PART II: Democrats, Republicans…It’s All Relative Anyway…
on July 2nd, 2007 at 7:24 amIf you have not read part one, see below. Before we get started, Tammy, Geri, as well as everyone, thanks for the GREAT comments! Everyone,There are some great comments waiting for points and counterpoints (we are about diversity and respect for all here on the LifeTrain) so mosey on down to the end of this post, check the comments out and add your view-point. As for Brown versus the Board. There is a “REALLY” fascinating story that occurred in Charlotte Mecklenburg, North Carolina spotlighted on here CLICK .
Part II (It’s all relative):
Here’s my response to the comments posted regarding this piece I wrote.
Folks who use knowledge to manipulate others for their ends are not limited to the ancient Greek sophists. This problem continues to play a BIG part in our society today in present day America (Note: I am so proud and thankful to God to be an American, so don’t get it twisted), which is why I blogged on this subject. Isn’t it funny, the cliche’, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It is this “humble” LifeTrain conductors opinion that today, specialists in many fields use their knowledge unfairly. There are lawyers who encourage people to say they’ve been injured in an accident in order to file lawsuits, mechanics who charge people for repairs they don’t do, doctors who over-charge for treatments; Preachers (not all) who gouge their parishioners in the name of God, and the list goes on and on.
Do politicians belong on this list of modern-day sophists? To a large extent, the rules of democracy allow them to pretend to do what’s right for everyone while looking to their own interests. That’s how democracy works. Politicians are supposed to look to their own interests as well as the interests of their constituents. It’s their job. The only restraint placed on them is that they are supposed to follow rules that apply to everybody.
The tricky thing is, it’s their job to also keep changing the rules in order to make their constituents happy. So they want to be as persuasive as they can, using ideas that people want to hear, whether they actually believe them or not. Of course, everybody knows this. We put up with this in hope that the different positions will balance out into something we can live with…But you didn’t hear that from me…ok? I ain’t not one to gossip…
Oh…did you know. The Sophists flourished under ancient Greek democracy, where the art of putting your own spin on things was an important skill to learn for every member of the polis, or city-state, in fact, “OUR” word politics comes from the ancient Greek word polis.
———– PART ONE —————–
Posted last week:
You know something, I was thinking…uh oh…The idea that different individuals and groups of people can have standards for how to act is known as relativism. The Sophists are widely regarded as the first relativist philosophers. One of them, known as Protagoras, said, “Man is a measure of all things.” By this I bet he meant that folks pretty much decide what is true for themselves and act accordingly. There seems to be some confusion over that which decides how people should behave; rather, individuals themselves make these decisions. So, Democrats…Republicans…think about it…“It’s All Relative”
Think about it, what say you?
I read these particular musings yesterday and I read them again today. I often wonder what inspires your topics. In my opinion yesterdays biggest news event was the Supreme Court’s ruling on school integration. Not including college, I’ve spent my entire life in one of this nation’s most segregated cities, Chicago. I attended catholic grammar shcool and graduated from a Chicago public high school 30 years ago. That same high school has in recent years (2006) been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show as one of the most horrible schools in the country.
When I think about the conservatives and liberals who comprise the supreme court, I am one of those who feel that Brown v. Board was upended and set on its butt by yesterday’s ruling. It is very easy to say that blacks don’t need to sit next to whites to obtain an equal education. While that sentiment might be logical and reasonable, it is not in keeping with the realities of life in rural and urban America. As an educator, do you really think “its all relative?”
Uh…Have I ever mentioned that I am a very opinionated passionate person? Sometimes I can’t help but jump up and down on my soapbox. My best friend tells me that lately it is getting a heavy work out. She says I must have extended its deck and added reinforcements and a chaise lounge!
It is difficult to convey tone in cyberspace, so I thought I needed to make it clear that my words are never intended to be mean spirited or argumentative.
Tammy
Awww, Chuckie ain’t mad.. he knows that we all love him like 10 year old dirty bedroom shoe…
I think I get what you’re saying Chuckie.. people form their opinions about which political group they will follow based on their own experiences and mindsets. That may be true in some cases and less true in others. Take old George Dubya Bush for example.. he is simply doing what he was taught to do as a child. He probably hasn’t made any worthwhile attempt to form opinions of his own on any subject, much less his political affiliation. So like the Sophists, he’s just frumping and dumping through life blowing hot air and wasting other folks’ time. Ronald Reagan’s children thought for themselves however and went with another political party…
As far as the parties themselves are concerned, these groups have specific agendas and they stick with them. Democrats believe in giving everyone the opportunity to compete in this dog eat dog world by collectively reaching back to help those who are less fortunate. In my opinion they also tend to be much more realistic about poverty and race relations. Republicans believe in the wealthy helping the wealthy and forget everyone else. They also have a tendency to form hidden racial agendas and usually carry sweeping generalizations about most minority groups.
