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rymenhildI am a firm believer in free speech. I think everyone should have the right to spout whatever nonsense he or she pleases, on public platforms if they so desire and if the controllers of the public platforms permit it.
This does not prevent me from being, on occasion, quite irritated when the audience to publicly presented material simply accepts it without question, comment or even full comprehension.
Case in point: a few days ago, at a family dinner table, my grandfather began discussing California politics with me. It was all well and good when he suggested that Schwarzenegger's advisors seem to be of higher quality than Davis's. I entered enthusiastic-debate-mode and started talking about how California cannot afford its governor to repeal millions of dollars in taxes just at the moment. I did say that Davis was probably not the best governor of California ever, at which point my grandfather announced, "No, that was Reagan." This assertion rather startled me, but I suppose it could make some sense within a certain matrix of political beliefs.
When I commented that no one I knew voted for Schwarzenegger, and that, in fact, the San Francisco Bay Area went overwhelmingly for Davis, things got much worse.
"So why is it that San Francisco has all those things you're not supposed to have?" my grandfather demanded.
"Like what?" I asked in some confusion.
"Homosexuals... radicals..."
The rest of his sentence, if such existed, was drowned out by a horrified "What?!" from me and a number of rolled eyes and stared-at plates elsewhere at the dinner table.
Quite apart from any other issues (like the personal insult he didn't actually intend to send towards me), I would very much like to know how the presence of homosexuals in the San Francisco Bay Area affects the ability of the denizens of the city and environs to choose the manner in which they would prefer to be governed. I would ask my grandfather, but he simply has no idea. He was never educated, nor was he taught to think critically about incoming information. Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura tell him that Schwarzenegger and Reagan are good, and that gay people are scary and want to destroy his comfortable universe, and he believes them unquestioningly. I find this disturbing, even though I think Rush and Laura and my grandfather should all be free to state their opinions. Should I?
This does not prevent me from being, on occasion, quite irritated when the audience to publicly presented material simply accepts it without question, comment or even full comprehension.
Case in point: a few days ago, at a family dinner table, my grandfather began discussing California politics with me. It was all well and good when he suggested that Schwarzenegger's advisors seem to be of higher quality than Davis's. I entered enthusiastic-debate-mode and started talking about how California cannot afford its governor to repeal millions of dollars in taxes just at the moment. I did say that Davis was probably not the best governor of California ever, at which point my grandfather announced, "No, that was Reagan." This assertion rather startled me, but I suppose it could make some sense within a certain matrix of political beliefs.
When I commented that no one I knew voted for Schwarzenegger, and that, in fact, the San Francisco Bay Area went overwhelmingly for Davis, things got much worse.
"So why is it that San Francisco has all those things you're not supposed to have?" my grandfather demanded.
"Like what?" I asked in some confusion.
"Homosexuals... radicals..."
The rest of his sentence, if such existed, was drowned out by a horrified "What?!" from me and a number of rolled eyes and stared-at plates elsewhere at the dinner table.
Quite apart from any other issues (like the personal insult he didn't actually intend to send towards me), I would very much like to know how the presence of homosexuals in the San Francisco Bay Area affects the ability of the denizens of the city and environs to choose the manner in which they would prefer to be governed. I would ask my grandfather, but he simply has no idea. He was never educated, nor was he taught to think critically about incoming information. Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura tell him that Schwarzenegger and Reagan are good, and that gay people are scary and want to destroy his comfortable universe, and he believes them unquestioningly. I find this disturbing, even though I think Rush and Laura and my grandfather should all be free to state their opinions. Should I?
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-15 10:13 pm (UTC)