Here's my problem with this. Here is the bulleted list with which you begin the essay:
Mask vs. no mask
Vaccine or no vaccine
Go outside or stay in the house
What’s a valid protest?
How far is proper social distancing?
Is “whiteness” the downfall of mankind?
Amen and Awomen
How many people can legally gather in a private home for a Christmas party?
2+2=5
Fox or MSNBC
There is no "middle ground," no "50-yard line," for 95% of these. (I don't give a shit what network news channel you watch.
I feel not even slightly inclined to give ground on ANY of the items on that list. There is no logical reason to do so, and they are intrusions upon me, if not outright attacks upon me.
I am not even remotely interested in compromise on any of these points. I will not consent to any COVID theatre bullshit, I will not apologize for any aspect of my race, I will not concede the objective truths of mathematics or anything else. There are no 50-yard lines to any of these things.
Am I one of these bad guys that's part of the problem? Help me understand how the top half of the essay lines up with your calls for appeasement and compromise and unity.
I used to think ‘if only my side won’ (politically) everything would ‘get better,’ but it doesn’t. You know why? Because it’s US against huge corporations and billionaires. Not US vs Them (politically), both sides in politics are the same
Very passionate peace. I enjoyed reading it. Definitely coming from a place of love. And yes, THEY are watching us tearing each other apart over these things. But I also get Guttermouth's response. There's no 50 yard line to meet up for a chat on these issues. However, I believe there are kinder ways to show the other side that they are helping (to the least) to oppress the other than rooting for their extinction. Let's definitely work on that.
In the past we used to have universal principals to uphold. I've been a liberal most of my life, but to be honest, I didn't know anything about conservatism, religion, or anything else for that matter.
But despite that, I did believe in principles of liberty, bodily autonomy, free speech, right to representation -- the basics, right? Of what America stood for.
Despite thinking I was firmly on the liberal side, I started questioning things over the years; things that just didn't sit right with me. Like the gender confusion was the first thing. Then next it was seeing a kid harassing a group of peaceful trump supporters (I'm in San Francisco). And then it was the media response to Jan 6 and trying to turn ordinary Americans into terrorists. Then it was watching Parler chased off the internet. It was all so clearly against the values I thought we stood for. Seeing people seeming to casually throw out free speech, and demonize people calling for it was quite a shock.
But it was also years of liberals screaming, "This is not up for debate!" And closing off topics even to discuss. And changing the definitions of words. Claiming terms like "free speech" are just dog whistles for hate speech.
But then also the decades of promoting the idea of "the future." The phrase, "You don't want to be on the wrong side of history." -- the assumption that you know the future??
They've been shaping this for such a long time. Molding our attitudes with our TV shows. And even making documentaries -- I can't recall any in particular right now -- but you know, the kinds of pop culture analysis documentaries, that will have cool people talking about how, "everybody was so lame and repressed back then, but then we did the edgy thing and we were the first ones to do it. The church groups were shocked, but we were so cool, and now the whole world is doing it! Aren't we so frickin' cool and these Jesus people so lame?" -- not an exact quote, but not only did they simply present us the edgy things, they then made more programs explicitly telling us how to feel about it, in case we didn't get the message about how cool abortions are.
Here's my problem with this. Here is the bulleted list with which you begin the essay:
Mask vs. no mask
Vaccine or no vaccine
Go outside or stay in the house
What’s a valid protest?
How far is proper social distancing?
Is “whiteness” the downfall of mankind?
Amen and Awomen
How many people can legally gather in a private home for a Christmas party?
2+2=5
Fox or MSNBC
There is no "middle ground," no "50-yard line," for 95% of these. (I don't give a shit what network news channel you watch.
I feel not even slightly inclined to give ground on ANY of the items on that list. There is no logical reason to do so, and they are intrusions upon me, if not outright attacks upon me.
I am not even remotely interested in compromise on any of these points. I will not consent to any COVID theatre bullshit, I will not apologize for any aspect of my race, I will not concede the objective truths of mathematics or anything else. There are no 50-yard lines to any of these things.
Am I one of these bad guys that's part of the problem? Help me understand how the top half of the essay lines up with your calls for appeasement and compromise and unity.
I used to think ‘if only my side won’ (politically) everything would ‘get better,’ but it doesn’t. You know why? Because it’s US against huge corporations and billionaires. Not US vs Them (politically), both sides in politics are the same
I agree 100%. How do we connect with you?
💫💫🔥🔥👏👏👏💖💖. Count me in!!
Very passionate peace. I enjoyed reading it. Definitely coming from a place of love. And yes, THEY are watching us tearing each other apart over these things. But I also get Guttermouth's response. There's no 50 yard line to meet up for a chat on these issues. However, I believe there are kinder ways to show the other side that they are helping (to the least) to oppress the other than rooting for their extinction. Let's definitely work on that.
I really love this. Beautifully written. I'm in.
In the past we used to have universal principals to uphold. I've been a liberal most of my life, but to be honest, I didn't know anything about conservatism, religion, or anything else for that matter.
But despite that, I did believe in principles of liberty, bodily autonomy, free speech, right to representation -- the basics, right? Of what America stood for.
Despite thinking I was firmly on the liberal side, I started questioning things over the years; things that just didn't sit right with me. Like the gender confusion was the first thing. Then next it was seeing a kid harassing a group of peaceful trump supporters (I'm in San Francisco). And then it was the media response to Jan 6 and trying to turn ordinary Americans into terrorists. Then it was watching Parler chased off the internet. It was all so clearly against the values I thought we stood for. Seeing people seeming to casually throw out free speech, and demonize people calling for it was quite a shock.
But it was also years of liberals screaming, "This is not up for debate!" And closing off topics even to discuss. And changing the definitions of words. Claiming terms like "free speech" are just dog whistles for hate speech.
But then also the decades of promoting the idea of "the future." The phrase, "You don't want to be on the wrong side of history." -- the assumption that you know the future??
They've been shaping this for such a long time. Molding our attitudes with our TV shows. And even making documentaries -- I can't recall any in particular right now -- but you know, the kinds of pop culture analysis documentaries, that will have cool people talking about how, "everybody was so lame and repressed back then, but then we did the edgy thing and we were the first ones to do it. The church groups were shocked, but we were so cool, and now the whole world is doing it! Aren't we so frickin' cool and these Jesus people so lame?" -- not an exact quote, but not only did they simply present us the edgy things, they then made more programs explicitly telling us how to feel about it, in case we didn't get the message about how cool abortions are.
Decades of programming is a lot to unpack.
We can do it!!
The world tried to negotiate/ appease Hitler.
Do I need to elaborate on that part of history?