I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it -- Voltaire
An American friend of mine who voted for Bush pointed this quote out today, in response to the "verbal bitchslapping" she's been getting since the US election result, and it really made me stop in my tracks.
We value democracy so highly... but do we ever truly accept what it means? In a world so driven by adversarialism, does democracy even have a place?
And so much for me being liberal (with a small-l) when I'm walking around thinking people who voted for Bush or Howard are intellectually inferior to me. That means my warm fuzzies apply to refugees, single parents, the disabled, unemployed, the homeless, homosexuals and trees but not to those who can't summon up a few rational brain cells... I have a lot of soul-searching to do.
The ideas I've always had about reason have left me feeling a bit flat today... they don't seem to fit in the world anymore, because people make their choices on what they feel, what they believe, and what they are taught rather than looking at the facts and their implications in order to reach a decision.
I don't know. I'm really confused and awfully disillusioned. But I'll leave you with a what another American friend (who voted Kerry) has on his away message tonight:
Dear (United States of) America,
What the fuck?
Love,
Patrick
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