I woke up this morning swimming in images of the horrors committed world wide for centuries on end, horrors in the name of colonization, horrors in the name of prosperity, horrors in the name of democracy, horrors in the name of peace, horrors going on today in many countries. This was one of the first posts I read today, in keeping. Just be nice, yes. But we also have to just say no.
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It's hard I think because you get so much push back, and people start to define and identify themselves more staunchly on either side of particular lines instead of seeing common humanity. I'm a real believer in finding common humanity rather than doubling down and refusing to listen to the 'enemy'. I like the 'I see why that worries you, and I understand where you're coming from - what about this angle?' approach - it feels better for me. And then under my breath, or in private to Jamie, I rant and rave about their wankerhood.
This divide has been artificially, and systematically, imposed on us by our political parties, which are in service to corporations and dark lords. We can see this is the repeated 50-50 splits in elections world-wide - this has obviously been manipulated! It is extremely important to try to understand where your fellow human beings are coming from! Love thy neighbor, even if they voted for Trump. I need that as a bumper sticker or T-shirt.
I was once a rabid Democrat from NYC. I thought conservatives were all racist, homophobic, self-serving wankers. I would rant and rave against them! But when Trump won, I had the presence of mind to try to understand how on earth half of the US would vote for him. I started listening to him, conservative comics, conservative pundits, and most importantly, conservative friends. Lo and behold, their positions started to make sense! Not that I agreed, but I no longer saw them as racist, homophobic self-serving wankers. They were just like me.
When I try to explain this to rabid democrats, they attack me, shun me, hate me. It is so easy to see why the world is a mess when I consider this. We must love each other, and hate the politicians of the world.
I also need a T shirt or bumper sticker that says "the only thing I am allergic to is politicians."
Beautifully said. I too have friends who are more right wing but I totally understand them because we make the effort to understand each other. Now if they were actually racist, that's a different story.
But they're not. No more racist than so-called liberals. They disagree with liberal policies, which are predicated on the belief that POC are underserved educationally, medically so that they don't know what is good for themselves and need help from white people. In other words, liberals believe POC are stupid and unhealthy, so they need to be told what to do, which is as racist a belief as racist beliefs come.