tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310464.post7527387910911287581..comments2024-02-26T13:34:55.746-06:00Comments on Comrade Kevin's Chrestomathy: More Than a Mob MentalityComrade Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11393718048145784837noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12310464.post-19602035153720580022009-08-14T11:27:38.279-05:002009-08-14T11:27:38.279-05:00Just one facet of a complex gemstone — I like that...Just one facet of a complex gemstone — I like that. <br /><br />Among Nietzsche’s store of aphorisms, there is this: “Where one can no longer love, there one should <i>pass by</i>.” In this case, if all you can feel toward the “wingnuts” is hatred or contempt, then your best course is to do nothing. You can still work on health care reform, for instance by putting pressure on your lawmakers. But do nothing to engage the hated enemy. <br /><br />I don’t think it’s possible to be a change agent for people, as you describe here, without loving them in some sense. <br /><br />Here’s a tough comparison. If SNCC volunteers in Mississippi could love the sheriff's deputies and vigilante bigots who beat them bloody and murdered their friends, it doesn’t seem impossible for us to love desperate, scared-shitless people who scream out loud at public meetings. <br /><br />Not every conflict calls for a weapon. Not even in politics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com