I attended a city council meeting for the first time the other day. I’m involved in various community organizations and they were voting on something (very simple) regarding something i’m involved in.. kind of embarrassed that it was my first one.. but I guess there really aren’t all-that many people that have probably attended one. it was very informative and a good learning experience overall in how city government operates as well as ideas for governance.. but right out of the gate good ol’ c.springs reminds us exactly where we are.. the guy, before he says the invocation, remarks, ‘for those of the Christian faith please bow your heads; for those of other faiths please be patient with us…’ says a 4 minute prayer and leaves. we then said the pledge, well.. I didn’t… i mean, I’m not seven, i served in the military; I don’t need to use those tricks to understand time/place, context, importance… whatever, I thought it was weird… the whole thing.
but that phrasing, “be patient with us” ran the gamut in my mind of ‘we are being patient with you! (as a culture) stop keeping us back! to an appreciation of the acknowledgment that they weren’t the only ones on the planet. but even that last feeling started to sit wrong with me, because would they have allowed other faiths to give the invocation or their own along side the christian? I can’t begin to imagine they would. I don’t know if anyone has tried. i also thought it was an interesting disclaimer. I didn’t see anyone else looking around (the room), so I assume I’m the only one that wasn’t christian. I can’t imagine what kind of god would care for our little city council and why She wouldn’t have the opinion, ‘I gave you fuckers free will for a reason stop bothering me..’ my focus then wandered to how long this was taking and how expensive a proposition this was given that entire measures took less time to explain and vote on (of course most took much longer, but still…) overall, it was difficult to take this city council serious after that, but you have to… because these are your city’s lawmakers…
im not opposed to prayer, i just dont want you to waste my time with it. i dont have a problem with you and your gods just keep them out of my legislation. damnit these fucking people. so pervasive.
– oskar
There definitely is this odd mentality right now on the right that involves a serious sense of entitlement while at the same time a feeling of oppression. The call to arms of “Take Back America!” heard from Tea Party types is the perfect embodiment of that: They “tolerate” other cultures and belief systems in a country they believe belongs to them (by birthright and majority), yet somehow feel discriminated against by the very forces they’re tolerating. It’s a destructive mentality, not to mention very similar to the mentality they see as a major weakness in minority groups. Good piece. Good links.