I found this article quite informative and helpful. While the writer is liberal and clearly on that one side, I find her sociopolitical analysis enlightening and fair. These insights can help us all move forward in our various relationships.
https://grist.org/ask-umbra/help-the...oke-my-family/
That article does explain what I was just starting to grasp about the fundamental difference between the US and Canada in discussions on this SLF site. I kept stepping back to an 'agree to disagree' state of thought. Interesting!Originally Posted by Tammy
As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
Some people post on Facebook that if you voted for Trump you should unfriend them because they cannot agree to disagree on racism. I usually point out that many people vote on one issue only and it’s shortsighted to dump friends over this.
I agree that she made a very interesting case for the two distinct cultures, with one of them actually being a foundational set of values and the other being more counter-cultural to the "rugged individualism" paradigm.
I do relate to the "WASP-ish idea of polite socializing" as she put it. For that reason--the fact that these opposing values are polar opposites of each other--I see no point in arguing with my friends, and I see no point in writing them off, either. I don't think I will succeed in coming up with the one brilliant insight that will make them say, "Oh, you know what, catherine? Thank you for opening my eyes! I'm changing my party affiliation to Democrat!" My friends tend to be decent people, so I don't think their support of Trump is going to brand them in my my eyes with a scarlet letter.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
I was listening to an interview with Robert Putnam (he wrote Bowling Alone) who has a new book called The Upswing. He used a data program to see how often the words "I,me and my" have been used in all media through the decades and they have escalated "bigly" in the recent past and into the present. We have moved from a collective mindset to a self interested one - what's in it for me and mine...the other is evil? I haven't read the book but he posits that we can turn it around. Back to a more philanthropic, compassionate society which is hard to even imagine right now.
Interesting article - thanks for posting.
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown
I disagree with more than one premise in this article, so I don’t find it enlightning.
There seems to be a rash of pieces like this around this time every year. Maybe because of the holidays. There was one at the CNN site with a wonderfully passive-aggressive title: “You Chose Trump Over Me: Was it Worth It?”
Personally, I think if you’re trapped in such a solipsistic bubble that you can’t tolerate it if someone doesn’t care about what you care about in exactly the way you do, then you’re the one with the problem. In that case, banishing them from your life is a bigger favor to them than to you. If you can’t love the sinner while hating the sin, you’re damning yourself to at best a dull circle of acquaintances.
The truth of that seems so obvious to me, I'm always surprised that so many don't get it.
"Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein
I have relatives who believe truly horrid things, and who are not afraid to bring up those things at the holiday dinner table. I'm not talking about obscure differences of opinion over soybean tariffs, I'm talking about issues involving basic human rights and dignity.
I don't find reaching out to them productive at this point, or spending time with them of any utility.
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