Move along folks… nothing to see here

First there was the righteous uproar over Midland, AK school board vice-chair Clint McCance and his wholly inappropriate, more-ignorant-than-ignorant Facebook page in which he practically urged gay teen to commit suicide.  At the very least he demonstrated casual insensitivity, and joined pastor Terry Jones in displaying, on the international stage, everything that is wrong with good old U.S. Christian hate and bigotry song and dance.

American exceptionalism, my ass.

The guy is an idiot. Anyone with any sense can understand that there are lots and lots of ignorant idiots in America (and everywhere, for that matter). The Democrats relied on this kind of person to keep them in  office up until LBJ signed the voting right bill in 1965, and the Republicans have relied on them since.

Trouble is, when this kind of news hits the international stage... everyone, everywhere else in the world thinks we are all like that. Thank you CNN, BBC, FOX, et al.

Stalin called this kind of person useful idiots. They are the marginally intelligent folks you meet and fraternize with every day, who think they know the problems and the solutions. They base their beliefs on a limited worldview, have grown comfortable with those belief and they are activist enough to force them into the public face in order to attempt social change. They are the kind of people who have helped get the fear and hate candidates elected and re-elected in this country for as long as I have been politically aware, and probably long before then.

Can you say “tea party?” 

So there is nothing new here. We need to recognize the type, try to marginalize them, and move on. We need to cease being reactionary; strive to overcome the polarization that has mired us in this pendulum-swinging sociopolitical quagmire... and move on.

We've managed that here. McCance has been marginalized. He’s had his 15 minutes of fame and has crawled back under his rock. Maybe his children will learn something from this and be better people than he. If his assertions are correct that his family has been threatened, then there are new idiots on the scene… and they are us. If we are going to object to that kind of ignorant behavior we can’t react to in it with similarly ignorant behavior. His children are learning from us as well.

The guy recanted, expressed regret, and resigned his position on the school board. The show is over folks. Leave him and his family alone. Lets move on to better things.

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