Some of you chided me (in a friendly sort of “get-a-grip” way) for my last post. Therein, I confessed my revulsion at the “discovery” that our newest presidential aspirants are nothing more than the same old politicians, after all.
To those who scolded, I can only say “point taken, lesson learned” — which is precisely why I yawned at the maelstroms surrounding the re-introduction of Wes Clark and Bud Day in the latest news cycle.
Such nastiness has clearly become the imbedded stuff of not only our politics but our culture — not only among Republicans but Democrats, as well; not only in the States but in Britain, too — as Libby Purves eloquently and mercilessly argued in a colum for the The Times, which I first read while vacationing last month.
Riffing on the book Makers and Takers by Hoover Institution Fellow Peter Schweizer, Purves concludes:
… every strong ideology offers a licence to loathe …
The fact is that deep down we are all a bit nasty and selfish. When we use ideologies to camouflage what should be our shame, any belief will do. Mr Schweizer calls his book Makers and Takers. He should have admitted that every banner also shelters fakers, snakes and haters: unoriginal sinners all.
So, yes, I remain sour on the human race. Nor do I see a splinter in the eye of our species without recognizing the beam in my own. I can only hope that recognition of our shared problem — acknowledgement of our collective faking, snaking, and hating — is the first step toward recovery.
For those interested in more on and by Libby Purves, check out her brief bio next to the column I linked above, as well as her bio at BBC Radio 4. Her latest columns for The Times can be found here. She also blogs on “religion and thought” for The Times here.