of vino and ignorance

Sometimes people’s ignorance is enough to drive one to drink. Larry Pastor’s ignorance is that kind of ignorance, and so is the ignorance of the people who frequent his web site. Larry Pastor is a man who has gotten involved in the contract dispute between teachers and the school board in the Neshaminy School District in Pennsylvania. He set up a website called Taxpayers for a Fair Nehsminy School Budget. In it he argues against the teachers (and not really for a position on the issue) using every fallacy in the book. He forcefully eschews an approach based upon logic, reason, collaboration, or compromise in favor of one based on fear, anger, insults, and innuendo. Those who post on the site generally take the same approach, an approach epitomized by someone calling himself “Tax Hawk.” Mr. Hawk says: “Nice article against Patrick Murphy. I call him a VINO (Veteran In Name Only). I don't know if you saw in the paper, but during the healthcare fiasco the Dems has a video contest to spead the word about Obamacare. One of the finalists was a video of people spray painting words over an American flag until it was completely blacked out. One of the judges - Patrick Murphy! VINO!” I’m glad I read this bit of wisdom. I had thought that a veteran was someone who had served his or her country in the military. I was wrong though. Obviously, you’re not a real veteran if you support universal health care. Maybe you’re not a real veteran if you support free speech. Maybe you can’t be a democrat. Maybe it’s just that you can’t disagree with Mr. Hawk. All Americans should have the same political views. Citizenship is, after all, dependent on political opinions. If you didn’t catch the sarcasm, I think Mr. Hawk is full of it. Why do we seem to be incapable of simply laying out our positions, and then searching for common ground. Why is that so hard? I’ll have to pour myself a glass of vino and think about it.