Yes, there's the Bible. I'm not going to go there, for now.
But then there's Dr. Seuss's the Sneetches and Other Stories, the best and most "liberal" (when liberal meant tolerance and freedom) book ever written. Think about it:
1. What divided the Sneetches, except their own prejudices exploited by foreigners?
2.What is there to say about the North-going and South-going Zax? Despite what they say, the Republicans refuse to move to the left or to the right, prefererring the Statist, morally infantile and economically corrupt power-brokers (like the Bushes) as their standard-bearers. Democrats similarly are loathe to budge either to the left or the right. This isn't a contest over morality, it is a contest over raw power. The North-going and South-going Zax, both stupid, both unwilling to see the nation's broader interest as something more important than their current stand-off/contest of egoes, represent the USA today. We might be "evenly divided" on the issues, but fortunately we still have enough freedom to move on.
3. Mrs. McCave, who had 23 sons and named them all Dave. If ever there is a parable of making things "easier" by the State by pretending that "everyone is equal" by arbitrarily giving them the same name, this is it.
4. The jolly green pants with no one inside them. Like, perhaps, Iraq with no weapons of mass destruction inside? What may seem scary isn't necessarily scary, and we shouldn't live our lives dictated by fear.
These are just random thoughts, an outline to a larger column.
James Leroy Wilson's one-man magazine.
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The Sneetches is indeed one of the best books ever written. I don't know ANYONE who doesn't like it.
ReplyDeleteAbout the Sneetches: There is no indication that the prejudices would ever have been resolved WITHOUT the foreign exploitation. So the Sneetches were out a few bucks. They end by living together happily.
About the Pair of Green Pants: I agree that we shouldn't live our lives dictated by fear. However, I am acquainted with one of the inspectors who went to Iraq looking for WMD. He is a person I've greatly respected for years and is not a huge Bush fan. He saw enough to think that America has every right to be over there. Strangely enough he's not broadcasting classified information. I also saw in the news several weeks ago that there was evidence of such weapons. It was also in the news that Saddam used biological weapons against the Kurds in his own country, so the threat was obviously real, at least to some extent. To sum up, I agree with what I perceive to be the main point of Jim's point, but not his example.
Ruth