The Turtle Responds - Daily Sound Sept 20, 2007

Dear Turtle:

Letter to the editor printed in Daily Sound

Re: The Conservative Turtle Commentary (diatribe?) Sept 11, 2007.

Turtle, you use the words “liberal & progressive” as though they are profanity. You ask if we know what a Conservative is, the dictionary defines it as: noun, “A person who is reluctant to accept changes and new ideas.” So is this what you and you fellow turtles are? If so, how is that a position to take pride in? If this were the way that Washington, Jefferson, Hancock, and the rest of the founders of our nation thought, we wouldn’t have the “Grand American Ideal of free speech” that you tout of in your commentary.
Now I ask you if you know what a Liberal is? Noun, “A person who favors a philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties, open-minded or tolerant.” Since when is having another person be open-minded considered to not be a good thing?
Most everything you rail against in your commentary smacks of the very “names” which you accuse others of labeling you with. Tell us please how tolerance, understanding & compassion are somehow negative attributes? Do you also truly believe that only individuals of a conservative nature fought & died for the belief in a way of life?
I find it offensive that you would attempt to equate the horrendous abuse of a harmless & defenseless animal as Bob the turtle to some bizarre fantasy you have of a similar fate befalling one of you! Note; Bob is a real turtle. You’re just using the word to define your fears.
A suggestion, rather than looking to provoke a confrontation with anyone whose views are different from your own, why not try instead to foster more positive relations with those whom you seem to be so afraid of? You might just discover that many of them are not the "turtle haters" that you believe them to be.

Kevin McDaniels
Santa Barbara

Turtle Responds:

Kevin, you use the words “liberal and progressive” as if they were something to be proud of.
We don’t know what dictionary you’re using, but if you’re going to act like you’re quoting the dictionary, you must specify which one you are quoting.

Just so everyone is on the same page, let’s use dictionary.com as a source.

Liberal:

1. favorable to progress or reform

Conservative:

1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2. cautiously moderate

If you are using Webster’s Dictionary it says conservatives are “resistant to change” not “reluctant to change”. There is a difference. Being resistant to change is not the same as being opposed to change. We just want to be sure it’s a good idea first, by studying the impacts. We want to be sure the positive effects outweigh the negative, rather than just a blind jump onto the bandwagon of a politically popular fad or mania. We believe in slow, cautious, studied change, rather than impulsive changes designed to get votes for politicians. We want to be sure the change is wise or even necessary.

In the September 9 News Press “VOICE”, Dennis Phelps M.D. coins the acronym WIBI for “Well Intentioned Bad Idea”. We as turtles don’t mind implementing ideas, if they really are well-researched GOOD ideas.

In the interest of space, and since we are trying to keep the discussion to local issues, let’s look at just one local WIBI (though they are numerous).

Biofuel

A quick look at Councilman Das William’s blog will show you how proud he is of his efforts to convert city vehicles to biofuel. The intention is good, to make the city a more environmentally friendly city. However the downside of biofuel is not even broached. It is based on the simplistic mass belief - “oil bad , biofuel good”.

Ok, so our city is now more “environmentally friendly”. We can proudly claim that, and feel good about ourselves. But how do we feel when the increase in demand for biofuels causes a replacement of other crops worldwide? Do we still feel good when we are adding incentive to further deforestation of rain forests? Will we feel good when “Big Biofuel” extends its “biofootprint” and sucks up more and more land for fuel crops instead of more risky and less lucrative food crops? How do we feel when we see this adds to poverty in developing nations where common land and partially forested land is used by the poor for growing food, grazing draft animals or as a source of fuel wood or construction wood? Maybe it’s not such a great idea for the world after all, Das, but it makes you electable by an uninformed electorate, doesn’t it?.

Kevin, you asked us to tell you how tolerance, understanding, and compassion are somehow negative attributes. Glad you asked.

A deserved measure of tolerance, understanding and compassion is reasonable and good. Notice we say ”deserved” and “measured”. However, ultra-tolerance and ultra-compassion are dangerous to society, and manifest in politics as cowardice to stand up to what is wrong. Here is a quote from Thomas Mann, a famed resister to the Nazi movement in Germany in the 30’s.

“Tolerance becomes crime when applied to evil”

Should we tolerate criminal behavior because the criminal is somehow not to blame, is a victim of society and has rights? Should we extend understanding and tolerance to a religion that says “convert or die”? Should we tolerate the crime of illegal immigration, regardless of any detrimental impact to those who are already citizens, simply because of compassion and understanding? Why not let the whole world in and become a third world country ourselves, leaving the rest of the world with no strong country to look to for “compassion” during things like tsunamis and natural disasters? Yes Kevin, tolerance to the extreme is a very negative thing and can allow very bad things to happen. The Nazis were tolerated in Germany.

Trying to keep it local, during the recent gang murders, the Mayor, Council and Police Chief were stumbling all over themselves blaming themselves instead of the criminals, for not having providing enough “things to do”. In a way, this is tolerating and encouraging the behavior, because after all, it’s not their fault. What message does it send the criminal? It gives them an excuse and rationalization. Keep committing crime, it’s not your fault, we will try to do better. There is no hint that maybe this crime was driven by an imported culture with the willful choice to pursue evil - not boredom and lack of opportunity..

The illustration of Bob the Tortoise that you were “offended” by, was actually used figuratively not literally. Our shells protect us from the effects of the decay of a society due to the degradation of morality. We are attached to our shells of protection by the moral fabric of traditional institutions. We are attached by the traditional ideas of national borders, a common language and a common culture. We fear we may be figuratively “cut from our shells” by the agendas of progressive liberalism. We fear the effects of their attacks on traditional institutions such as a biologically related family (based on marriage and procreation between a man and a woman), attacks on religion, attacks on our culture by those from other cultures, the undermining attacks on the military.

Finally, we are baffled as to why you feel that provoking a confrontation with those we disagree with cannot be positive? This country was founded on confrontation. Did Jefferson not “confront” England with the Declaration of Independence?

You just confronted us with your letter. Are you suggesting every political agenda and viewpoint go unchallenged as long as it is one you personally agree with? The fore-turtles you mention, Washington, Jefferson, Hancock, were most certainly confrontational, or we would not have this country.


The Conservative Turtle is not an individual but a group of like-minded individuals. The turtles would like to thank Jeramy Gordon for his belief in the First Amendment and being open minded enough to publish the often unpopular but not yet extinct conservative viewpoint.

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