The truth hurts sometimes...

As I was mentioning about F9/11, there is a person who saw it who still espouses support for George W. Bush, despite the the factual content presented there, not to mention the debacle in Iraq, the explosive budget deficit, an energy policy crafted by the folks who brought us Enron, withdrawing from the Kyoto treaty, withdrawl from the nuclear test-ban treaty, the deployment of an untested anti-missile "defense" system, despite economic policies that has resulted in wealth being transferred from the poor and middle class to the wealthy, and a judiciary that has demonstrably violated the constitutional rights of the Americans.



This person told me that it was "insulting" to tell a conservative even factual content that basically illustrates that the emperor has no clothes, when it comes to making the case for voting Republican.

We are not talking about being rude and abusive here- note- we are talking about presenting factual information. And the message I was given, was basically, regardless of how the information is being presented, offense will be taken.



It's too bad he's insulted, but the truth is the truth, and if someone feels offense at being confronted with the truth, perhaps the offended person had bettter re-examine what he says, why he says it, how he says it, and the whole ethical basis on which he speaks. To espouse the truth is to espouse who we are, and it is evidence of the extreme personal, spiritual, and social sickness in America today that someone would rather not have their feelings hurt than be confronted by the reality that the people they support have given rise to policies that have created more poor, more sick, and more maimed and murdered. It is really the quintessence of a closed mind to attempt to avoid the truth by caliming to be "insulted."



I do wonder though, if this is why conservatives see fit to repeat lies originating in right wing circles about, among other things, Michael Moore's movie, and the Swift Boat Liars. E.g., with Moore's movie, the lie about Moore "intending" to show Iraq as an idyllic place has been repeated. ( For the umpteenth time, the movie shows, 20 seconds of women and children in a park in Iraq. Does the Republican deny that, prior to the US invasion there were women and children playing in Iraq, whose lives were turned upside down by the US invasion? To espouse the Republican lie aobut Moore's movie is to crowd out this truth, whereas Moore's images exist in the context of what we all know about Iraq: it was a brutal dictatorhip crippled by sanctions. Moore never, never denies this context, despite the clumsy dishonesty of Republican conservates on this point. And if the Republican lie were true, why would Michael Moore have wanted to do this in Iraq, despite the "left wing position" that sanctions had seriously crippled Iraq?)

But lies are lies. If one wants to avoid being offended at being told the truth, one should start to realize that "offense" happens in between one's ears. Offense has an origin, it's connected to everything done/willed/experienced in one's life.


Regardless of the nature of the "offense," this ain't talk radio, almost all conservatives ain't Rush Limbaugh, and I am going to be myself. I might also add that despite the vitriol and lies that I hear from the right I do not feel insulted, despite the personal attacks that I get when the right-wing aresenal of arguments and lies is bare.

Know why?

Because frankly, I'm too damned busy, and anyway, it's better to actually hit what you're trying to hit, and being insulted, frankly is extra. Maybe I don't hit what I'm trying to hit, but I try to avoid distractions.

I hope my conservative friend finds peace- but he's going to have to accept the first noble truth of the political process: whether right wing or left wing, life is suffering. And while I'm at it, there's something calle "right speech," and it involves not repeating somebody else's lies.

It's not my intention to hurt people, it's my intention to avoid hurting people- and if that requires feelings to be hurt to avoid embezzlement, impoverishment, and violence, then better hurt feelings than hurt people.