Speaking Truth to Power

But what about speaking truth to the powerless? There seem to be a lot of Americans who don't accept the fact that the US is supposedly a democracy and Obama kinda, sorta, won the election. They also don't accept that a majority of Americans really don't want to overthrow Roe v. Wade. They never accepted the idea that a majority of people don't want to 'stay the course' in Afghanistan, and so on. The vast majority of Americans actually believe that Obama is a US citizen.

George Bush made a great leap forward for the non democratic ideal when he shrugged his unburdened shoulders at the massive, never before seen, world-wide protests before the invasion and conquest of Iraq started. He said it was not his job to listen to public opinion. He was the 'decider'. Echoes of dictatorships? I think so.

My question is "Is it worth trying to get the ignorant misguided minority to actually realize that they are ignorant and misguided?" I think not. I think speaking truth to power is the stuff that creates saints. I think the courage of people who stand up to evil practices, disregarding their personal sacrifices is the greatest power there is. I always picture the courage of Gandhi's people in the salt protest in India. They were completely non-violent, totally courageous, and they brought down the British Empire.

At the same time, I think we are completely wasting our time trying to change the minds of people who think that rape is God's will and having an abortion after a rape is the criminal act of destroying evidence in a legal proceeding. Jesus Christ! How can you talk back to that? How can you talk to people who think we are the only democracy in the world? How can you talk back to people who think that teachers should have machine guns in their desk drawers? How can you 'reason' with people who think that destroying countries will make them love us? How can you talk with people who think that people of color are by nature inferior? (Right Mormons?)

My theory of the day is that it is a big waste of time to have those discussions. Unless you are making comedy, it is really a futile activity. If you try to be reasonable, you are already engaged in a dumb conversation. We should better spend all our wealth and our energy and our mental genius working on making the world a better place, a fairer place, a safer place. Those are the worthy engagements for our times, not arguing with stone age thinkers who have been brainwashed by hillbilly preachers and radio nut jobs.