In followup to StephenT's request for my analysis (opinions?) regarding
Colin Woodard's
/"American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of
North America" /I found myself being distracted by the Tea Party which
seems to be his main target for (mock?) instruction. So I will deal
with that separately here:
When they first stood up on their hind legs and began to bellow in
outrage about invasions of privacy and personal liberty, I quietly
approved, just as I did when the Hell's Angle-brackets, the Black
Panthers, the AIM, the Israeli Defense Force (circa 1969) (and
paradoxically?) the PLO stood up and let the world know that they
"weren't going to take it anymore!". But like all these others, a
mean-spirited hatred and xenophobia was lurking inside the
self-righteous indignation, which grew to be a tumorous evil.
I have as much use today for the Tea Party as I do for the Hells Angels
(or perhaps this entirely different new stripe of Hollywood Stuntz
jokers?) or any of the other belligerent, self-important arseh*les who
have taken a admirable cause or lifestyle choice ("Live Free or Die")
and turned it into a focus of entitled, often hateful "Live Free and
F*ck Everyone Else if that is what it takes"?), behaviour. Oh, yes, and
I can apply that to a radical faction of "politically corrects",
"environmentalists" and similar as well. It seems to be one of the many
ways, we humans can "break bad".
- Steve
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