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but there **are** problems with that article, as well-meaning as it seems to be.
for example, despite claims to the contrary, it does function to trivialize political differences, simple by assuming that religious discourse can function as a linking term, that everyone is really the same underneath it all---cant we just get along? as if the stakes of political debate can be reduced to simple differences of opinion that can be reconciled under the general rubric of "patriotism"....
i do not see the problem with debate between very different positions--it might not always be productive of some overarching consensus, but so what? discussion can be an end in itself, particularly in a pseudo-democracy like this one, where no degree of discussion can possibly translate into meaningful power for the people. and if the positions folk adopt are relatively hard, again so what? the problems come not in the type of political position, but in the way you react to conflict. for myself, i get annoyed at the self-referential world of conservative ideology primarily because i so rarely see a willingness on the part of folk who see the world through that frame to look at their own positions, to lay out the premises of their arguments: in short to engage in meaningful debate. but i also recognize (after a considerable period) that this could be a function of my relation to/assumptions about that discourse.
i find that i am sometimes surprised in this forum by how particular to myself these assumptions can be---and that surprise is the good part of procrastinating in my 3-dimensional life by posting here.
i also understand that i am hardly a saint when it comes to writing as though snippy--which is, in fact, rarely the case--debate is a chessgame, for the most part. that said, i am not interested in finding a middle ground with conservatives. i am interested in demolishing their positions whenever the chance presents itself. i find contemporary conservative discourse be be a dangerous thing. but at the same time, i know that my views are particular, that they sit on types of arguments and that the exposing of these arguments is an important part of discussion, that i am not necessarily right.
so i dont see the problem with debate.
i do see problems with attempts to make debate go away.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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