We are so enamored of mental tranquility that we stop short at any semblance of a truth, and go to sleep in the clouds.
Joubert
When I was in high school, all the guys would roughhouse. The shortest of the crew reacted differently. Maybe it was because, being shorter, he felt the same slaps in the arm or body slams, like football players do when they bounce off each other, more than we bigger guys. He was five foot five. We were five eleven or taller and probably weighed at least 40 or 50 pounds more. So my short friend reacted differently. If one of us gently punched him in the arm, he'd slam pack a no bullshit power punch that would hurt. He was smaller, but he wanted to give a clear message not to mess with him, that he wouldn't put up with it.
Liberals and progressives have let right wingers say all kinds of things that are racist, nasty, stupid, dishonest, misinformed or worse. It's often easy to let those remarks pass. Now that the Republican party has its lowest ratings since ratings were measured, meaning right wing ratings are at their lowest, it's time to stop tolerating any of this kind of crap. It's time to hit back at the bullshit with powerpunches.
If a right winger or, really, anyone, dishes out some nonsense right wing talking point, like, "there were WMDs in Iraq" or "Democrats just want to raise taxes" or "You want to leave Iraq like cowards" don't let them get away with it. Don't let them get away with any right wing garbage. Declare war on the garbage.
Tell them they are full of it. Tell them you don't believe they actually buy that stupid nonsense. Tell them they are suckers, dupes, being used by rich people and war criminals.
These are times, when if you CAN respond, you should. Failure to do so allows the lie, the abuse to remain uncontested.
Every now and then, one of my writings sends me to my quotation collection. I have hundreds of quotation books and tens of thousands of quotations on my hard drive. My search for quotes on hitting back, on speaking out, speaking up, confronting, even challenging, did not result in a single quote, in the three books I grabbed that I thought would bear fruit. So I went to my personal database on my hard drive and came up with a few dozen. Here are some of the ones I found:
Speak out in acts; the time for words has passed, and deeds alone suffice.
Whittier
We are so enamored of mental tranquility that we stop short at any semblance of a truth, and go to sleep in the clouds.
Joubert
Great things are done when men and mountains meet;
This is not done by jostling in the street.
Blake, Gnomic Verses
Without contraries (there) is no progression.
Blake, Marriage of heaven adn hell.
"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks."
Brooks, Phillips
"He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper."
Burke, Edmund, Reflections on the Revolu tion in France
Men do less than they ought, unless they do all that they can.
Carlyle, Thomas
True contentment is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it.
G.K. Chesterson
The response to incongruities is one of the highest manifestations of the cerebral process.
Norman Cousins, Head First
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