Posts by redcol666

 I'm a RED and I aint under da bed!

Progressive politics in the western nations have taken a real battering in recent years. With the gains made by working class people, woman, blacks, and Gays, coming under attack by a resurgent right, cloaking themselves in the garb of religious certainty.  Still the tide is turning, and good people are not going to allow their hard won rights be taken off them. I believe most people are left leaning and have a sense of fairness and social justice, it's just that many issues can be complex and confusing and the right knows how to exploit this. Sooner or later they are exposed however, and then people can see they've been sold a pup!

Haiku poetry

oh I have tried many times

but too many syl.......ab...les

darn it!

wow! what a heavy topic!

For me respect, on an individual level, is fairly straight forward: treat others as you would like to be treated. This means avoid doing harm. On a day to day basis this means at least being polite and reasonable, not always easy to do if you're having a **** day. To significant others respect, I feel ,is something that is accumulated over time. It depends on your interactions with them and the influence they have had in your life. There will be moments when their actions or words will have an effect on you and your respect for them will change accordingly. The point is that respect in these instances is a bit like a savings account with the person either having a healthy respect balance or, in some cases, being heavily in the red!  Respect for wider groups like the elderly for example is more problematic. Someone who is old should be given a healthy allowance of respect, given their time on earth and life experience, but I don't think they can expect an unlimited open ended deal. If you meet an older person who is just downright nasty, then I think any reasonable person would soon lose respect for that individual in spite of their age. As for respecting authority figures, any respect given should be critical respect. Any one in authority needs to justify any respect we give them. Authority in the main operates through consensus: we give our consent as a society, to be regulated to a degree, for the greater good of society, (otherwise it's dog eat dog). However when respect for authority becomes blind and unthinking then all types of abuse of power can creep in and we find our selves being controlled and we don't even know why!

Peace to you

Col 

speaking as an outside observer, ( i'm from Ireland), i'm holding my breath over this election. For all the reasons Iwigsca argued and the future direction of American foriegn policy, I sincerely hope Obama gets elected. You gotta hand it to the Republicans though, they've pulled a blinder in Palin, trying to get all the disgruntled Hillary voters, I hope they don't fall for it!