Jordi Orwell Barcelona CAT in English

We all think we are right. Otherwise, why not thinking some other way? That’s fine, but at the same time, if we have a democratic ideal, we respect political opponents. They also have a saying on the country’s way of doing things. Last year, the Iraq intervention offered interesting phenomena to analyze. Those who oppose it did it partly because of humanitarian reasons. This war was going to cause million of deaths; oil interests underlie this war (“no blood for oil”). The war was immoral. Those who supported the war were criminals. Etc., etc., etc. And criminals are usually not listened to. Conclusion by logic association: we should treat those who supported the war as criminals. That is what happened in Spain last year. The headquarters of the Partido Popular, Aznar’s party, were attacked by leftist demonstrators and by anonymous bombs, Molotov bombs. Any public expression from their supporters was boycotted by leftist mobs. Those who organized these attacks thought to be answering those who were allegedly killing innocents. What’s the difference between this view and a fanatic view that justifies or promotes terrorist actions? These attacks do not kill and terrorists kill? Probably it is a difference of intensity, but not of reasoning.

Unfortunately, what was going on in Spain a year ago is also happening in the United States. Some people are being harassed for their political views. We are talking about violence and a "climate of fear," as Stanley Kurtz of NRO calls it. BlogistPatrick from New Jersey says it very clearly:

People are going to lose friends over this election year. People are probably going to lose husbands and wives. People will be fired from their jobs. People will quit their jobs. People will be arrested. People will be kicked out of schools. People will call for recounts.

I really hope that things calm down. Democracy means respect.

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