Thinking About Bomb-Throwers

For any number of reasons I can probably rattle off for twenty or so minutes, I don't often talk about politics here.

Side note: I say "talk" because honestly that's more of what this is like for me than really "writing". I'm talking to myself but taking the extra step of writing it down. Make sense?

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I don't talk much about politics but I'm going to make an exception, although I don't know that I'm really going to get that political...certainly not necessarily partisan. At the risk of getting even more circular, I'm going to get right to the point: I despise what I call "bomb throwers" in politics.

Who or what is a "bomb thrower"? I don't know that here is an official definition, and I've not cited what I consider to be the definitive source for such things...the Urban Dictionary...but never the less I am going to make up my own. A bomb-thrower is someone who uses shock and outlandishness more so for personal than political gain. Here are two examples at opposite ends of the spectrum:

On the Left - the "Reverend" Al Sharpton
On the Right - Rush Limbaugh

Both seem more interested in self-promotion than anything else. Both seem to see the world from blinders, where there can never be anything of value gained from considering an opposing point of view. Both are, in my mind, idiots. I know that's a strong description, but as someone who tries to apply logic and reasoning to all things in my life, I find it abhorrent when logic and reasoning is thrown out the window simply because it doesn't agree with a particular dogma. Both men seem to believe that there is no greater sin than having an open mind.

It seems to me that progress is made when we, as humans, consider possibilities. Sameness and blind agreement seem to me to run counter to progress. It doesn't matter whether the sameness and agreement comes from the far left or the far right; both are just different symptoms of the same disease.

So here's to having an open mind...regardless of your political persuasion.