BuzzFlash Reader Contribution

December 15, 2004

Embracing Ignorance Over Knowledge

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

Dear Buzz,

In a Nov. 23, 2004 broadcast, during his program segment called "The Point," Sinclair Broadcast Group vice president Mark Hyman said the following:

The Angry Left "ridicule what red-staters see as moral values and in their arrogant and superior way, the Angry Left substitute their own topics they claim to represent real moral values: unjust war, tax relief and indifference to the environment."

That is, of course, patent nonsense; and furthermore it is nasty and a highly partisan use of the public's airwaves.

Thirty-five years ago, Kenneth Clark spelled out a set of values with which I am in accord:

"I believe that order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more valuable than ideology."

-- excerpt from Civilization - Chapter 13 - Heroic Materialism - by Lord Kenneth Clark

And what of my own moral values?

I think my moral values are better than those of people who would embed inequality in our Constitution, and better than those of people who believe they are right all the time and that anyone who does not agree with them is wrong.

I think my moral values are better than those of people who despise well-educated people and sneeringly refer to them as the "elite"; apparently their moral values cause them to embrace ignorance over knowledge.

I think my moral values are better than those of people who wish to exclude certain people from the fruits of our society. I believe in "inclusion" and they believe in "exclusion."

My moral values lead me to wish to feed, clothe, educate, nurture and heal all children, not just the children of the rich.

My moral values teach me to respect people of other cultures and other subdivisions of mankind. "Their" moral values teach them that anyone NOT like them is wrong and should have to change or be thrown out like so much garbage.

I think the moral values of Democrats are far superior to the so-called moral values of bigots, extremists, and "religious" fundamentalists who aren't religious at all but are just posing as religious people and as Christians, but are neither.

Bigots like Mr. Hyman -- who champion ignorance -- may dominate the airwaves but they do not hold the high moral ground.

A Loyal BuzzFlasher

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

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