More re: Moral Values

[pegkerr]

Since the election, I've been pondering the issue of "moral values" which the media decided (rather without cause) tipped the election to Bush (22% of voters polled who voted for Bush said that moral values was the most important determinant for the vote. Which means, obviously, that for 78% who voted for Bush, it wasn't.)

I mentioned Lakoff's book, Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, which minnehaha K & B lent to me. I think I must read this one, too, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis. See an interview with Wallis here.

I highly recommend an excellent hour-long radio program on the Public Radio program "Speaking of Faith" that I heard this week: The Future of Moral Values:

We deconstruct the phrase "moral values," which has confused and divided Americans since November's election. As the second term of George W. Bush commences, political analyst Steven Waldman helps explore what these words do and do not convey to liberals and conservatives, and why they still matter. What is at stake when both sides fail to understand the moral convictions of the other?

The commentator, Krista Tippett, interviewed Steven Waldman, a journalist, political analyst, and Editor-in-Chief of Beliefnet, who wrote the provocative article "Perverted, God-Hating Frenchies vs. Inbred, Sex-Obsessed Yokels," discussing why liberals and conservatives misunderstand each other. Extremely interesting.

Listen to the program here.

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

I made a "Liberal Moral Values" shirt at Cafepress. :)

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Remember, they call it "family values" or "moral values," but they're really just talking about sex.

B

[gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com]

This is an interesting article, too:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A15644-2004Dec21?language=printer

I think if we could separate those who "feel" persecuted from those who actually *are* persecuted, we might get a long way to figuring out what's really going on in this country.

Then again, there's also that portion of my brain telling me that in the spiral of values, we're bound to spin around again....

Thank you

[meerkat1.livejournal.com]

For the links... they are a good collection of balanced pieces offering interesting views.

I may link them into my journal as well at some point if I find the time to do some writing.