@ Tammy, I totally agree with you about the Supreme Court ruling about affirmative action being a huge setback, and it was initiated and rallied for by the republicans. School districts are drawn around neighborhoods which are usually racially segregated. It has been proven time and time again that schools in the minority districts get fewer resources than those in the other districts. By not allowing minority students to go to different schools, you hinder their opportunities. They say that people need help based on class differences and not racial differences, but middle class minorities tend to face far more discrimination than lower class whites. That’s been proven over and over again also and there needs to be a remedy for that..
So my dear Chuckster to some extent it may be relative but for the most part I think that the major political parties usually have specific agendas that they stick with…
Chuckie, I’m glad you liked my comments. But be warned, one of my favorite past times is jumping up and down on that soapbox!
That said, one of my pet peeves is the fact that people refuse to think for themselves. I too, am grateful for the fact that my ancestors survived the Middle Passage and were dropped off in North America. We may have our issues, but the U.S. is a great country. Most Americans would deny it, but we love to be told what to think. Most of us don’t want to do the work of examining an issue or a position. We settle for sound bites on a regular basis. How many times have you heard someone say “well on the news they said…..”? When was the last time you heard someone say “Newsweek ran an entire series on the difference between Sunnis and Shiites.”? We wave our flags and demand our rights but we don’t put forth an honest effort to make certain that they are sustained.
My people-black people, will continue to use as an excuse the loss of Martin Luther King Jr. as an excuse for why we seem to be digressing socially, morally, and economically. Americans as a whole will continue to cry about the seeming lack of a difference between the Democrats and Republicans. When, in my opinion every body is missing the point that you were trying to make. It is the views that are important not the labels. Unfortunately, in America we love labels. If a person, a position, or a group has already been labeled for us, then we don’t really have to think about anything do we?
If as a nation our collective mindset is to avoid self examination, isn’t there a danger in suggesting that politics is “all relative”?
Tammy
I agree Tammy.. we place more emphasis on labels than we do the actual views themselves and the work that needs to be done. We also have a tendency to simply follow the crowd and to listen to what sounds good instead of actually thinking about what needs to be done. I don’t however think that we can honestly say that as a nation we have a collective mindset to avoid self-examination. Some of us avoid it, some of us don’t. The important thing is that we have the freedom to do that if we choose to. We have to be realistic about how these labeled groups are formed.
Everyone is looking for a place to belong, a place where their views will be accepted, and validation of some sort. Some will find their place based on their own intelligence, reasoning, problem solving ability and experiences, and some will find their place based on what they’re told to do. Labels begin early on in our lives.. nerds, geeks, jocks, bookworms, bullies, creampuffs, pretty boys and divas. As adults we evolve into everything from bourgies, soccer moms, wannabees, and McMansion dwellers to tree-hugging hippies, poetry-slammin’ dreadlockers, and bamas. Or in Tammy and my case, troublemakers.
The reality is that whatever lifestyle we choose as a result of either self-examination or instruction, someone will slap a label on us for it. For example, I tend to fall more along the lines of the trifling, no ambition having, lazy, beach bum happy heathen who lives day to day and blessing to blessing and gives not a rat’s patoot what people think. I sit around scarfing down canteloupes and monopolizing Chuckie’s bandwidth to my heart’s content with no regard for the need for any kind of perfectionism in my life. And all of this with a master’s degree, a professional license and property ownership.
Most of the labeled political parties have their agendas and mission statements which lure people based on what makes them feel most comfortable in their skin.. whether they’re lured because of obligation or the freedom to choose. People will gravitate to whatever agenda suits their personal interests and belief system. With regard to the corruption that chuckie talks about, the corruption is supposed to be out of the norm. Most people who affiliate themselves with these organizations and political parties do so because of the mission statements of the organizations, not *necessarily* because the leaders have dishonestly persuaded them to do so. The organizations also have codes of ethics that have to be adhered to or they can face penalties. So I try to be careful not to make sweeping indictments about all leaders and followers since there is honesty *as well as* dishonesty on every level, every profession, and every organization…
So when all is said and done I would much rather have the freedom to choose what I would like to believe and affiliate myself with than to get a butt whippin’ in the streets of Baghdad for not following the political party that has the gun to my head….