We like to pretend

[Mythsaje]

we're so much better than the Republicans. But through the primary wars and now with the fighting over the Tim Russert thing, I have to scratch my head and wonder. We can be as cold and harsh as any Republican, all the while patting ourselves on our backs.

A lot of people are pulling away from DU right now. It took me until after the Primary to come back. I couldn't deal with what I was seeing here, the nearly obsessive one-upmanship that reflected a lack of respect and faith in one another, much less the people who were chosen to carry water for our party.

Some of the arrogance I've seen is truly stunning. People who cheer the idea of bad things happening to others just to prove a socio-political point. People who see nothing wrong with using power and influence to force people to conform to THEIR ideals. People who are just as willing as any Republican to cast judgment on people they don't even know. I'm not talking about taking a stand for economic or racial justice, but on what (or where) someone may choose to eat, shop, or visit.

We're occasionally accused of being "elitists," but one must remember that many of the same people who say these things also like to suggest that we're unemployed. Unemployed elitists? Now there's a trick, eh?

We see time and time again these kinds of arguments spring up, especially when someone dies. Where do we draw the line between righteousness and self-righteousness? When shall we look to the mote in our own eye?

We often tread the narrow way between judgment and hypocrisy. And when someone dares to lift a mirror to show us who we are, how do we react? Badly, at times.

We cannot become the opposite side of their tarnished coin, so certain of ourselves that we cannot question our own assumptions from time to time.

If we'd stand to defend one of ours for doing the same thing we'd condemn one of theirs for doing, we've crossed a line we should not cross. If we assume we have the right to 'save someone from him or her self' based on a value judgment, we're walking a tightrope stretched across a yawning chasm. We might as well be out there trying to 'save souls.'

From time to time it's good to take time to assess ourselves and decide whether we like what we're becoming.

[BOHICA06]

1. Amen ..... nt

[fasttense]

2. You are right. We are all nothing but Freepers. I will alert on myself immediately. n/t