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Apr. 24, 2005 I am a liberal. I am a conservative. I am a Minnesotan. I am an American. I am a human. I am of European/Middle Eastern descent. I pay taxes, I am a consumer and, every two years, I am a voter. So why is everyone trying to pick sides, as if belonging to one group or another makes you a better person? Are you more human than someone else? Are you more American? Are you more religious? Are you more left-leaning or right- leaning? These things confuse too many people in this country and are signally to the rest of the world that we are losing it. I am a big fan of things like political capital, as if winning in an election should make your opinion trump representative government or reality, for that matter. I love how, even if someone so bad for a job in government gets the job because they know someone, not because they are qualified to do the job. If we assume that the world is not watching how we do things, then we can also assume that the Earth is flat, grass is orange and that men birth children. I mean, how far do we have to sink before average Americans put down their remote controls and look at what is going on in the world? Americans seem more concerned with who is winning in any event, not what the consequence of winning is. If you are religious, for example, you can feel good that you are in a large group of people that believe in something rather than the fact that you trust something enough to actually follow the rules. The same goes for pessimistic people that cannot see the good in the world because they are too busy trying to prove people wrong. The basic premise of this article is not to attack any one person or group but to shed light on the realities that are not conveyed during prime time. We can keep sitting with our fingers in our ears, pretending that nothing is going on but it will do us no good when the world that we so love crumbles around us. But where do we start? Do we take up arms and attack each other? No. That is exactly the wrong way to do it. Violence is not an answer. As much as I would like to smack some of the idiots that I have met, it does no good. Sometimes it feels futile but logic needs to be hammered into the American psyche. Most people are not going to understand what they cannot see on a daily basis. They do not understand the reality, the social class, that they do not live in. They pass judgments on things they have never experienced and that is simple wrong. Where do people get the big idea that ignoring a problem simplifies it and makes it go away? When I preach tolerance, I mean that, for the sake of all, we need to learn to get along. If we glean anything from the likes of The Simpsons or South Park, it is one side of an argument cannot live without the other. Peace cannot be held without having some kind of form of protection, liberals need conservatives and religion needs doubters. It is how we balance the world. Without these opposites, then one cause is no longer a cause but a norm like the green grass. Our country, especially, needs to bear the torch of tolerance. Otherwise we sink further into the hole of apathy and bigotry that is ripping our world apart around us. Look at Sudan and most of Africa. Lest we forget that the world once came to our aid when we seceded from England. ------------ About the author: Mr. Olson writes a column on this Web site weekly and is also working on becoming a freelance writer. He also works part time as a military journalist and, from time to time, works on plays and novels. Email: nicholasjolson@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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