2005.03.17
Once Upon a Time in America Part Six
Once upon a time in America people stood up for other people, even if they disagreed or simply didn’t like them. Like the guy who disagrees with flag burning but supports others right to burn it or the woman who thinks that abortions are wrong and would prefer people not do it but understands that under extreme circumstances there are reasons for having one. Blatant white supremacists have marched in cities because, despite what we think of them, they have the right to Free Speech. So long as you weren’t hurting anyone else you could do almost anything you liked.
One of the premises of our military, our police and judiciary is that regardless of your actions or words, so long as you aren’t breaking the law you have a right to do and say what you will, and they will defend your right. They believe in the Constitution, which states that we are endowed with certain inalienable rights, and those rights are worth defending for ourselves and our posterity.
People used to see people with strange ideas and behaviors, shake their heads and move on. They didn’t try to shove their opinions down their throats. Courtesy was normal and expected, even among bitter rivals. Somewhere along the way we lost this common courtesy. Now we shout down those who disagree with us. We don’t listen to those with different opinions, dismissing them as stupid ignoramuses who just don’t get it.
It is not possible to be a truly open and tolerant society. It is human nature to like or dislike people or ideas and to be prejudiced against them. However we used to keep these opinions more or less to ourselves but not anymore. Common courtesy cannot be taught at school by teachers. It begins in childhood at home and spreads along life experience among friends, family, work and social life and requires all of us to be students and teachers.
3 Comments Categorized: political rights thoughts
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3 Responses to “Once Upon a Time in America Part Six”
- NHK says (March 18th, 2005 at 12:27:23 )
I tell ya, sometimes it seems good manners and common courtesy are indeed becoming a thing of the past.
- dugh says (March 19th, 2005 at 11:21:47 )
Not entirely true
But the trend does seem to be away from being polite to just being rude.- douglas.nerad » Once Upon a Time in America Introduction says (October 1st, 2006 at 15:39:38 )
[...] I am not the best writer in the world, but I will try to give voice to your voice. List of articles in this series: Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six [...]
