Mm, mm, mm.

I haven't read Postmodern Courtesan for a few days, but I went there today and she's apparently incited a heated debate over those damn Iraqis and us imperalistic Americans. Although I've mentioned this before, I'll state a few things up front: I am a conservative. I almost always vote Republican. I definitely have more liberal-leaning opinions on social concerns, but still consider them more conservative than the "typical" democrat. I believe in religion, even though I haven't completely come to a "perfect" understanding in my relationship with God. I believe clergy are subject to the same human imperfections that we all are, and when they make mistakes and do bad things, they--and not the Church--are responsible for their actions. I believe people who are in a position to help others should. I believe common sense is seriously lacking in most people today. I believe it's wrong to call someone stupid just because they disagree with you. You should only call them stupid when they are, in fact, stupid, and do something like drink bile on television for money. I absolutely resent anyone implying I am stupid because I voted for Bush. I would never tell someone they were stupid for voting for Kerry. It's childish behaviour, accomplishes absolutely nothing, and shouldn't be encouraged. I think blind devotion of any kind is dangerous.

With that said, I don't think there's anything even close to resembling an objective press in this county. My bachelor's is in journalism and, quite frankly, knowing what I do about the history of the press in this country, I don't think there's ever been such a thing as an objective press. If you think Ben Franklin didn't have an agenda and didn't get down and dirty with the best of the muckrakers, you don't know your history as well as you should. People who choose CNN or Fox News are just choosing the "news" they agree with. I don't think either one is more true than the other. Perhaps if you watch them both, you could put together an amalgamation of truth. So I think it's stupid when people walk around with puffed-up chests thinking they're in the know just because of the channel they've got their televisions set to. You're just in a different know-zone. I believe most Iraqis are happy that Saddam is out of power. I believe people who want to criticize current attempts to establish democracy in Iraq as pointless because it hasn't been accomplished in a few months are being unreasonable. Our country's been a democracy for over 200 hundred years and I still don't think we've got it down quite right. I don't know that we ever will. But it doesn't mean I want to live anywhere else. And I don't believe American attempts to help establish democracies in other countries are bad. I believe we have become so used to immediate gratification in this country that the thought of patience being a virtue is completely lost on most of us. I consider it one of the most fortunate accidents of fate that I was born American. However, in a lot of ways, I think Americans are the most ungrateful and ungracious people in the world because we seem so uninterested in the rest of the world. I don't like to talk politics, although I minored in political science, because I think most people just want to scream about politics and use it as an excuse to ridicule people who hold differing opinions. It's the same reason why I don't like to watch shows like People's Court. I have an opinion on EVERYTHING, but I am not threatened by other people's opinions and don't feel like I need to justify my own.