By All Means, Don’t Take This Personally
Hmmm, as soon as someone says this, you know you’re about to receive a very personal comment, one that is likely quite critical and, in a worst-case scenario, hurtful.
It’s a cop-out, of course, and you may have noticed that we are increasingly copping-out, climbing behind the veil of anonymous comment to hide our animosities. Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, gay or straight, fist-shaker or silent grumbler, the other side is always they or them. And in fear of becoming they or them, we turn away from discussing the things that matter.
What is the saying? “Never discuss religion or politics?”
Poppycock (is that a word anymore?). Christopher Hitchens made a name for himself discussing religion or, more accurately, whether or not God exists and Hitch brought a great number of people out of the uncomfortable silence of their conscience into the light of rational discourse.
Gore Vidal wove the scattered threads of political reality into a recognizable fabric and did it in a man…