This ability is rarely present in a Democrat. They are all sheep and vote accordingly. The typical Democrat finds out who to like and who to hate and proceeds to do so, often quite passionately. Years ago an old friend--let's call her Nancy--helped me see this quite clearly. When I asked her what newspaper she read, she replied, "I don't have to read any, I just ask Marty (her husband) what to think. He reads the Washington Post every day." This same woman would argue to the death over politics, publicly stating her strong opinions at the slightest provocation, all of which were based upon hearsay. But hey, back when I lived in D.C., 91% of the citizenry was Democratic, making Nancy safely in the right by being on the left. Her always unsubstantiated beliefs won her many more friends than mine did me.
Naturally our friendship is defunct, but Nancy is not rare. Many friends have followed in her footsteps, offering parrot-like repetition of punditry instead of carefully considered opinions. This is distressing, and makes it less fun and less worthwhile and less interesting to talk with them about politics.
In addition, religion is not a great topic of conversation either. It is TOTALLY based on hearsay, since no one has first hand knowledge of any of this.
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Baaaaa.
ReplyDeleteWe should make a little project of correcting each other when we allow prejudice to override our own senses and make sweeping indictments that condemn entire classes or groups of diverse individuals to suffer our callous refusal to acknowledge the variation of thought, motive, and purpose among them.
If you step back and think about what you are saying when you paint nearly all Democrats with this brush you have to realize that not only are you being unfair to them; you are being unfair to yourself by cheating yourself of the deeper and more accurate reality of beliefs, feelings, and abilities all these people who, disagree with you though they may, bring to the table.
Not that there isn't a time and a place. I'll be the first person (dog) to deliberately piss off my conservative friends by suggesting that they are all in need of dental work and a GED, but they know and I know I'm firing mostly for effect and to get the rise I usually get. If I actually believed that conservatives all drive around in pickups with gun racks talking about NASCAR, I'd limit my ability to debate substantive disagreements with them to how far each of us can piss on a windy day.
I'm not inclined to let conservatives off the hook that easily! By understanding their philosophy as well as they do, while still disagreeing with it, I can do much more damage. :-)
Keith: I stand by what I said. You are a refreshing (and new) exception. Really, I wrote this post out of sheer frustration; I've never met a Democrat who has unique thoughts on politics.
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