I've been hitting the blogs kind of hard lately...
... and there seems to be a lot of chatter going around about whether we should be offended that Barack Obama's ex-pastor and close family friend once said some things that are pretty critical of the U.S. of A.
Now, completely setting aside the fact that it's perfectly OK in my book, even patriotic, to criticize one's own country - -a lot of us, in fact, were taught that its our duty -- lets look at what they're really shocked by: that Obama's ex-pastor's comments sounded kind of anti-white.
There's a whole discussion we could have about whether it's OK to say the things the Reverend said, but what's really at issue is this idea that Senator Obama should or shouldn't have gone to that reverend's church if he held such controversial ideas.
Is there anyone else out there who finds this whole discussion kind of petty?
I, for one, make an effort to keep those friends who I disagree with.
I grew up in Texas and a lot of my friends are hard-core
right-wingers who believe a lot of things I find absolutely deplorable
— but what am I supposed to do? Judge them? Cut them off?
If I did that, not only would I lose perfectly good friends, but
that would end any discussion I had with them about politics, and both
they and I would retreat into our separate divisions of the political
discussion. (Which, tangentially, is exactly the problem with America
right now, if you ask me — nobody’s talking to people they disagree
with.)
And while we’re talking about religion,wasn’t it Jesus himself who
championed the cause of “mixing it up” by advocating hanging out with
sinners and tax collectors and loving your enemies?
Maybe I’m biased because at this point I believe he’s the best candidate, but Obama strikes me as the kind of guy who would do the same.
... and there seems to be a lot of chatter going around about whether we should be offended that Barack Obama's ex-pastor and close family friend once said some things that are pretty critical of the U.S. of A.
Now, completely setting aside the fact that it's perfectly OK in my book, even patriotic, to criticize one's own country - -a lot of us, in fact, were taught that its our duty -- lets look at what they're really shocked by: that Obama's ex-pastor's comments sounded kind of anti-white.
There's a whole discussion we could have about whether it's OK to say the things the Reverend said, but what's really at issue is this idea that Senator Obama should or shouldn't have gone to that reverend's church if he held such controversial ideas.Is there anyone else out there who finds this whole discussion kind of petty?
I, for one, make an effort to keep those friends who I disagree with. I grew up in Texas and a lot of my friends are hard-core right-wingers who believe a lot of things I find absolutely deplorable — but what am I supposed to do? Judge them? Cut them off?
If I did that, not only would I lose perfectly good friends, but that would end any discussion I had with them about politics, and both they and I would retreat into our separate divisions of the political discussion. (Which, tangentially, is exactly the problem with America right now, if you ask me — nobody’s talking to people they disagree with.)
And while we’re talking about religion, wasn’t it Jesus himself who championed the cause of “mixing it up” by advocating hanging out with sinners and tax collectors and loving your enemies?
Maybe I’m biased because at this point I believe he’s the best candidate, but Obama strikes me as the kind of guy who would do the same.