Proud Of Being Ignorant

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/04/proud-of-being-ignorant/38569/

Proud Of Being Ignorant
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Apr 7 2010, 8:30 AM ET


A lot of you have e-mailed me to note that Virginia governor Bob McDonnell has decided to honor those who fought to preserve, and extend, white supremacy. I don't really have much to say. The GOP is, effectively, the party of willfully unlettered Utopians. It is the party of choice for those who believe global warming is a hoax, that humans roamed the earth with dinosaurs, and that homosexuals should work harder at not being gay.

That the party of unadulterated quackery also believes that Birth Of A Nation is more true to the Civil War than Battle Cry Of Freedom, is to be expected. Ignorance does not respect boundaries. It is, at times, qualified and those who know more, often struggle to say more. But people who believe that the Census is actually a covert attempt to put Americans in concentration camps, are also likely to believe that slavery was incidental to the Civil War.

This is who they are--the proud and ignorant. If you believe that if we still had segregation we wouldn't "have had all these problems," this is the movement for you. If you believe that your president is a Muslim sleeper agent, this is the movement for you. If you honor a flag raised explicitly to destroy this country then this is the movement for you. If you flirt with secession, even now, then this movement is for you. If you are a "Real American" with no demonstrable interest in "Real America" then, by God, this movement of alchemists and creationists, of anti-science and hair tonic, is for you.

I think he nails it pretty clearly.

Or read?

Worst of all, these folks are the type who claim "they're not racist", when everything out of their mouth reflects the most blatant, nastiest filth they can muster.

And even if one were to call them on their racism, they wouldn't understand it and continue to use the same discriminatory language to kingdom come.

Sometimes, I think these folks are beyond help.

these teabaggers were 'us' once. They were young, idealistic, maybe went to Woodstock, maybe marched against a war, yet this is what they've become. I do wonder how that happens. Is it all beckhannitylimbaugh? What happened to thinking for yourself?
I'm me, brought up in a family with 5 kids, yet two of them are hardcore conservatives. The 'boys'. The 'girls' are liberal. Go figure.

But if there is anything that I've learned, it is that people make their choices based on their conscience and their philosophy of life. As a result, a dividing line happens between those who are rather restrictive in their belief system and those who are open-minded. In fact, it turns into a line drawn in the sand.

In some instances, some folks have a world view that is rather twisted. Sadly, they do not see why their thinking is so screwed up. They continue to fight for their philosophy based on the sole reason that society must only serve their beliefs and no one else. That is how, I figure, stuff like Confederate History Month comes to fruition.

It's rather sad and heartbreaking, to say the least. :(

Some share it, and everyone is still hungry, but alive.

Others keep it to themselves.

Nightly, I ask myself, am I still hungry?

If I'm not, I know I have failed.

Thnx for the heads up :)