hi InternetHero,
hmmm. i'm probably too old to be here. *sigh*
i remember going to Live Aid at JFK stadium. i also remember marching at Columbia, to push for disinvestment during the apartheid era. more recently, i remember hanging out with the Occupy group when they came down to Charlotte - they mostly wanted to untangle money from politics. there wasn't alot of talk of punishing going on at these events, just so you know.
that is to say, my own first hand experience differs from your own observations, however you gleaned them.
*muses*
i did, however, also attend a town hall event hosted by Sue Myrick, during the Obamacare meetings years ago. i remember an ocean of white haired, geriatric activists who hated Mr. Obama and the very concept of "government healthcare" with the heat of a thousand suns (though they did cling tenaciously to their own "government healthcare").
E-verify was offered to the Senate in a bipartisan proposal, but Mitch McConnell killed it, since he knew that Mr. Trump wouldnt sign it.
- IGIT
Perhaps we can view it as Mill's lamented in "On Liberty," the majority wants to oppress the minority.when given the chance. While the individual celebration at a Live Aid or Peace Rally is "doing the right thing," what the right thing amounts to is someone expressing their feelings a lot of times without examining the underlying facts.The man or woman has not inspected their beliefs in an Aristotelian fashion, but rather feelings very, very strongly about there virtues, often with little examination of the thinking behind them, the feelings in their hearts, or the utilitarian results of their feelings.
They want something, because they believe more or less.
This eventually comes out as not so much helping another group, but making the appearance of helping while punishing the other whether Jim Crow or oppressing Gay Americans. (Or Pro Choice people in different circles. Would it help crime and violence more to outlaw assault weapons, or to change policing tactics and incarceration for gun crimes? The logical answer is the former, the passions of the activists is the later, namely because it will stick it to a group they do not like - rural, white, religious, and "backwards.")
As well, seemingly agreeable people at a meeting of Green Peace or the NRA are all charitable in image when working for the same principles. If a challenge is invoked, the people become more restless.
Let's talk about hippies. I imagine we both like hippies a lot. If I ask a generally, seemingly kind hearted hippy, "What do you think about the poor in India my friend?" and he would lament, with some genuine concern the ideas of peace and eternal love.
All right, my free love friend, I ask, "What do you think of Republicans?" The mood changes, the heckles rise, and the unadulterated anger and resentment will pour out at the "black beast." with a whole strange brew of evils, perhaps real, mostly imagined about the group he does not understand, nor to be fair, want to.
I agree with you here, as a philosopher once said, "If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times." (Augustine of Hippo)
Certainly, in the "Age of Trump," and the more passive-aggressive age of Obama to be completely honest, seething contempt going back to the Bush/Gore battle has bred beneath the surface of Americans.
These times do tend to bring out more of that uncivilized behavior, but we might wonder, was it because we have been forgetting what it means to be civilized?
@Bald1 (He is into cultural discussions.)
