"You tell me, How does it make you feel? You tell me what's real"

I feel like a lot of well-meaning individuals are undermining their own political agendas* by being under-informed.

A woman (whom I've never met, but) has been involved in many arguments (online, so quoting is made easy!) with friends of mine, has said the following:
"On the topic of the shooter from Ft Hood, he will be made out to be someone who's just "crazy" or something. there will be excuses, and God knows why. The guy has middle eastern ties and now there is speculation that he had extremist views as well based on internet posts made by him. This is the riff raff we're allowing in our military. It does not make me feel very secure as an American!"

So, what about people with "extreme" Christian views? Should we keep out that "riff raff" too? I know lots of Christians who would be honored to be called "radical," or "extreme." Seriously, standing up and defending your belief in the resurrection of a human from death by crucifixion is pretty extreme. Conviction shouldn't be something to be ashamed of. So what if this soldier was "radical" about his beliefs? None of the posts by the shooter to whom she's referring said anything about killing people.

Later in the arguement, after Christian organizations which have been labeled as terrorist organizations had been brought up:
"I would be willing to bet that the muslim terrorist organizations have killed FAR MORE people than the so-called Christian groups. You can't even call them Christians honestly. Especially considering that one of the commandments is "Thou shall not kill." What laws do the muslims live by, do anything for islam. C'mon...this is one you're probably not going to win on. ... The US should be "profiling" at the very least for our military!"

Uhhh...

I would here reiterate my previous statements.
And I would add that this woman's apparent racism is unbelievably irritating.


But additionally annoying, is the way this woman is completely incapable of effectively communicating what are reasonable Conservative views! She disagrees with the health care legislation on its way through the Legislature at the moment. Okay. Sure. Tell me what you think, my dear....

"Abortion is a HUGE issue in the bill. It is, you can sit there and deny it all you want but that's called denial! I hate it when people try to shove their beliefs down other peoples throats and that's what you're doing. I am entitled to my opinion and my beliefs and convictions WITHOUT being persecuted and belittled for them as does everyone else and you my friend are being quite disrespectful to me and everyone else who has the same view as me."

Ugh. I would, first of all, say that every medical practice is a huge issue in the bill...but regardless... She's accusing someone of denial, then she's playing the victim. This is not the way to argue. No, no, no.

A list of grievances regarding this woman's debate:

• Her grammar and syntax have been consistently confusing.

• She can't cite a source to save her life.

• She complains that she is being personally attacked (she is not, she is merely being accused of being under-informed), then personally attacks my friends.

• She complains that she is misunderstood, but she can't communicate effectively.

So I guess what I'm saying is this: Your unpopular views are worth stating! We need intelligent discourse to facilitate change in all sorts of academia. My friends are not opposed to changing their views. They, and myself, get upset even when views with which we agree are expressed stupidly, or by the under-informed.
Lastly, okay, I know not everyone is obsessed with language, with the Oxford Comma, with the proper place for prepositions.... but rules exist to facilitate communication. You'll never convince me if you can't communicate; you'll never communicate if you can't use our language.
I just... I'm just tired of this useless kind of discourse.

I'll leave you with this little gem from our femme fatale of political discourse:

"Ok, well your views are getting people killed. Let's protect our people for a change. Keep doin' and believing what "feels good". ...the whole country has turned into a bunch of liberal idiots!"

It's not clear (as so much of what she says) which "views" she's referring to. Maybe this? :
"The US should not be profiling anyone, so as not to tread on the Constitution. See the 4th and 14th amendments."

ANYWAY... smart-up, everyone, please. (And I'm following my own advice starting...now. Now.)



*All systems of belief are, in varying ways, agendas. They can't help but be - get over it.