"The reimagining of our political system is both essential and long overdue."
Agreed. But such reimagining requires perseverance, fortitude, and great dedication to ferreting out the truth from the constant onslaught of lies and propaganda. Far too many Americans -- and especially so the younger generations -- posses none of these quali…
"The reimagining of our political system is both essential and long overdue."
Agreed. But such reimagining requires perseverance, fortitude, and great dedication to ferreting out the truth from the constant onslaught of lies and propaganda. Far too many Americans -- and especially so the younger generations -- posses none of these qualities and have the attention spans of a house fly. Squirrel!
Sure, they will bitch and moan about the price of gas, rent (as they will likely never own a home) or a plate of avocado toast, but they will just as willingly conform to the herd and accept the current state of things. Call it Stockholm Syndrome if you like.
Further, these younger ones don't even know of an America with the prosperity, hope, freedom, and opportunity which older generations basked in. And apparently took for granted as we mourn their loss. For the young who have not experienced such things, they can never miss what they have never known and certainly cannot be counted on to help restore.
I dare not suggest that this is an easy endeavor. At the same time, this is not a time for pessimism or complacency.
We have been indoctrinated to the idea that politics is a taboo, that discussions political in nature are to be avoided at all costs, lest we end up in a fight and risk severing connections with friends and family. The most important step, in my opinion, is to stop avoiding the elephant in the room by forcing ourselves to try to reach out to people and get them to question the nature of politics in its current form. It requires a composed but calm approach. We need to be accepting but also persistent, unbiased but also honest about our own shortcomings. A successful engagement requires patience and maybe a bit of finesse.
I do believe that as long as we make it a habit to reach out to people and try our best to make just one of them to wake up, our numbers will increase exponentially.
For me politics was a question of venue, not a question of taboo. I certainly do not think that politics is something that should be discussed on a personal Facebook page. However, if you on your personal Facebook page, order me to wear a mask or get an experimental vaccine, I will indeed make comments about it. (and maybe about the appropriateness of the venue). Also, if you want to tell me how evil orange man is or Biden, I may comment on that as well (and again, the question of venue).
Substacks, Facebook Groups, pages, etc. are fair game for politics because again, it is a more appropriate venue. I even thought at one time to put up my own Facebook group entitled "Stuck in the Middle With You"
The thing is, I have been blocked after I responded to these people whether it was about Covid policies or even about dissenting opinions in general. So it's not indoctrination. They are the ones indoctrinated with the idea of "disagreement is hate" not us. I am open to conversation, I am open to concession, and compromise as needed.
Final thought: I have subscribed to a number of substacks that propagate the main narrative, guess how many of them have commenting turned on for non-paying subscribers.
I agree with you that our enemy is indeed purely political. I'm also certainly not blind to their constant attempts at indoctrination and propaganda, almost always political in nature.
But maybe we have different life experiences. In my circle of family and friends at least, I'm being constantly confronted by many for trying to steer the conversation to politics: "why did you have to bring up politics, we were having a nice time", "no politics at the dinner table" and so on. Sometimes even preemptively: "we'll go visit x but please leave politics at home". This has been for me a constant point of friction through all my adult life. Sadly it persists even today that things are demonstrably bad, and are getting worse by the hour. That's the taboo I'm referring to.
I am old enough to have “basked” at least for a while. I am not able to blame this solely, or even especially, on the young. So many of my generation, boomers, especially women, don’t mind at all the loss of freedom and opportunity, not even for their children. I hate to be a downer but I see only one glimmer of hope at the moment. It appears that the folks in Florida recognized competent leadership. If that is so, we can begin there. Begin to cite that victory to folks in discussion.See if they can understand the differences between competence and incompetence. See if they care. Many do not.
, exactly! And what happened to the government doubting anti war Hippies??? I’m 70 and cannot believe how complacent my peers are. And women my age? They’ve lost their voice...Hillary is not my Queen.
The young will find their way. They always do. It certainly is a very challenging time for them, and all the rest of us. I do worry about the longterm ill affects of the vaccines. I'm hoping for the best.
Yes, I remarked recently that it felt like I was in the last generation that was allowed to have hope for the future. The nihilistic drum beat perpetuated by social media has denied it to many. The internet is also not real life, but days like Tuesday speak for themselves
"The reimagining of our political system is both essential and long overdue."
