Protestantism

» pink101 - Losing Self--Finding Self

In response to Never Been Told posted by pink101:
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Losing your old self in order to find your new and TRUE self is, perhaps, the first major and greatest break through in life's struggle for meaning.
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Learning the identity of the generalized other is one of the first barriers to self knowledge we can overcome.

-- posted by pink101

» pink101 - ERATA

In response to Losing Self--Finding Self posted by pink101:

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Change the word, struggle, to be the word, search, in the above post.
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Sorry about that.
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-- posted by pink101

» pink101 - Deconstructing American Democracy

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I think we can spend a little time deconstructing American democracy.
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I hope you give it some thought. It seems especially appropriate now that we are seriously approaching the electioneering process.
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Let's take it all apart so that we can have a good look at it.
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-- posted by pink101

» pink101 - Deconstructing American Democracy

In response to Deconstructing American Democracy posted by pink101:

We can divide our society up into its institutions:
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Governmental
Educational
Religious
Economical
Familial
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Those are the five most well established.
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How do they work?
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The governmental includes the political establishments on which we have come to depend.
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-- posted by pink101

» pink101 - Deconstructing American Government

In response to Deconstructing American Democracy posted by pink101:

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American government is defined in our U.S. Constitution. We have three branches, two of which are headed up by elected officials. These are the Executive and Legislative branches of our government. The other branch is made up of and headed by appointed Justices by the President of the United States and cleared by the Legislative branch in special sessions. So, in effect, our government is declared to be representative of the People of the United States of America and we are, thereby, declared to be a democracy..
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But, is that actually true?
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-- posted by pink101

» pink101 - Despite

In response to Deconstructing American Government posted by pink101:
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But, is that actually true?
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I don't think so.
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As we take it apart, we see that American government is not what it was cut out to be. Our politicians have betrayed us. That is, they have put us on a tray and they are serving us up to the moneyed interests to which they have become so subservient. Some of the interests they serve are not even American; but, they represent the interests of foreign governments and organizations. Does that amount to treason?
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So, we can see that our democracy is a tool used by interest groups with enough money to buy our politicians.
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Isn't there a story in the Bible about someone who sold his birth right for a mess of pottage. Isn't the U.S. Constitution our birth right? Isn't the money spent on our politicians a mess of pottage?
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So, here is a benefit in deconstruction: we get to see what is wrong with something that isn't working as it should. Otherwise, we just keep bouncing off the walls.
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Or do we still have a democratic form of government despite the corrupted politicians that vie for our votes?
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-- posted by pink101

» pink101 - Deconstruction

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The act of deconstruction--itself--can be a painful thing as it forces one to look at the problems inherent in what it has been we have always held sacrosanct. In this case it is American Democracy--sad to say.
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But, if we do not deconstruct these things, we continue to operate under the false pretense that all is well. I think that is what conservatives and the Christian Right mostly dislikes about postmodernism--that it takes their protected ideas and concepts apart without distinction.
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People--often--would rather not face the things within their being that are based on false premises. What did William Shakespeare have to say about this?
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"To be or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action."
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Hamlet facing reality head on when he finally realizes the tragic consequences of his choice to know the truth about his father's death. He was a true postmodernist before his time--and, by the way, an existential hero well before the idea was obvious in Western culture.
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-- posted by pink101

» pink101 - U.S. Constitution

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Each and every American should be up in arms about this situation:
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http://ontario.indymedia.org/twiki/bin/v...
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Read it. Test out your stand on the U.S. Constitution. Is it worth anything to you?
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-- posted by pink101

» Migisi - U.S. Constitution

In response to U.S. Constitution posted by pink101:

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Your link wouldn't open for me. Can you post some highlights from the article?

-- posted by Migisi

» pink101 - U.S. Constitution

In response to U.S. Constitution posted by Migisi:

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Your link wouldn't open for me.
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Strange. It won't open for me either.
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-- posted by pink101