tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post5764056137773934590..comments2023-06-15T09:13:45.467-04:00Comments on Liberty's Torch: Pandering As StatecraftFrancis W. Porrettohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-49533054759177665312016-09-29T13:49:13.075-04:002016-09-29T13:49:13.075-04:00If only more people were familiar with all the hor...If only more people were familiar with all the horrors of war. Were that the case I would have great faith that the two needed steps would be followed by enough to make a difference. Sadly, not only do I not think this is the case but the attendant lack of moral, mental, and physical strength does not bode well. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-91826607645151760682016-09-29T13:43:52.080-04:002016-09-29T13:43:52.080-04:00Francis, I have been searching for the perfect wor...Francis, I have been searching for the perfect word for describing the condition we find ourselves in, and you just reminded me: "hagridden". Thank you for jogging my memory.Malatropenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-59537647564066812422016-09-29T11:59:08.975-04:002016-09-29T11:59:08.975-04:00I'd like to share a little story from my youth...I'd like to share a little story from my youth on the matter of these subsidies and their acceptance. When I was about 4 or 5, I remember standing in line at the grocery store with my father, and a black woman was ahead of us, paying with EBT, or something somewhat like it (this was the early 80s, and so I can't remember if they called it that or not back then). Anyway, I knew that something was different about how she was paying, and I asked my father about it.<br /><br />He grew embarrassed and told me not to say anything else. The black woman looked embarrassed also, and wouldn't even look at us. I knew I had committed some kind of faux pas.<br /><br />Later in the car, he explained food stamps to me and told me not to draw attention to it in public. The users of food stamps were poor, he said, and it would not do to further embarrass them, for they were already shamed by using them in the first place.<br /><br />So in the 80s, a perception still existed that food stamps were embarrassing, shared both by my father, and by the woman who had received them.<br /><br />Today I imagine if a 4 year old tugged his father's shirt and asked about EBT, he'd be lectured about white privilege, racism, and a host of other things. The recipient would not be embarrassed or shameful. Indeed, they would probably be dismissive to the child asking about it. The parent's motive wouldn't be to spare the recipient further shame, it would be to spare themselves shame for having drawn attention to what is accepted as a perfectly normal practice, now.<br /><br />It's anecdotal, I know, but it serves to demonstrate just how common acceptance of these subsidies has become, and how much this has changed in America since I was a child.Manuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13082153758868357687noreply@blogger.com