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Date:         Fri, 31 Jul 1992 02:01:00 CST
From:         "VALENTINE M. SMITH" <CDELL@UMKCVAX1.BITNET>
Subject:      A few more comments ...

"31 July"

31 July, 1992  0120

Here I am, puzzling through another mystery that periodically seems
to crop up in life. People will say stuff, reacting to something, and
you the reader has no idea of the beginning start to the thread. I
encountered one of those earlier. The "logic czar" referred to me, or
at least it was hard to construe who else he might have been talking
about, as "St. Valentine," leading me to wander away from my terminal
muttering, "Now what did I say that led him to say THAT?"

But, he mentioned this in the context of a comment that led me to
think he was saying something about someone saying that my reports on
the state of the world are "selective," or perhaps "ommissive."
Ah..., you have caught me. I confess ignorance to the affairs of
South America and Africa, only less so when it comes to Asia
(generally), so I tend to stay away from writing from my worst suit,
and perhaps boring all of you silly (which I may do writing about
what I know best, but only Jay got on me all the time, so maybe ...).

Unlike some on the lists, I do not feel a need to parade my ignorance
brashly, or get carried away with my concept of morality to the point
of losing total track of reality, but I also agree with the
inestimable Mr. Johnson that I do not have it in me to publicly refer
to someone as "a moron." I came up crude, but I try to be more
reasonable, though sainted I'm not, and have never been.

The "sex issue" on POLITICS is a good example of that. I feel that
that Travis jumped way over the social reality line with his "sex
police," and attempting to force us (for GREAT coercion lay at the
base of his idea) to a narrow Judeo-Christian morality model that
is among the most puritannical on the planet for sexual,
reproductive, alcohol imbibement, and this from a conservative
advocate of state's rights. I always perceived "state's rights" as
one of the "Nullifier" mindsets from last century, and really thought
the Republican slogan of "let's get government out of our lives" was
an integral part of the state's right's position.

But, that DON'T mean "selectively," to fit some narrow-minded,
redneck morality trip of who can screw, who can drink, who can
sodomize, who can abort or not, or who can consort with what persons.
Then, you just have two choices. The "morality cop choice," (Travis,
Chet and Robert, perhaps Missy, all seem highly "prescriptive" from
their "Judeo-Christian point of view.") or the "reasonable choice,"
wherein behavior belongs to the individual, not "governed" by the
state. The "people" are from whom the power is derived, so how do "we
the people" allow "government," a concept and a practice, but only
people at the same time, get such "power?" Why should "government"
govern those who granted (and continually renew the grant) the
government power to exist?

It is disturbing to see and hear what I construe as very biased,
unenlightened, jingoistic, Amero-centered sloganeering, as has been
the case for many, especially of the religious and political right
among us. Why they are so intolerant of their fellow humans, AND so
determined to tell everybody how to live, is very hard to fathom. Us
evil secular humanist types actually are willing to tolerate
trangressions against "God's law!" (Abortion and homosexuality). Yep.
I think the only standard ANY of us can legitimately apply to anyone
else remains this - what does this person do, and how well do they do
it? Not whether they believe in God, not whether they are American,
or heterosexual, or white, or Christian, or any of that crap, but on
the quality of how they do whaty they know and/or love best.

So, at the risk of some rudeness, to all of you would-be morality
cops, STUFF IT! I can't call you morons, just misguided. I lived
under a regime of being told how to live my life by *screwed-up
people!* for six years, and I know that the morality cops would be
worse, 'cause they BELIEVE ... that they are doing "the right thing."
Now, that doin' "the right thing" might be oppressive and evil to a
great many people completely escapes them, but it is but a small
price to pay to be blessed by the presence of so many "pure of the
hear and mind."

Well, there's my soapbox speech of the morning. Open your minds,
understand you who are SO sure of yourselves and "the rightness of
the truths you espouse," that you just might be wrong. Most of the
rest of us, all sloganeering aside, will dourly but honestly admit
that our brashness has led us down more than one blind alley as we
struggled to get here. Error is endemic, we all do it, so stop trying
to be so bloody holy! Who needs it? I err daily, with writing, with
actions, with my kids and wife, with my exchanges. I'm not a good guy
or a bad guy, I just like to work, and that makes me useful, to some
degree. But, I admit it irritates hell out of me to listen to a
possibly smart person make a fool of themselves. Too many do it. VMS
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