Tom, one of our readers, gave me the heads up about a Yahoo story that mentioned us. It’s so weird to think had I not seen the link, I would have never known that the article was there and that hundreds of their readers would be discussing/debating my choices. The story, titled “Whose American Dream Is It Anyway?” generated a firestorm of comments. Before I go into what I thought about the article, I have to share with you two of the most recent comments at the time I pulled the article up:
“Try again, socialist.” And “Shame on you yahoo for giving this communist a place to voice her ignorant opinions.”
When I first clicked on the article I immediately skimmed it for the section that mentioned us. I found it right at the end of a section called “Time, Not Stuff”. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not a bad place to be. I whine and complain about purging, but that little phrase perfectly summarizes what CM & I are trying to do here. “Time, Not Stuff”. Maybe I ought to make that our blog’s new tagline.
Overall, I think the article is a good read. It’s about the American dream changing and the reasons for that change. The author makes some good points, but she also makes some points that need to be backed up better, in my opinion at least.
I don’t want this blog to be political, but I have to say that I was so sad to see how polarized the comments were. People either really hated the piece or they really loved it. I didn’t read any comments that were in between, like me. (Granted, there were hundreds of them, and I couldn’t read them all.)
I hope that by showing our children different people, places, and cultures they will have open minds on the tough issues. I hope they will be able to defend their views, while at the same time be able to acknowledge the strengths of opposing views. There’s got to be a middle ground.
If you’re interested, you can check out the article here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/generationdebt/88236;_ylt=Apuwrt1IZHJFZlGZHOk_m5e7YWsA
June 18th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
That’s how I found you…
I expect that the reason the comments are so polarized is that anyone motivated enough to take the time to post about a political or economic article probably has a strong opinion already. That’s a big part of why things in this country are so polarized to begin with… the only people whose voices are heard are those who shout loudest.
I think that what you are doing with your children is wonderful, and I think that blogging about it is a great idea. Blogs like this one are a great way of getting past that kind of polarizing, just like the trip you are taking is a great way of opening your childrens’ minds to broader horizons.
June 19th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I definitely agree with your philosophy about the causes of polarization. Something has got to change.
Your comment reminded me of a Ghandi quote: You must be the change you want to see in the world.
Thanks for reading!