Neo-Nazis and racism freak me out a bit. Mob mentality downright scares me even more. Seems like it can turn rational/well-meaning individuals into rabid idiots. After watching the recent footage of Charlotteville, it worries me that things can even get to that point.
I've been seeing more and more social media posts recently where people proclaim, "If you support x, I don't want to talk to you!", "Anyone that doesn't agree with y is too stupid to be reasoned with!", "If you voted for z, remove yourself from my friends list!"
And I get the energy and frustration behind those things. We live in... passionate times, it seems. But is the best way to deal with adversity by blocking it out? A yelling match doesn't solve anything. Think about it; you don't change minds by insulting someone for their view or intelligence. That just makes them dig their heels in and close up to any rational argument or empathy.
Why can't we just, I dunno... Talk to each other a bit? Maybe say, "I want x, you want y, they want z, so let's try this 'democracy' thing out, go with what's in the best interest for the majority, and still treat the minority with a bit of decency?"
Perhaps that's a bit naive.
I lean left, and the majority of those in my social circle do as well (people who went to art school are progressive? Shocking.). But for as adamant as they/we are about not wanting to build a certain wall on their country's border, they don't worry too much about building walls within their borders. Walls that separate themselves from their fellow countrymen.
All I'm saying is that shouting or shutting down the opposition might not be the best way to accomplish things. We should treat our opponents with the same compassion and understanding that we'd like them to offer us.
Again, that's probably naive. But it's gotta be better than what we have goin' on right now.
-Cril
1 comment:
For me, it boils down to the fact that you're never going to change an extremist's mind. Or the minds of less extreme people who tend to double down on decisions they make, like having voted for Trump, but still saying, oh I voted for him and I don't agree with this racist shit he's sorta kinda doing BUT HEY BOTH SIDES! They still defending him. I just feel that if you're going to continue to back someone who took 2 whole days to renounce (and then immediately back off statement) something that is clearly out of line with the values the United States is about, but who IMMEDIATELY gets on twitter to call a criticizing Senator a lady, then, I don't need to see anything that person posts or cares about. If I have to see them at Thanksgiving, well, I mean, whatever, I guess. But I will never respect someone dumb enough to not be honest about a bad choice and to back off supporting such a fundamentally ignorant, selfish, and hateful person unfit for such a high office. I could even deal with, I voted for him because I like his stance on x, y, z, but I hate that he does a, b, c. But no, they say shit like, half the country can't be wrong. YES THEY FUCKING CAN! MOST OF THE COUNTRY IS MADE OF STUPID PEOPLE: The ones who voted for Trump and the ones who stayed home thinking, ah, this shit'll sort itself out.
So, no, man. I can't just let stupidity fuck with my day. I get enough of it in the news from the King of the Fucktards.
Obviously, that's just me.
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