Zealotry: the Final Act

[ixion]

Zealotry
n : excessive intolerance of opposing views
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University


\Zeal"ot*ry\, n. The character and behavior of a zealot; excess of zeal; fanatical devotion to a cause.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.




If this last presidential election has shown anything, it's that there are millions of zealots in America. Don't let them fool you with labels like 'compassionate conservatism'. These are merely brand names placed there like kiosks for those lost souls who are not paying attention.

Those who are paying attention have been given a 'free speech zone', of sorts, with the latest label being applied to them: the 'reality-based community', to which I am a proud member.

I am in good company. I have people like Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine, Albert Einstein and a host of others who live in the community with me. Tolerance is a virtue here, with one exception: zealotry.

Zealotry.

Zealots of many stripes are responsible for more death and suffering and loss than of any other human manifestation. Zealotry is at the core of greed and power. Zealotry is the fuel that drives terrorism, which forms a perfect storm when the victims of terrorist acts react with fear. Zealotry feeds on fear, which in turn enables absolute power, which in turn leads to corruption. This has been evidenced time and time and time again historically, yet as a civilization we appear to be doomed to repeat this over and over again.

To those of us in the 'reality-based community', this is excruciatingly painful to watch.

It's painful, because Zealotry is the Final Act of any great civilization. Take your pick: Rome, Egypt, China, Japan, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France, Russia -- the list goes on and on. All these countries have been under the control of Zealots at one time or another, and all of them suffered dearly for it. All of them lost their spot as 'King of the Hill'.

And now here in America, it seems there are many who would like to try and recreate some of that 'magic' that spawned such cultural abortions as the Crusades or the Inquisition. Despite the fact that these cultural manifestations have led to the decline of their respective civilizations, it seems that it's once again fashionable to be a barbarian zealot.

I weep for the country I was raised in, for the country I was raised to believe was Moral and Virtuous, and above all Free. Freedom is the ability to make decisions for yourself, freedom is the ability to live your life as you chose, not as you are told to do. Freedom is the opposite of Zealotry. Freedom is the only way we will truly know collective peace. That is, when people are allowed to live their life as they chose to do, without fear of reprisal by those elected only to serve, not to ordain.

When Zealotry reigns, when dissent is squelched, when science is politicized, when religious dogma is deemed the master of logic, we have reached the pinnacle of Zealotry, and from there on forward the only path is the path of decline, as the Roman Empire declined, as the Aztec Empire declined, as the British Empire declined, so will we decline, because we've allowed the Zealots to take command.

And why? Because there are those of us who fear some religious zealots hiding somewhere in a Mideast desert.

Such is the (sic)logic of a zealot.

Welcome to the Corporate Theocracy of America.

I believe I hear the Fat Lady warming up in the wings.

[ewagner]

1. Heh...

they actually didn't even try to hide it.....

[ixion]

2. kick

:kick: the zealots out of the WH, and stop the spread of facism in America.