jimjamuser |
08-23-2020 12:01 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Choro&Swing
(Post 1820931)
It is now known that a great many of the supposedly clever or trenchant or incendiary political or social memes we see online are spread by Russian or Chinese security or government or military agencies as a way to destabilize our country and make us hate each other. (They are also spread by other governments and also by people trying to make money.) If we share them because we know they are over-the-top, but we think they are funny, or even think they are true, we are helping to rip our country apart.
Therefore, I hereby vow that I will share no more social or political memes on social media, from now on. I may share photos of puppies or kitties or clouds or wild animals or sunsets or whatever, but nothing that mocks or belittles or demeans or lies. I may share useful articles from reliable sources about political issues or social interests. I will continue to like and support who or what I like and dislike and not support who or what I like. I may continue to make my opinion heard. But I won’t do it with these politically or socially divisive memes because I love my country and want what I think is best for all of us.
Will you join me in taking this vow? Let’s take this country back to when we generally got along with most people and were polite to most people, even when they scared us, no matter their party, creed, or color, so long as they behaved themselves and obeyed the law and had a smile and an honest handshake. (Okay, now I’m just getting silly, but you know what I mean.)
Please join me. Civility is the path to respect and cooperation.
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Here, here! I vote for civility. And that was a beautifully way of putting a desire to return to past, less confrontational and polarized times. It is a wonderful desire, a wonderful aspiration. I fear, but with some small degree of hope, that we have gone too far - that a return to civility requires us to overcome some obstacles in the next months of the year. Then the progress will be slow and tedious. I fear that the forces of anti-civility are strong and have been getting stronger. I often ask, "where do you go when you've gone too far"? We can't curl up in a ball and hibernate like a bear until it all goes away? There is a whole laundry list of things that have gone too far. They all affect CIVILITY.
Wealth disparity - - - now that we have gone too far, what can we do? Ask people to give back their wealth for the common good. Now, THAT would be a CIVIL thing to do. It would help stabilize CIVILization and society. Will that happen overnight? - NO way! Can changes to the Federal and State taxes due the job? Yes, after years of a "pulling teeth" type of struggle. Will that happen? - I doubt it. So, CIVILITY is a nice HOPE that is tied to everything else in society. I and we can hope for it. I don't expect it in my lifetime and there is very little that I or any one person can do about it.
Global Warming - like the fires in California - how is that related to CIVILITY? Well, to be overly philosophic about that question - we, the main polluters of the world, have NOT been CIVIL toward mother nature, the earth. Then, mother nature reflects back that negative energy upon us. For example, many countries in the Southern Hemisphere are experiencing crop failure and extreme poverty which in 50 years will have them migrating northward to Europe and the US. That will cause wars, which are an ultimate form of INCIVILITY. Right here and now in Florida, it is predicted that the Hurricane Season will be THE worse in 37 years. This COULD (?) create uncertainty, chaos and therefore incivility. Issues of confusion or chaos that are smaller than the large pattern of Global Warming can also generate INCIVILITY. For example current uncertainty surrounding voting issues - there will be some degree (large or small?) over the issue of voting.
My conclusion is that large, very large patterns CAUSE this somewhat vague feeling that we all have about CIVILITY decreasing. -----apologies for the length of this post.
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