I try not to be terribly combative in real life. It’s a struggle because I have a temper. I have discovered an activity that helps me be more patient and also helps me analyze political and social issues to a much more fine degree.
I read Todd Starnes’s Fox opinion blog. It’s a kind of like a conservative gawker in a weird way. His posts are very short and generally express anguish over something somebody else has done. He also enjoys declaring wars for others, like a liberal “war” on Christianity, or whatever.
So, some Colorado students as part of a multicultural club decided to say the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic. People would’ve likely not gotten too upset if they had not used the Arabic cognate “allah” instead of “god.”
Where my education lies, however, is not with Starnes, but with the comment section. It’s an opportunity for me to converse with those who disagree with me over almost everything. People get very upset with me, insult me, are sexist, degrading, or insult me for having gone to Berkeley. I’m kind of used to it.
Where I learn things, however, is in my use of Aristotelian rhetoric. I simply ask questions.
I find that I’ve hit a point in my life when I can walk up to the sawed tree trunk of my own life and count the rings by events and transitions. I can place a finger on songs, news, deaths, births, and remember how my eyes focused on things, what my interests were, who I was. I can remember myself as found. I was flowing like the blood of Princess Diana.
Ranger Bagel
