People in civil society agree to disagree every day. It's human nature not to agree with everyone on everything. Jim's post was despicable. It had nothing to do with free speech. It was hate speech. Look it up.

All of us appreciate the arts, some more of one kind than others. I tolerate the fine, religious and blasphemous arts because I'm not sure of their purpose when artists can't explain it themselves. It also depends where it's exhibited.

As a liberal activist and organizer, I work to engage others who aspire to build communities that are respectful, without aggression or violence, cooperative, sensitive to the disadvantaged, as you do.

You hold your president to account at election time as a citizen's duty, as I will the performance of our prime minister on Oct. 16 without racism and surpassing violence roiling my responsibilities.

This thread itself is an illuminating example of the American psyche, of the polarization of an aggressive bourgeois ego with no higher aim than imitation of the rich, slipping away from its sacred exceptionalism.