I have had to refuse another comment, and I had to make another examination of conscience. Do I have the right to refuse comments because I do not agree with the expressed opinions? I have said it before – I think I am open-minded and prepared to discuss.
I posted an article that would inevitably be open to comments about the Welfare State and themes that would bring the 1930’s and the 2010’s to have all too much in common. Before I closed the comment box, I found a pending comment supporting the current political tendencies towards the “extreme right” and an attitude of hatred that would only ignite more bitterness and hatred. We have Le Pen in France and there is Donald Trump in the USA. I think we will regret it if either of these two demagogues get into power, just as we languish in hopelessness in the current climate of oscillation between “conservatives” and “socialists”.
The general situation is getting very ugly, and articles I read in the “alternative news” give reasoned arguments about the imminence of a new world war, which would escalate and kill us all. The “enemy” isn’t only the others. It is ourselves and the political leaders some of us would like to put into power. Who would I vote for in France? I do know that increasing numbers of people are voting with blank ballots, because there is no solution and no hope in the present system or what any that untried parties are proposing.
In spite of our dead-end situation of check-mate, the solution for a better world is not hatred and violence. Wars will be fought and will have to be fought, unless we want to finish up under Daesh or Big Brother – or under the Jackboot!
I will not allow comments that incite hatred, and I wonder how many “borderline” comments I have allowed. It is a difficult responsibility. I ask commenters to self-moderate. I tolerate many things, but gratuitous hatred is something else…
