The Dusty Dog

A Letter From My Friend

I found this exchange kind of interesting. I'm sure you all will, also. :-) This pretty much speaks for itself. Needless to say, particular personal stuff was removed.

A letter from Rich:

FYI - Like the bumpersticker says, "If you're not angry, you're not paying
attention."

David Serota article Link

My reply to him:

As always, great hearing from you. I just want you to know that I actually have, really, that bumper sticker on my car right now.

I've read about that issue. I've been rather on top of this crap for a number of reasons. First of all, I have this political bone in my body that just won't let me be apolitical. And, speaking of bones, I've been home alot lately, as in not working, because I have a broken ankle. I've been spending way too much time in bed watching all this crap unfold. I broke my ankle a week before Katrina, so I spent hours and hours and hours glued to the TV.

Thanks for David Serota's article, which I had not read, even though I spend way too much time on the internet, also. He's one of the good guys. This article sums up the GOP bastards really well. I hate them. I'll never understand that mindset. To understand it, you have to be filthy rich and benefit from them, having an unhealthy degree of selfishness to go along with it. Or, if you're poor, you have to be a stupid diehard, dumbya supporter who for some bizarre reason, things the dumbya admins are good for this country. I guess they are just not paying attention. But, it's worse than that. They really think they are. But, they're paying attention to the likes of Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Faux Fox News, etc. And, amazingly enough, these idiots are so idiotic, that they don't see that it is just people like them that this administration is looking to screw. Why are there so many idiots in the world?

Rich's reply back to me:

I'm glad to learn that you have that bumpersticker on your car. I have "Question Authority" and "Think Globally, Act Locally" bumperstickers on mine. Needless to say, I get lots of weird stares from other (mostly conservative Mormon) drivers here in southwest Utah. I realize that it is asking too much of drivers to think, question, and act; all on one bumper.

I agree with all of your points. You asked why there are so many idiots in the world. I have been giving this a lot of thought lately, and I think that religion plays a major role. Religious people are trained to have faith. Faith that their religious leaders and principles are correct and holy. By extension, people of faith may likewise tend to accept that their political leaders (especially those overtly or tacitly endorsed by their religious leaders) are inherently good, trustworthy people who are doing the right thing.

I work with and around lots of conservative Mormons. They are not bad, stupid, or evil people. But they keep voting in lock-step for Republicans who consistently give most of them (except the millionaires) the shaft. This does not make logical sense until you factor in the role of religion and faith. When you do, you begin to see that they are trained to put FAITH above worldly matters like logic or intelligence. So, when their Mormon leaders and friends say to trust the GOP, they do. The pattern continues. Maybe this explains why lemmings also follow their leaders over cliffs (Mormon lemmings?). Anyway, I think we should worry about religious fundamentalists wherever they exist (Iraq or here).

posted by Dusty Dog at 10/01/2005