossip.
Although gays are often discret [sic] with outsiders, inside info among themselves is stock in trade. (Again, this [sic] are Republican gays - the ones that want to keep the 1950s subculture alive and kicking) Gossip, gay gossip, tends to pretty reliable. Gossip devalues in repitition [sic], but gay culture - which values the ripeness of gossip - can spread it far quicker in a far less period of time - tends also, on record, to be more reliable. Again, its a question of degrees. I'd bet that more gay americans had heard of Mark Foley prior to this scandal than other americans, full stop. – Wertz, 10/3/06
(On Mary Matalin) “How any man could let this woman, an original member of the White House Iraq Group, touch his (James Carville) children is beyond me. I'd make her choose. I really think she is insecure on another level too: A working class girl who is awestruck that the Old Money folk like the Bushes (at least Poppy--I've heard that Dumbya doesn't like her and Big Bad Bar finds her coarse) deign to let her clean their bathrooms. She's like those maids in nineteenth century novels who defend their masters against the other servants' gossip. – BlueinColorado, 10/29/0
5. Show Respect.
“I hate Ann Coulter.” – AggieDemocrat, 5/4/05
“Sweet Jesus, I hate Bill O'Reilly” – Joeve, 6/3/05
“I hate America for being a hypocritical white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.” – coolobserver, 2/8/07
“I hate Bush with a passion…” – PLS, 10/15/06 (and many, many hundreds of other Kos Kidz)
6. Be Agreeable.
“SO know, I don't care what some bible beating fascist rightwing retard thinks about me.” – pissedpatriot, 2/9/07
“Fuckwit J. Fratboy is as dumb as a box of hair, votes GOP, gets lots of business by chatting with good old boys at the 19th Hole, and gets a fat salary at Douchebag Company, Inc.” – Kimberly Stone, 6/14/06
7. Apologize.
“Never apologize. Attack, attack, attack. It is the only way to deal with bullies.” – Miri, 10/31/06
“We do need to speak plainly, clearly and strongly, and we must never apologize for what we believe!” – exconservative, 11/25/04
8. Give Constructive Criticism.
(On Dick Cheney) “He should shut up and disappear.” – Jim Hill, 11/11/06
“Tell the law n order lobby that has been stuffing dollar bills up their assholes for years to go to hell.” – spot, 8/22/05
Take Responsibility.
“When another terrorist attack occurs on American soil, they cannot blame us liberals who tried to save this nation. They can only blame the terrorists--and themselves.” – georgia10, 1/20/06
“This idea that it was the media's focus on the Scream that did Dean in seems a bit of self-rationalization that makes Dean supporters (I was and am one of them) feel better about themselves. ‘It's not our fault, it's the media's fought’ [sic].” – goblue72, 12/21/04
“And although it's true Lieberman wouldn't be spending the rest of his political career spiting us if we hadn't tried to primary him, it's not our fault Lieberman is an unprincipled reactionary. It's really a shame we can't do anything about him until 2012.” – redrelic17, 1/24/07
“And now we all get to pay the price. But don't give me this crap about how it is all Kerry's fault. Voters need to take responsibility for their actions.” – existenz, 12/21/04
“Please, I so hate hearing us blame everyone up and down to make ourselves feel better. Sometimes it's not our fault guys. Rove is a fucking genius... a psycho, but a genius.” – LokI, 12/21/04
Nah. I suppose not. When you’re convinced that you alone are the source of all that is good and beautiful in the world, and thus deserving of all power, that “civility thing” would just get in the way.
-gg
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