However you know as well as I that although this is a letter addressed to Ms. Palin, it's not really intended for her eyes so much as to reach and to sway other people who do have some sense of rationality about them. On the other hand, Palin is *very smart* by all accounts, so rationality may not be such a bad method.
For people whose viewpoint is not formed with rational dealings such as this letter addresses, how would you suggest that those of a liberal viewpoint reach them? By adopting the tenets of those faiths and changing them from within? It seems to me that thought leads to the temptation to mess with religions' tenets and practices by having new revelations, which are not going to go down well, generally. That's not just wrong, it's hypocritical and evil. Real, bible-thumping, direct-revelation-of-god, believers will not be swayed by a few words no matter what. So, although it's not going to reap big rewards, it might reap some.
I agree though, that such a letter is more abort being self-congratulatory on the part of liberals than swaying anybody. The intellectual smugness of the liberal front is really a problem. It blinds them, by making them think their work is done.
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Date: 2008-09-06 04:46 pm (UTC)However you know as well as I that although this is a letter addressed to Ms. Palin, it's not really intended for her eyes so much as to reach and to sway other people who do have some sense of rationality about them. On the other hand, Palin is *very smart* by all accounts, so rationality may not be such a bad method.
For people whose viewpoint is not formed with rational dealings such as this letter addresses, how would you suggest that those of a liberal viewpoint reach them? By adopting the tenets of those faiths and changing them from within? It seems to me that thought leads to the temptation to mess with religions' tenets and practices by having new revelations, which are not going to go down well, generally. That's not just wrong, it's hypocritical and evil. Real, bible-thumping, direct-revelation-of-god, believers will not be swayed by a few words no matter what. So, although it's not going to reap big rewards, it might reap some.
I agree though, that such a letter is more abort being self-congratulatory on the part of liberals than swaying anybody. The intellectual smugness of the liberal front is really a problem. It blinds them, by making them think their work is done.