May you live in interesting times…
by Jack Grant…is an old Chinese curse.
We are all cursed, are we not?
The baited breath with which Blogworld awaits the Supreme Court nomination by President George W. Bush gives new meaning to the phrase “the pause before the storm”.
There has been enough idiocy from both Democratic and Republican Senators in the past few weeks to fill volumes titled The Stupidest Things Ever Said even if comments on the upcoming nomination are ignored.
There has been enough idiocy from both left-wing and right-wing bloggers in the past few weeks to make any rational person question the value of the Internet.
Yet, I cannot turn away from the fundamental principles behind the Constitution, the democracy envisioned by Thomas Jefferson that we could never have achieved even in his day which now recedes ever farther into a utopian distance in the wake of irresponsible reactions to the acts of terrorism.
Terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology, but we have a “War on Terror” just as we have a “War on Drugs”, a so-called war that is equally effective (read “ineffective”) in both cases.
In other words, we are fighting the wrong opponent, but the majority with their refusal to make the effort to understand instead choose to jerk their knees to the detriment of us all.
Interesting times…
I think I could live without them.
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Yes, Jack, but what of this Chinese proverb:
“A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man perfected without trials.”
Interesting times help provide the trials, do they not?
By Chrissy on 07.20.05 00:29
Well, one can always take heart in the lesson of this parable…
By Doug McKay on 07.20.05 02:45
It’s a curse.
By Sinequanon on 07.21.05 03:39
Interesting curse! Are all times equally interesting? Or is it up to us to make them interesting?
One could also say that the “War on Terror” is predominantly concerned with fighting the symptoms rather than the causes.
By Emmanuel on 07.21.05 09:33