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To Conservatives: George W. Bush on George Floyd and America's Duty

Wandering Monk

Well-Known Member
Think about these things.

Statement by President George W. Bush | Bush Center

Laura and I are anguished by the brutal suffocation of George Floyd and disturbed by the injustice and fear that suffocate our country. Yet we have resisted the urge to speak out, because this is not the time for us to lecture. It is time for us to listen. It is time for America to examine our tragic failures – and as we do, we will also see some of our redeeming strengths.

It remains a shocking failure that many African Americans, especially young African American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country. It is a strength when protesters, protected by responsible law enforcement, march for a better future. This tragedy — in a long series of similar tragedies — raises a long overdue question: How do we end systemic racism in our society? The only way to see ourselves in a true light is to listen to the voices of so many who are hurting and grieving. Those who set out to silence those voices do not understand the meaning of America — or how it becomes a better place.

America’s greatest challenge has long been to unite people of very different backgrounds into a single nation of justice and opportunity. The doctrine and habits of racial superiority, which once nearly split our country, still threaten our Union. The answers to American problems are found by living up to American ideals — to the fundamental truth that all human beings are created equal and endowed by God with certain rights. We have often underestimated how radical that quest really is, and how our cherished principles challenge systems of intended or assumed injustice. The heroes of America — from Frederick Douglass, to Harriet Tubman, to Abraham Lincoln, to Martin Luther King, Jr. — are heroes of unity. Their calling has never been for the fainthearted. They often revealed the nation’s disturbing bigotry and exploitation — stains on our character sometimes difficult for the American majority to examine. We can only see the reality of America's need by seeing it through the eyes of the threatened, oppressed, and disenfranchised.

That is exactly where we now stand. Many doubt the justice of our country, and with good reason. Black people see the repeated violation of their rights without an urgent and adequate response from American institutions. We know that lasting justice will only come by peaceful means. Looting is not liberation, and destruction is not progress. But we also know that lasting peace in our communities requires truly equal justice. The rule of law ultimately depends on the fairness and legitimacy of the legal system. And achieving justice for all is the duty of all.

This will require a consistent, courageous, and creative effort. We serve our neighbors best when we try to understand their experience. We love our neighbors as ourselves when we treat them as equals, in both protection and compassion. There is a better way — the way of empathy, and shared commitment, and bold action, and a peace rooted in justice. I am confident that together, Americans will choose the better way.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
I suspect it is easier to speak your mind once you are out of politics and not saddled with vested interests.
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
There is a better way — the way of empathy, and shared commitment, and bold action, and a peace rooted in justice. I am confident that together, Americans will choose the better way.
Amen. And the problem is, our current president is incapable of that empathy. He has a narcissistic personality disorder which prevents him empathizing with others. He stopped short of developing that growing up. He's the wrong person for that job for us. We need an actual person capable of normal human empathy.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Amen. And the problem is, our current president is incapable of that empathy. He has a narcissistic personality disorder which prevents him empathizing with others. He stopped short of developing that growing up. He's the wrong person for that job for us. We need an actual person capable of normal human empathy.
Empathy is over-rated.
Dubya started 2 deadly debilitating useless wars, his empathy notwithstanding.
A leader needs the right values & competence.
 

Wandering Monk

Well-Known Member
I was never a fan of his, far from it, except for his speech right after 9/11. And once again I'm impressed by this one.

It's a strong rebuke of trump and I'm glad to read it.

You can bet the Bush is now an enemy in the opinion of Trump stalwarts, Just like Laura Ingram, Fox News, George Will and others who dare criticize their orange god,
 

columbus

yawn <ignore> yawn
It is a strength when protesters, protected by responsible law enforcement, march for a better future.
OMG?
Is this the same George Bush who invented "free speech zones", where protesters were corralled a few blocks away and surrounded by police? So that nobody interrupted him explaining why the USA needed to invade Iraq?

Tom
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Empathy is over-rated.
Dubya started 2 deadly debilitating useless wars, his empathy notwithstanding.
A leader needs the right values & competence.
Empathy should be existent, as opposed to non-existent. Of course empathy alone won't make the problem go away, but we can bet that without it, it most definitely is not going to go away either. Why would we enact policies in support of others, when we don't feel any empathy for them? Yell at them to get a job, rather than ask how they can help them, for example?

I actually think, that right there is the whole problem. A lack of empathy for others. That is at the very heart of racism itself. A lack of recognizing of the worth and value of other human beings. That's why nothing changes. And certainly it cannot begin with Trump as an hollow empty vessel of humanity as leader.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Empathy should be existent, as opposed to non-existent. Of course empathy alone won't make the problem go away, but we can bet that without it, it's not going to go away. Why would we enact policies in support of others, when we don't feel empathy for them?
One's values matter.
And one doesn't need empathy to value the rights of others.
I actually think, that right there is the whole problem. A lack of empathy for others. That's why nothing changes. And certainly cannot begin to with Trump as an hollow vessel.
And yet, empathy doesn't solve the problem.
Dubya's & Congress's empathy for the victims of terrorism
led them to commit even greater carnage.
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
One's values matter.
And one doesn't need empathy to value the rights of others.

And yet, empathy doesn't solve the problem.
Dubya's & Congress's empathy for the victims of terrorism
led them to commit even greater carnage.
I would disagree he was operating from a place of empathy. "Love... does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, and does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth."

I would say W's war pretty much violated each of the above.
 

Wandering Monk

Well-Known Member
Not so much interested in Bush's past as the fact that more conservatives are calling out Trump. You would think that this would give people in the MAGA crowd some pause.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
I would disagree he was operating from a place of empathy. "Love... does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, and does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth."

I would say W's war pretty much violated each of the above.
Empathy has the downside that it is typically directed at some, but not others.
If one values respect for others, then find leaders sharing that value.
Just having empathy is no predictor of peaceful policy.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
But lack of empathy is one sign of a sociopath.
We sociopaths aren't necessarily evil.
I recall a story about a highly respected medical researcher
who delved into factors surrounding sociopathy. He discovered
that he was one.
Empathy is like religion....people with it believe it's necessary in
order to be a good person. But examples of both show that they
can be either good or truly awful.

It shouldn't be about branding a person as empathic or not.
If what matters is respecting the rights of others, then judge
people by how they respect the rights of others. Dubya
failed in that regard, his empathic platitudes notwithstanding.
 
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