fun*da*ment
Pronunciation: 'f&n-d&-m&nt
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English foundement, from Anglo-French, from Latin fundamentum, from fundare to found, from fundus
1 : an underlying ground, theory, or principle
2 a : BUTTOCKS b : ANUS
3 : the part of a land surface that has not been altered by human activities
(Source: Merriam Webster Online)
Res ipsa loquitur, kids. They're assholes, by definition.
More after the flip...
I've come to the conclusion that Fundamentalism is the problem. Not just religious Fundamentalism, practiced around these parts by the persecution complex bearing, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Semitic, racist likes of Dobson, Delay, Reed, Schlafly and their ilk. And not limited to the Fundamentalism that causes people to fly airplanes into buildings (although I continue to assert that the only difference between Al Qaeda and Focus on Family is tactics). And not exclusively the Fundamentalism that causes people to murder doctors who perform legal medical procedures. I'm talking about all of it.
Fundamentalism is an embrace of dogma and leaders and an abdication of reason, leading to contempt for anyone who believes differently. It appears almost everywhere, in every discipline, at the fringes of every philosophy; the unyielding, hysterical mindsets of people who will never be happy until everyone believes only what they believe. Faith and spirituality have no greater enemy. A progressive society has no greater burden.
It's not just the anti-abortion rights crowd; it's the dogmatic embrace of the Right to Choose that will lead a woman to condemn a friend for not having an abortion, as the only "choice" should have been the abortion. It's not just Jesus-in-everything crowd; it's the fundamentalist atheist who sneers at any exercise of faith. It's not just the BushCo (a wholly owned subsidiary of Cheney Enterprises) dissent stompers; it's the fundamentalist academics who demand free speech as long as it's not right wing speech.
It's the economic theorists, so very certain of their globalization calculations that the inequality and monopolistic growth caused by so-called free trade isn't a factor in their recommendations. It's the political theorists who adhere so stridently to their philosophies that they fail to see that the strength of markets is false, fragile and temporary unless tempered by public policy. It's also the worker so focused on his rights that he fails to consider his responsibilities. It's the corporation that does the same, in ways ranging from offshore-tax-dodge-incorporating to forming Harken/Enron style distant companies to hold the bad news on their balance sheets.
It's the Us against Them.
There is no Them. There's only Us.
The Us who must approach the world with principled pragmatism, with compassion, with strength, and with boldness of vision. The Us who will keep trying new things until we find the thing that works and be willing to give up on entrenched failures. The Us who celebrate discussion, dissent, and debate. The Us who use faith to join rather than separate.
And the biggest enemy we have is the Assholes. The Fundamentalists.