Saturday, May 28, 2005

"The Oddness of George Will"

You wouldn't expect George Will would make such an eloquent case against the GOP's current attitude of absolute arrogance, but here it is:

"This is so because the greatest threat to civility—and ultimately to civilization—is an excess of certitude. The world is much menaced just now by people who think that the world and their duties in it are clear and simple. They are certain that they know what—who—created the universe and what this creator wants them to do to make our little speck in the universe perfect, even if extreme measures—even violence—are required.
America is currently awash in an unpleasant surplus of clanging, clashing certitudes. That is why there is a rhetorical bitterness absurdly disproportionate to our real differences. It has been well said that the spirit of liberty is the spirit of not being too sure that you are right. One way to immunize ourselves against misplaced certitude is to contemplate—even to savor—the unfathomable strangeness of everything, including ourselves."

I realize that he's talking about terrorism, and he's right about them as well but is there any person in America more sure that the world and their duties are simple then George Bush? Is their any group of people in America who think they know what this creator wants them to do more then the Republicans in Congress?

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