2015-10-29 – Tuesday I posted a kinda call for the great middle to stand up and stop being ruled by their extremes. I say “kinda” because the metaphors we use to talk about the great middle are weak and, well, kinda Gray. It’s like telling a strip of cooked spaghetti to stand up.
I used the metaphor of color. The Blacks and Whites were the political extremists. The Grays are the rest of us, the folks who just want to live their lives in peace.
There is a perception that Blacks and Whites are staunch defenders of their Black-ness and White-ness. And there’s a perception of Grays as defenders of . . . well, nothing. But I don’t see it that way. People see the Grays as compromisers and moral relativists. But I think it is the other way around.
The Blacks and Whites are willing to sacrifice everything to the One-Noble-Principle. It may be a god. It may be an Invisible Hand. It may be a Specter. Whatever it is, the One-Noble-Principle trumps everything. Murder and mayhem is perfectly acceptable to these extremists. Whites and Blacks are the moral relativists. Everything is sacrificed to the One.
Grays want to get along.
The problem with Grays is not that they compromise with each other. The problem with Grays is that they compromise with the Whites or the Blacks. The problem with the Grays is that they even see themselves as White or Black—instead of Gray.
Okay. Enough of the colors.
Think about the great divisive issues in our country and the world.
Take abortion, for instance. There’s lots of Whites and Blacks on abortion.
One side wants to stop them altogether. The other side wants no restriction altogether. The Blacks and Whites on abortion are each more concerned about being seen as morally pure than actually accomplishing something that could be satisfying to both. You probably don’t see how that is possible. Because both the Blacks and the Whites have invested everything to blinding us to the Gray.
Take Israel-Palestine. Nothing outrages partisans on both sides more than Grays. The Whites hate the Grays more than they hate the Blacks. The Blacks hate the Grays more than they hate the Whites. And you probably didn’t even know that there are Grays on this issue. The Blacks and the Whites say they will accept nothing but 100 percent victory and they sacrifice a 95-percent victory on the altar of the 100 percent.
The Whites and the Blacks sacrifice everything for the One-Noble-Principle and, thus, get nothing. The Grays will take the 95 percent—if they can get it.
But Grays are not out there. They are not noisy. They may not even realize that they are Gray. So I am calling on the Grays to recognize their Grayness. You are not moderate Black. You are not moderate White. You are Gray.
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Not sure what this has to do with it, but:
Eightoh9 