Start with step one

Scott Adams, whose The Dilbert Blog has had many surprises but managed to avoid a schtick that would become tiresome, has written a post on self-criticism in the context of being American citizens that captures exactly what I have tried to convey in my three years of blogging at Random Fate.

From the final paragraph of his post comes a succinct statement of the key idea:

I know this post sounds harsh, but I think self-criticism is always the first step toward a solution.

We as a nation have problems, folks, and we need to find solutions, not knee-jerk. Reacting by saying “My country, right or wrong,” is both idiotic and the shortest path to national oblivion.

Just ask the Romans…

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(There will be more from me on that reference later… but the “barbarians at the gates” are not always uncivilized, they may merely be differently-civilized, and we misunderstand that crucial distinction at our peril)

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Cross-posted to Random Fate.