...Fear Itself

When I was a kid, every day in school we saluted the flag, said the pledge of allegience, and sang a patriotic song. That's how we started the school day, every day. We were taught that our country was the greatest on earth, built on the rule of law, on the principles of personal freedom, and the will and trust of an active participating citizenry. Freedom and democracy were responsibilities we all shared and these things combine made our country strong and different from every country that had come before. We were, we were taught, the good guys.

Of course, then came the revelations that Vietnam was not our shining moment and that our president was, well, a crook. But even then, those thing were anomalies. We may have made some mistakes, but we were still the good guys. And I believed that for a very long time.

But today, the US is a country that lies, that tortures, that spies on its citizens as well as its enemies, that ignores our global neighbors on issues of diplomacy and planetary survival. We do the things we used to accuse other nations of doing. And the protections of dissenting view points are being eroded daily. That marvelous document we learned about in school, our country's Constitution, with its Bill of Rights -- ideals so strongly held, we gave them a special name -- is either being gotten around or bandied about for pet causes to keep the ruling party in power. The Bill of Rights was established to protect our country from the tyranny of the majority (I believe Tocqueville coined the phrase -- go ahead google it up and see if he didn't have a point).

People say to me, "but Mother, things are different now." What's different? We were attacked by terrorists, yes, but if we are no longer the open, democratic society we have always claimed to be -- if we change the rules of the great experiment the founding fathers laid out -- then the terrorists have won. No matter how many people die in Iraq, whether our government ever brings bin Laden to justice, they've won and we've lost. Worst, it isn't the terrorists robbing us of our freedoms, trashing our ideals, making us feel ashamed to be Americans. It isn't the terrorists, it's our own government. The government manipulates our fears, plays on the feelings we all shared on that fall day nearly five years ago. If we don't give up our freedom, if we don't undermine our ideals, they tell us, then the terrorists will strike again. And if we voice our disagreement, then we are unpatriotic at best, and complicit with the terrorists at worst.

Chances are, American has not experienced its last terrorist attack. That we had escaped terrorism as long as we had was amazing. We can't go back to a time when we felt ourselves invincible. But we can go back to feeling proud of our country, we can go back to believing in the ideals and principles they taught us in the school room, all we have to do is stop being ruled by fear, and those who exploit that fear.

Choose to be the brave our country is supposed to be home to.

Choose to be the free our country is supposed to be the land of.

Mid-term elections are coming this fall.

Choose.

Choose to take our country back from fear.

Why Bother With Forums?

A funny thing happened to me just the other day. I was lurking about a motorcycle forum I’m a member of, and happened across a thread that was in the political discussion area. The title of the thread was “Murtha says U.S. poses top threat to world peace”.

Now I’ve been a member of this forum long enough to know that many of the members are seriously hard core, conservative, republicans so I typically stay out of the debating there. But in this thread I decided to step into the ring and see what was going on.

Much to my own surprise I think I became the “Silence” to their “Moto”. I was not just playing devil’s advocate either. I truly believe in everything I posted. The funny thing is that I think much of what I thought in regards to this thread had been directly influenced by Silence, Mother, and a few others in many of the conversations at forums closer to my heart.

So I guess that rather than simply killing time in a cyber sort of way, and endlessly seeking things to debate about, I am also learning to open my mind and thoughts to differing opinions.

I’m doing my best to try to see things from a perspective other than my own.

A more “worldly” perspective is what I seek.

You guys are contagious, influential, and appreciated.

A Welcome to Any Friends Stopping By

I'll be glued to the TV for the next couple of hours as England takes on Ecuador in the World Cup, but I wanted to welcome any of you who may have received an e-mail invitation to check out this site.

Everything is brand-new and still has the new-blog smell (ahhh!) but feel free to look around, click on linky things, comment, check under the hood, and so forth.

I hope I've provided enough of a framework for everyone to see how things work, and with luck a couple of you will be interested in participating. If you are, please let me know, or e-mail/comment/pm with your questions.

Off to cheer England (politely and without damaging anyone else) to victory!

The Blog | Arianna Huffington: Setting the Record Straight: On Trolls, Moles, and Dis-Invited Bloggers | The Huffington Post

The Blog Arianna Huffington: Setting the Record Straight: On Trolls, Moles, and Dis-Invited Bloggers The Huffington Post It seems like eventually every site in cyberspace has the same to dilemmas to deal with -- transparency and censorship.

These issues seem especially important to any left-leaning citizens of cyberspace. Internet savvy lefties like to have things out in the open and censorship makes their skin crawl. We've seen it on forums and messageboards for years now. And now the issues have come up in one of the most high profile sites in the blogosphere.

Transparency means, sure, let the staff post, let anyone post -- but if there's a connection that puts their post in context it should be disclosed. For instance, even though it's very meaningless, I will disclose that Dr. Rost keeps his personal blog on the same service that this blog is kept. There's no other connection between me and any other party to this controversy, but the disclosure is there for anyone who feels that might have significance. Historically on the HuffPo site, disclosures are made about relationships between bloggers and subjects (this person wrote a blurb for my book, we went to college together, we met once at a panel discussion, etc.). The disclosure is made, the discussion moves on, and no one feels hoodwinked. It's simple and straightforward and had the HuffPo employ disclosed, there wouldn't be have the problem there is.

Censorship, on the other hand, is the tougher nut to crack, for several reasons. First, there's no 1st Amendment guarantees on the web. The owner of the website is free to be as hands-off or heavy-handed as he or she likes regarding what's posted. And owners can be as subjective as they like, allowing some people to post whatever they like while banning others for seemingly trivial infractions or for no apparent reason at all. However, for the left, censorship carries certain negative connotations -- most namely the silencing of dissenting voices be it in books, newspapers, public speaking, or any other forum. If a website is going to court liberal, progressive, reform-minded readers, than the owner needs to think two, three or more times before silencing any voice -- popular or unpopular with the readership.

I'm sure Ms. Huffington never envisioned the aggravations of blog ownership, of facing the choice of blocking access to someone she invited to post at her site, or facing the consternation of readers who felt duped by her decision to let her staff post without disclosure and offended by the dismissal of one of the tamer voices at her site. Those of us who have organized and have been a part of web communities have seen it all too often.

My bottom line on this -- if you are going to have a blog that purports to represent the left, then you need to make extra efforts to ensure transparency and even more prepared to take the heat from the few for letting someone with a different voice speak, than the heat from many for cutting that voice off.

An update: After a few days of reader ire, the Huffington Post has changed policy and will no longer allow staff members to post negative comments on guests blogs. Personally, I think a policy of allowing them to post provided they identify themselves as staff members would have been more equitably, but I imagine after the drubbing, they just want to be rid of the problem.