I went into an Army-Navy surplus store this week. Out of curiosity I asked the manager/owner about the polticial leanings of the people who purchased stuff. I asked about Kerry's Vietnam service and the Swift Boat allegations and about Bush's Vietnam dodgings. The guy behind the counter felt that the anti-Kerry material was damning and shrugged off the draft-dodging of Bush. I didn't argue with him. In fact it was kind of clear he couldn't figure out what my position was and was a little uncomfortable about committing himself without that information. But again, I was just there to listen, not to debate. I figured he would have a unique perspective given his clientele.

Why do people have a seemingly bottomless capacity to get all fired up about something when it's the Other Guy who is doing the Wrong Thing, yet a seemingly bottomless capacity to go through the most extreme contortions to pretend that the facts simply aren't there when it's Their Guy? Why can't people just call bullshit "bullshit" when they see it? This trait seriously makes me lose hope for humanity in general.

Back to my extremely dense Alan Watts stuff...