As I drove through Bismarck on my errands Saturday, I was listening to NPR. (only God knows why) Actually, the reason I stopped on that station which I usually avoid like the plague (in reality I have never really avoided the plague as it were so maybe it should be "avoid like a pair of Nike shoes") was because the person being interviewed was talking about his travels around the world using the lowest forms of "conveyance" (his word) in the world. Having recently visited Guatemala and experiencing some similar travel situations, it peeked my interest. But as I listened, I began to realize that there was something more to his story than simply revealing these sad stories of destitution to the general public who may never experience them firsthand.
My first inclination that something was amiss was when he was describing his trip over the Andes mountains in Peru. Without going into all the details, he described traveling in a packed bus(he was sitting in the stairwell with his legs hanging out of the bus)down steep mountain roads made of mud, with cliffs rising and falling mere inches from the bus at times. There were no bathroom facilities because a man was using the bathroom to store the crates of fruit he was selling to the passengers and the man next to him had a sick child who was vomiting on the bus and defecating out the windows during the terrifying ride down the mountain. All of that is horrible enough but what he said after that description was what made my ears perk up. He said (and I am paraphrasing here) that after he just accepted all of the dirt and filth and discomfort, it was one of the most invigorating and heartening trips he ever took. He went on to describe some of the positive things of the trip such as that the passengers were kind and people brought him food (the host had to point out that they were SELLING him the food, a fact that he deliberately left out and we will see why in a moment).
After discussing this part of his trip a little more, he went on to describe returning to the United States and how he took a Greyhound bus from the West coast to his home in the East. I am guessing that this was his idea of the lowest form of "conveyance" in the U.S. He described this leg of his journey as the most depressing and discouraging part of his travels. Why? Because the people were not very open, and he had to buy food from a vending machine. It was clear now what his message was as he continued to describe the shortcomings of the United States. His message was that no matter how bad things may be in Third World countries, the United States is much worse.
This reveals the corruption of the Liberal Mind. In order to twist reality to to fit the liberal way of thought he had to disregard all the negative aspects of the horrific conditions in which he was traveling, and there, in this world of his own creation, he could find utopia of liberal thought, people living in harmony. That is the ideal of the liberal mindset. It doesn't matter if those harmonious people are starving to death, or plummeting off mountain passes to their deaths as long as they were living in harmony. So, instead of being concerned about the suffering of the child who was vomiting on the bus, or the indignity of being forced to defecate out the window of a public bus, or the humiliation of needing to purchase food stored in the toilet of a bus, or living in constant fear of death every time they had to take to the road, the liberal mind is concerned about the impersonal nature of buying food from a vending machine or the unwillingness of strangers on a bus to speak openly to each other. You see, America's goal is not harmony, it is freedom and prosperity. That is anathema to the liberal mind.
As I listened, this all played out in front of me. He would not have been so candid if he had not thought he was speaking to friends, which is why he was on NPR. He was honest about ignoring the negatives in order to bolster his position, yet he was caught in his dishonesty by an only slightly more honest host when talking about people bringing him food on the bus. He would have been just as well with giving us the impression that he was being fed free of charge out of the kindness of their hearts because it lent itself to his point. If a person is willing to lie to support his position, it makes me question the validity of that position. He complained about the vending machines as if it were the only food offered to the passengers of this bus on their 72 hour trip across the U.S. I simply don't believe that. And somehow he found vending machine sandwiches more repulsive than unrefrigerated fruit stored in a public toilet. He complained about the "standoffishness" of the passengers of the bus on Grey Hound when I can imagine he made no effort to strike up a conversation. If he had, he may have found things very different. And finally, while I am sure the Peruvian Andes are more breathtaking than the deserts of the Southwest U.S., he made no mention of the natural beauty of the country side he experienced in that last leg of his journey. I am sure there was beauty somewhere along the line. But that is the liberal mind. It is a twisted view that requires a twisted reality. Remember this as you vote tomorrow. Would you rather live in America, or take a Peruvian bus to work each day? Providing you have a job at all.
My first inclination that something was amiss was when he was describing his trip over the Andes mountains in Peru. Without going into all the details, he described traveling in a packed bus(he was sitting in the stairwell with his legs hanging out of the bus)down steep mountain roads made of mud, with cliffs rising and falling mere inches from the bus at times. There were no bathroom facilities because a man was using the bathroom to store the crates of fruit he was selling to the passengers and the man next to him had a sick child who was vomiting on the bus and defecating out the windows during the terrifying ride down the mountain. All of that is horrible enough but what he said after that description was what made my ears perk up. He said (and I am paraphrasing here) that after he just accepted all of the dirt and filth and discomfort, it was one of the most invigorating and heartening trips he ever took. He went on to describe some of the positive things of the trip such as that the passengers were kind and people brought him food (the host had to point out that they were SELLING him the food, a fact that he deliberately left out and we will see why in a moment).
After discussing this part of his trip a little more, he went on to describe returning to the United States and how he took a Greyhound bus from the West coast to his home in the East. I am guessing that this was his idea of the lowest form of "conveyance" in the U.S. He described this leg of his journey as the most depressing and discouraging part of his travels. Why? Because the people were not very open, and he had to buy food from a vending machine. It was clear now what his message was as he continued to describe the shortcomings of the United States. His message was that no matter how bad things may be in Third World countries, the United States is much worse.
This reveals the corruption of the Liberal Mind. In order to twist reality to to fit the liberal way of thought he had to disregard all the negative aspects of the horrific conditions in which he was traveling, and there, in this world of his own creation, he could find utopia of liberal thought, people living in harmony. That is the ideal of the liberal mindset. It doesn't matter if those harmonious people are starving to death, or plummeting off mountain passes to their deaths as long as they were living in harmony. So, instead of being concerned about the suffering of the child who was vomiting on the bus, or the indignity of being forced to defecate out the window of a public bus, or the humiliation of needing to purchase food stored in the toilet of a bus, or living in constant fear of death every time they had to take to the road, the liberal mind is concerned about the impersonal nature of buying food from a vending machine or the unwillingness of strangers on a bus to speak openly to each other. You see, America's goal is not harmony, it is freedom and prosperity. That is anathema to the liberal mind.
As I listened, this all played out in front of me. He would not have been so candid if he had not thought he was speaking to friends, which is why he was on NPR. He was honest about ignoring the negatives in order to bolster his position, yet he was caught in his dishonesty by an only slightly more honest host when talking about people bringing him food on the bus. He would have been just as well with giving us the impression that he was being fed free of charge out of the kindness of their hearts because it lent itself to his point. If a person is willing to lie to support his position, it makes me question the validity of that position. He complained about the vending machines as if it were the only food offered to the passengers of this bus on their 72 hour trip across the U.S. I simply don't believe that. And somehow he found vending machine sandwiches more repulsive than unrefrigerated fruit stored in a public toilet. He complained about the "standoffishness" of the passengers of the bus on Grey Hound when I can imagine he made no effort to strike up a conversation. If he had, he may have found things very different. And finally, while I am sure the Peruvian Andes are more breathtaking than the deserts of the Southwest U.S., he made no mention of the natural beauty of the country side he experienced in that last leg of his journey. I am sure there was beauty somewhere along the line. But that is the liberal mind. It is a twisted view that requires a twisted reality. Remember this as you vote tomorrow. Would you rather live in America, or take a Peruvian bus to work each day? Providing you have a job at all.
