Let's think back to Kindergarten for a moment...

[gater]

I remember when I was five years old and in Kindergarten. One of the rules of our little classroom society was that we should learn to play nicely together. Think about that. A group of kids with limited social skills, being educated to play nicely together and begin to coexist with those that are not the same as they are, or the same as they have known up to that point. This may, just may be what our President-elect is doing by being as inclusive as possible. There are a good number of jerk-wad Americans, BUT THEY ARE STILL AMERICANS, and as such, part of our society. We have to at least be civil to them, or we are no better than any bigot spouting their hatred for others not of their ilk.
Or is the lesson I learned in Kindergarten just so much BS now?

[IndianaJones]

1. when do we start playing nicely with the racists? nt.

[gater]

4. My family was deeply involved in the first Civil Rights War...

when I learned that you can not educate by hurling insults, rocks, or fists in return for those attacks. Since education is the only cure for ignorance, and hatred has been soooo successful to date... sure, let's carry on as usual.

[IndianaJones]

6. who needed insults rocks and fists? a courageous President and the Natl Guard did nicely. nt.

[stillcool]

17. Really? 1868-1964

there was nothing going on? All that was needed was a bigoted Texan President and the National Guard. I had no idea.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I played nice

I had watched Bambi and remembered what Thumper's mom said--"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything."

Please, folks, if you find threads that upset you, LEAVE them. Sigh and shake your head if you must. It will really help your blood pressure.

[Karenina]

23. ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN

(a guide for Global Leadership)

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:

* Share everything.
* Play fair.
* Don't hit people.
* Put things back where you found them.
* Clean up your own mess.
* Don't take things that aren't yours.
* Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
* Wash your hands before you eat.
* Flush.
* Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
* Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
* Take a nap every afternoon.
* When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
* Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
* Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
* And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
http://www.robertfulghum.com/ >

[Hydra]

3. Nice try

To carry the analogy correctly, Obama(Supposedly the good teacher) brought in the 2nd grade bully to play with the kindergardeners, and people like you are telling the rest of us to accept him because the teacher told us to.

The teacher is being irresponsible, and instead of telling the bully not to be mean to us and hit us, he's dropped the kid in our group without an explanation.

/fail

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. Well said!

:thumbsup:

[Hydra]

8. TY Again!

I can't believe the stuff I'm hearing on DU...but I suppose it's better to know.

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. Mind numbing, isn't it?

[Fireweed247]

9. perfect

:applause:

[gater]

14. Actually I advocate discourse to solve issues..

not just complaining. Without discourse, there are no solutions other than eradicating the opposition.

[Hydra]

15. You're kidding, right?

Obama's choice made it clear that he was not looking for reconciliation...and this is not the time for reconciliation anyway.

Had he picked a somewhat clear-eyed preacher to tap, it might well have been possible to do what you suggest. But that's not what happened.

Obama did the equlivent of inviting Bush to the discussion of "Peaceful Solutions" when he could have invited someone like Sen. Chaffee.

[scarletwoman]

7. Being "civil" (which I'm perfectly willing to do) to mega-church Americans doesn't require that we

elevate one of their odious misogynist bigot conmen leaders to a place of honor at an historic event.

It does absolutely NOTHING to further dialog, it just shoves the Grand High Jerkwad in our faces.

sw

[gater]

11. I have to ask, why not? Doesn't it make us "bigger" than they?

[scarletwoman]

16. So why not invite nazis and white supremacists to speak? Then we can REALLY show how "big" we are.

This is absurd. Rick Warren represents a completely regressive and destructive philosophy that should have no place in an enlightened society. It's not just his anti-gay stances, it's his anti-woman, anti-science, dominionist, theocratic positions as well.

Not to mention the whole gigantic con-job of mega-churches teaching that material wealth is a sign of God's favor. That's an utterly hideous tenet to promote. It justifies all manner of social injustice.

We don't need to welcome that shit, we need to discredit it and disown it and marginalize it out of existance.

sw

[gater]

19. I just want to understand here...

a non-wavering stance is fine for us, but not for the right wingers then. That's why they are evil, they won't listen to us and adopt our beliefs.

[scarletwoman]

22. You know, sometimes there's just one side that's correct. Freedom, equal rights, social justice,

rule of law, separation of church and state -- these are not values that should NOT be subject to compromise, these SHOULD be adhered to unwaveringly.

Blind authoritarianism and theocracy will NEVER be correct, and must be fought and resisted always in a democratic society.

You can have differing opinions about banking regulations, where both sides may have good points to make. You can NOT have differing opinions about oppression -- someone who advocates for oppression will ALWAYS be wrong.

sw

[NoPasaran]

18. A good start for being civil might be not referring to them as "odious misogynist bigot conmen"

Or "Grand High Jerkwad".

Just a thought, if you're willing.

[scarletwoman]

21. I'm very specifically referring to the LEADERS, not the deluded followers who are being conned.

I'll be happy to dialog with the followers in a civil manner -- who knows, maybe it might counteract some of the toxic ideas that have been drummed into their heads.

But I want no truck with their leaders, other than to call them out as the vile authoritarian fascists that they are.

Is that clear enough for you?

sw

[Lyric]

12. Kindergarten rules are meant for little children.

We are not children, and I for one am not interested in dumbing-down the conversation for the sake of keeping things at a "play nice" kindergarten level.

[rug]

13. Even in kinderarten you couldn't shit in the sink.

[Two Americas]

20. I think you are revealing something here

Yes, I think some here are asking us to be like little kindergarten children, and to see our leaders as powerful parental figures.

In a representative democracy the people are sovereign and the politicians work for us and are subservient to us. They are not kindergarten teachers or mommies and daddies, and we are not little children.

We should never see citizens as little children and leaders as the adults. That is an invitation to tyranny.

I disagree that it is the critics who are abusing the bigots and their defenders. It is clearly the other way around.

I also disagree that there is some need to now "include" bigotry.

I disagree that anyone is denying that bigots "ARE STILL AMERICANS" and "part of our society."

I disagree with the implication that bigots are in some danger of being excluded or persecuted and that we need to be lectured about that danger.