Agreed. But such reimagining requires perseverance, fortitude, and great dedication to ferreting out the truth from the constant onslaught of lies and propaganda. Far too many Americans -- and especially so the younger generations -- posses none of these qualities and have the attention spans of a house fly. Squirrel!
Sure, they will bitch and moan about the price of gas, rent (as they will likely never own a home) or a plate of avocado toast, but they will just as willingly conform to the herd and accept the current state of things. Call it Stockholm Syndrome if you like.
Further, these younger ones don't even know of an America with the prosperity, hope, freedom, and opportunity which older generations basked in. And apparently took for granted as we mourn their loss. For the young who have not experienced such things, they can never miss what they have never known and certainly cannot be counted on to help restore.
Call it, "The Patriot Act Generation."
Exactly
I dare not suggest that this is an easy endeavor. At the same time, this is not a time for pessimism or complacency.
We have been indoctrinated to the idea that politics is a taboo, that discussions political in nature are to be avoided at all costs, lest we end up in a fight and risk severing connections with friends and family. The most important step, in my opinion, is to stop avoiding the elephant in the room by forcing ourselves to try to reach out to people and get them to question the nature of politics in its current form. It requires a composed but calm approach. We need to be accepting but also persistent, unbiased but also honest about our own shortcomings. A successful engagement requires patience and maybe a bit of finesse.
I do believe that as long as we make it a habit to reach out to people and try our best to make just one of them to wake up, our numbers will increase exponentially.
For me politics was a question of venue, not a question of taboo. I certainly do not think that politics is something that should be discussed on a personal Facebook page. However, if you on your personal Facebook page, order me to wear a mask or get an experimental vaccine, I will indeed make comments about it. (and maybe about the appropriateness of the venue). Also, if you want to tell me how evil orange man is or Biden, I may comment on that as well (and again, the question of venue).
Substacks, Facebook Groups, pages, etc. are fair game for politics because again, it is a more appropriate venue. I even thought at one time to put up my own Facebook group entitled "Stuck in the Middle With You"
The thing is, I have been blocked after I responded to these people whether it was about Covid policies or even about dissenting opinions in general. So it's not indoctrination. They are the ones indoctrinated with the idea of "disagreement is hate" not us. I am open to conversation, I am open to concession, and compromise as needed.
Final thought: I have subscribed to a number of substacks that propagate the main narrative, guess how many of them have commenting turned on for non-paying subscribers.
The enemy is purely political and they're happy to force their political views down your throat at every opportunity. Politics isn't a taboo.
I agree with you that our enemy is indeed purely political. I'm also certainly not blind to their constant attempts at indoctrination and propaganda, almost always political in nature.
But maybe we have different life experiences. In my circle of family and friends at least, I'm being constantly confronted by many for trying to steer the conversation to politics: "why did you have to bring up politics, we were having a nice time", "no politics at the dinner table" and so on. Sometimes even preemptively: "we'll go visit x but please leave politics at home". This has been for me a constant point of friction through all my adult life. Sadly it persists even today that things are demonstrably bad, and are getting worse by the hour. That's the taboo I'm referring to.
it's an honor to chat with someone who honestly shares a different view
i was at a local club tonight and it was like zombie town.
thank you for thinking and pushing back on what i say.
I am old enough to have “basked” at least for a while. I am not able to blame this solely, or even especially, on the young. So many of my generation, boomers, especially women, don’t mind at all the loss of freedom and opportunity, not even for their children. I hate to be a downer but I see only one glimmer of hope at the moment. It appears that the folks in Florida recognized competent leadership. If that is so, we can begin there. Begin to cite that victory to folks in discussion.See if they can understand the differences between competence and incompetence. See if they care. Many do not.
, exactly! And what happened to the government doubting anti war Hippies??? I’m 70 and cannot believe how complacent my peers are. And women my age? They’ve lost their voice...Hillary is not my Queen.
Yeh isn't war the easy thing to be against? Where are they?
De-moralized. There's still some out there though. But the mass of the left was just annoyed at Bush and Trump's persona.
The young will find their way. They always do. It certainly is a very challenging time for them, and all the rest of us. I do worry about the longterm ill affects of the vaccines. I'm hoping for the best.
Good outlook Richie
Yes, I remarked recently that it felt like I was in the last generation that was allowed to have hope for the future. The nihilistic drum beat perpetuated by social media has denied it to many. The internet is also not real life, but days like Tuesday speak for themselves