UPDATED @ 3:45 P.M.: I can't play anymore. I will revisit the sandbox later, after I get my work done.
Any sentient being from another planet landing on Earth and reading the comments, diaries and FP articles on this site for the past several days (assuming they were not here to use us as a food source), would be led to believe that full scale civil anarchy was about to break out in the United States over a piece of legislation.
Dominionists and Communists will be spilling into the streets at any minute, locked in a fierce and bloody struggle for the future of big "D" Democracy. Not.
The front page here gets scarier by the minute.
Racial epithets and severed gas lines on one side, and bullets into Eric Cantor's field office on the other side. It must signal the onset of the Apocalypse. Right? I think not.
Until someone can tell me why Cantor's field office was shot at, or why Congressman Periello's brother's propane line was cut, and who did it, all of this crap is little more than the irresponsible ginning up of the base. And by base, I mean that in its "basest" terms.
I am guessing that no one left a note, spelling out their motivation. And if they did, I would not be the least bit surprised to find it was a ploy for sympathy. There is someone shouting "nigger" or "retard redneck" in every political gathering today. Some days, that's the news story. One idiot takes center stage. That's sad, really, because most Americans are good and caring people. Most of them. I really believe that.
Accordingly, to be blunt, I am increasingly disturbed at the "us against them" tone of the rhetoric on this site and others. If I wanted to read the Free Republic, I would go there.
When American politics is reduced to the fomenting of hatred against the "other side" through the gross exaggeration of purported "threats", there is something drastically wrong with this country. There are a lot more good and kind people on both sides of any issue than you would ever know from scanning the Blogosphere.
We finally get to the end zone (albeit in the first quarter), and more than a few of us act like we have never been here before. You don't dance. You hand the ref the ball and line up for the next play. There is always a next play, you know. And on the next play, the other side will come hard again, but I doubt that it will be with pitchforks and torches. That's not how the game is played.
The Internet is a wonderful tool, but it is also the most effective way to spread fear and hatred. We should all take a long hard look at what we spread through the ether and a long hard look at our souls and our consciences, before we hit the "Send" button. And be ready to resume the struggle.
[collapses, emits a long sigh and shakes head]
I know, "thank you for your concern". Flame away. I really believe my sig line. I wish I didn't really care anymore - but I do.