[MD] political harmony

[MarshaV]

At 11:23 AM 11/6/2008, you wrote:
>[Marsha]
>Is there a word that could be more opposite of compassion?   I don't 
>think so. (schadenfreude)
>
>[Arlo]
>I'd say "sadism" is one step above "schadenfreude", for while 
>schadenfreude refers to the passive delight we get when we see 
>others suffer, sadists get their enjoyment from being the cause of 
>other's suffering.
>
>Democrats must find a way to begin a path of empathy, it would be 
>too easy (and ultimately self-destructive) to follow a path of 
>returning in kind. Years of dealing with the most ridiculous of 
>vitriolic bombardment may make many a little less than enthusiastic 
>about treating their tormentors with compassion (as in the case with 
>Platt, it is somewhat difficult to take the boohoos of the 
>schoolyard bully seriously, and in many ways it appears to be karmic 
>justice), but this is the direction everyone needs to go if we ever 
>hope to live in a world outside of the moronic bombast of the 
>ideologues. But the entrenched whose power derives from Nightmare 
>Politics will, as you will see, continue to stir vitriol and hate 
>and fear from both sides of the discourse, and I see the bitter 
>divide in America becoming even more bitter. Americans no longer 
>disagree with their neighbors, the fear and hate their neighbors, 
>they are "the enemy", a threat, a problem, the root of all evil and 
>problems in the world. Sean Hannity's tagline yesterday was "America 
>Under Siege". Under siege? Are the 50%+ who voted Obama NOT part of 
>"America"? They are "an outside threat" to the "real America" of 
>Palin's divisive portrayal of the only real American's being those 
>who agree with her. Democrats like Murtha fair no better by 
>ridiculing those who'd disagree with him as rednecks. And it is with 
>this rhetoric we will likely live for quite sometime.

Arlo,

Poop on all their houses!   I still do not have a connected 
television.  The idea is for me to look into their eyes, your eyes, 
and relate to that experience.  The exception is this forum, where I 
think of all of you as monks.

Marsha


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The Universe is uncaused, like a net of jewels in which each is a 
reflection of all the others in a fantastic, interrelated harmony without end.
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