The Ragged Edge

I don't know if I am amused or annoyed at the antics of the political fringe, on the left and on the right. I do know that I am bemused that they don't realize they are on the fringe, most of the offenders think they are mainstream and are constantly amazed at the opposition to their sound logic.

On the one hand we have the Westboro Baptist Church. I suppose that given their stand on homosexuality and religion they would be considered right wing. I consider them nutcases. They go to soldier's funerals to hold signs and generally create a ruckus to draw attention to their belief that combat deaths are being caused by a God who is angry at America for allowing homosexuals to exist.

On the other hand, we have assorted lefties who believe they are "speaking truth to power" in this "facist dictatorship" by hurling invective and insult at the institutions of our society, and occasionally cans of paint at it's monuments. The fact they still draw breath outside of institutes of incarceration after doing so is proof that our society is neither facist, nor is it a dictatorship - a fact that is lost, I might add, on them.

In the middle are we, those of us who can disagree respectfully without resorting to violence or name-calling. I might disagree with you completely, but I won't scream "NAZI!" at you because you can't see my blinding brilliance. If you can do the same you will at least have my respect, if not my agreement.

The great thing about America is that we are allowed to have differing opinions. Even better, we have the right, written into our cornerstone document, to voice those differing opinions. As long as our disagreements don't escalate into violence, we are free to disagree with one another just as vocally as we want. Keep in mind, though, that if your vocalization becomes abusive and overly frantic most folks will stop paying attention to the message because they will judge the messenger to be a hopeless lunatic.

In this day and age of interwebtubiethingies our past can quickly catch up to us and smack us in the noggin. What we bloviate on today will be fodder for the cannons tomorrow, and if we can't support our opinions with fact and reason we will be judged on that. Every little rant will come back to haunt us, and every mistake will be thrown into the spotlight.

There are several sayings that apply here, but my favorite is one that I have repeated several times on this blog of late, one that I first heard from Pappy Cage.

Never miss a chance to shut the hell up.

Moonbat photo courtesy of the Barking Moonbat Early Warning System.