tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post2558627956620088138..comments2023-09-29T05:32:04.308-07:00Comments on StrangePegs: I Am the Middle GroundAndrew Leonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-24567375811883879842016-12-31T18:17:15.950-08:002016-12-31T18:17:15.950-08:00Briane: Well, if your brother had wanted to take t...Briane: Well, if your brother had wanted to take the tree down with his kids, he wouldn't have waited until February to do it. That's one thing I have learned: If it's something you want to do, you do it.<br /><br />And, inversely, you don't do things you don't want to do, which is why people who voted for Trump need to quit saying they didn't want to vote for him. If they hadn't wanted to, they wouldn't have done it.<br /><br />And, well, conservatives will never decide the whole conservative schtick is harmful. In most cases, they are literally incapable of thinking any other way, at least once they get out of their 20s. The worldview sort of becomes hardwired because they never learned to think and to expand their thought processes. If you can get people to boil down the one (or few) reasons they voted for Trump, you can see this, because they couldn't expand their minds to get past whatever that one (or few) thing was. Like:<br /><br />One person said he didn't like Trump but would never support a baby killer like Hilary who supports partial birth abortions.<br /><br />On person said, "If you have a swinging dick, you need to go to a bathroom for people with swinging dicks. Period."<br /><br />One guy said, "I want a raise, and I will never get that if the Dems raise the minimum wage."<br /><br />It's all people stuck in their own conservative hangups, and they can't see beyond themselves to what is the greater good.<br /><br />I don't know where I'm going with any of that; it's just what came to mind.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-76864968264940014122016-12-31T05:25:51.061-08:002016-12-31T05:25:51.061-08:00Sorry I missed this the first time around, but it ...Sorry I missed this the first time around, but it was REALLY well written, and it echoes something I read by Will Leitch yesterday at the start of an NFL roundup; Leitch's take was that people who try to avoid the controversies are the ones that are letting this all happen; yours is more that people have been allowed to shift the argument. <br /><br />That's really what you're saying here: Trump supporters say racist things. People like us say "that's racist and it's terrible." Trump supporters say "You should respect my views and try to find common ground." We then argue about whether we should respect their views.<br /><br />But that's like arguing about whether I should respect my kid's views that 'going to school is dumb." Arguing about respecting a viewpoint is not arguing ABOUT THE SUBJECT. The more we argue about whether we should or should not continue to point out that Trump believes sexual assault is okay, the less we argue about whether sexual assault IS OKAY or not. <br /><br />It's a classic way that bad people take advantage of good people's nature: change the argument. Once, I babysat for my brother (who is a loser. A real loser and a jerk and I no longer interact with him at all.) Anyway, he said I'd need to babysit for about 2 hours. He was then gone for EIGHT HOURS. His kids got more and more nervous and scared and I didn't have a car at the time and he had little food in the house, so I was trying to take care of his hungry scared kids while he had disappeared.<br /><br />To distract them, we cleaned the house up and took down the Xmas tree. (IT WAS FEBRUARY by the way. Not making that up at all.) The kids enjoyed it, the house felt nicer (he was a slob) and it distracted them from wondering where the $(#$%&$ their dad was.<br /><br />So when he finally showed up, he walked in the door, looked around, and began YELLING AT ME for taking down the tree, saying how he wanted to do that with his kids and I'd deprived him of that. <br /><br />I started arguing about why it was okay to take down the tree, then thought better and said "Where the $*$^%& were you for the past six hours? Your kids were worried sick and had no food."<br /><br />He kept yelling about the tree and refused to take me home. I kept telling him he was a terrible dad and brother for disappearing for 8 hours like that, and rode the bus.<br /><br />Trump supporters are my brother. They will attack your actions to avoid defending their own. When someone says something racist and you say it's racist and they say you should be tolerant, you should just say "It was racist, take it back or leave."<br /><br />I keep hoping that maybe things will not be too bad. That is tempered by a hope that they will be REALLY BAD and people will finally decide that this whole conservative schtick really is harmful. Forty years of fake Reaganism covering for racism, sexism, and elitism -- plus income shifts to the top 1% -- is too much. Brianehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01616494058636881575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-90392688061395753762016-12-29T17:08:36.184-08:002016-12-29T17:08:36.184-08:00Guilie: And it does seem to be the rest of the wor...Guilie: And it does seem to be the rest of the world, which is the really scary part. We're just being pushed closer and closer to mutually assured destruction.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-21034425954287927852016-12-29T07:35:23.014-08:002016-12-29T07:35:23.014-08:00Excellent points here, Andrew. Excellent arguments...Excellent points here, Andrew. Excellent arguments overall. Exactly: the 'middle ground' we're constantly being harangued to find (we = liberals) is, quite simply, *nowhere* close to the middle at all. And pretending it is would be more damaging; that's how perspectives get skewed totally out of shape. No, you're right: we need to stand our ground. It's not us that have moved to the left; it's the rest of the world that's sliding down an oiled slope towards the right.<br />Guilie @ <a href="http://guilie-castillo-oriard.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow"> Quiet Laughter </a>Guilie Castillohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09006999087139126972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-66463788846940186032016-12-28T10:10:33.463-08:002016-12-28T10:10:33.463-08:00Yes, the big T, but that Mitch guy, too. . .Yes, the big T, but that Mitch guy, too. . .D.G. Hudsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213237734772028645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-46668285884448691182016-12-27T10:46:29.579-08:002016-12-27T10:46:29.579-08:00D.G.: Mitch McConnel's? Because someone, to no...D.G.: Mitch McConnel's? Because someone, to not put it delicately, needs to punch that smirk right off of him.<br /><br />Oh, wait... You meant the "Great Orange One."Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-62463684858141410032016-12-27T10:10:45.344-08:002016-12-27T10:10:45.344-08:00I did love that last comment about women in charge...I did love that last comment about women in charge. What a novel idea. . .and for the record, inequality is never okay. I think you have responded well to those who wanted you to find middle ground. We may have to accept the distasteful, and the boorish, but we don't have to like it or embrace it. I, for one, cannot stand the constant smug look on a certain face. . .D.G. Hudsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213237734772028645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-88755951002099978502016-12-27T01:14:41.441-08:002016-12-27T01:14:41.441-08:00Jeanne: It's because they feel guilt and want ...Jeanne: It's because they feel guilt and want us to assuage that by telling them it's okay.<br />Except it's not okay, and they need to keep being told it's not okay until they get it.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7658526372996117205.post-88489774413122125112016-12-26T12:56:37.088-08:002016-12-26T12:56:37.088-08:00I'm so sick of people telling those who are pi...I'm so sick of people telling those who are pissed about the outcome of the election that they should "try to understand" the other side because if I don't then I'm just as bad as them. That is just so beyond bullshit that bullshit doesn't even describe it. They have to stop putting it on us to compromise.J E Oneilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com