Another Liberal Friend Bites the Dust
I have a small, and shrinking, gaggle of leftist friends. It's interesting to see how they drop away over time. Just lost another one this morning. I always enjoyed this guy's company. We share many common interests and sense of humor. Great memories. We were on a three-way text chain where our mutual contact posted a clip of Jon Stewart pointing out that the Dems screwed up because they were proposing a leader who, now, doesn't seem to know if he approved many of the things that he officially approved. I joked (my damned sense of humor) that they lost because most "normal" people, when faced with the reality of all the wild overseas expenditures by USAID to do things like transing parakeets, don't approve. The leftist responded that I should stop getting my information "from YouTube" and that "it makes you look stupid". They always do this. 1- attack you for sources of information you don't use. Then, 2- insult you. Interesting pattern. I see it all the time. My leftist brother brought up a while ago, "...just got that from some kid doing a podcast from his parents' basement". That's a good one, really. Such statements really complicate the discussion - haha! It really avoids the issue at hand and goes after you AND your sources. Now, in order to continue the discussion, you've got a deeper hole to dig out of before you can even get up to common ground. It's brilliant, aside from being a total waste of time. And, therein lies the issue. I no longer have time for people who just want to say mean crap. Not angry about it. Just too busy. Too bad, really. But...eh...life goes on. I'm down to only two leftist friends now.
Reminds me of something Ayn Rand talked about that I never forgot. Love is something that occurs between two people who share the same values. That really has held up well over time, hasn't it? I don't really know what my leftist friends value anymore. It's not humor. It's not liberty. I think it's just come down to control and coercion, at any cost.
Reminds me of something Ayn Rand talked about that I never forgot. Love is something that occurs between two people who share the same values. That really has held up well over time, hasn't it? I don't really know what my leftist friends value anymore. It's not humor. It's not liberty. I think it's just come down to control and coercion, at any cost.
i do not want any liberal near me, that includes "family"
all this talk of what Trump is doing, the lies of his cutting the unconstitutional medicare and medicaid and the reactions of people that somehow think they are owed something for us
and all this talk of "entitlements" from the government. that word, entitlement" DOES NOT exist in the Constitution.
we DO NOT owe what we earn to others (outside of the family WE CHOOSE to make)
If there is a peaceful solution to this insanity, I only hope it's implemented soon.
I also have lots of leftist friends in a world of cognitive dissonance. The are comfortable in their world of presumed self-righteous, moral and technical superiority, which is superior in neither. They DO NOT want to argue the fundamentals because they are comfortable and really don't know any fundamentals. For example, even ones I got into firearms and now go shooting with sometimes are just fine with limiting firearms of features like ARs. They can not objectively see that if ARs are prohibited today, revolvers can go tomorrow, and nothing the next day. They DO NOT understand, and DO NOT want to.
SCOTUS needs to rule on one of these bad laws and assert that any firearm allowed (not necessarily even used) by any law enforcement agency MUST be allowed by individuals. Period. This is the simplest of all legal tests for firearm technology.
Yep, this, and they hope you will be so insulted you'll forget to go back to the argument and instead, try to defend your character or intelligence, or whatever they are after on that day. Oh, I see you already stated exactly the same thought! I tried a few times mentioning "ad hominem" attacks, but most of them didn't know what that means. <---yep I just attacked their intelligence...in this case, justified.
In the early 20th Century the rate of change of values was buffered by time. Massey used WW1, 20's, Depression, WW2 as examples of how families and institutional values were reflected in the populations. We had (time) to absorb and buffer from generation to generation. From the 50s forward there was less and less time to deal with the rates of change in technology, messaging and the affects on the population at large. Our country's values, our state's values, our city's values, our neighborhood's values, our familial values ...... my values became increasingly dilute. Disparate consensus. The curve of the rate of change was moving from a horizontal graphic to a near vertical ..... valulessness. Where generational values change were blurred to decade or less in increment.
Alvin Toffler described this in Future Shock (1970). Too much change in too little time; and for those not prepared, the effects will be devastating.
The comforts of technology, applied to our fundamental caution toward survival, historically, have created an environment of expected rescue for our objective and subjective behavioral ignorance. Comforts and security result in IGNORE-ance; I don't need to take "this or that" into consideration as I live my life. This is someone else's responsibility or it is legislated into conformity. Manufactured fear is now the new normal. Pass the hawk shadow over the chicken coop and see what happens.
There is not a word (developemotional) only develop-mental. I evaluate my acquaintance through this concept. My friends have evaluated their respective emotional behaviors through multitudes of reflective moments. They bring "I feel" into the realm of "I think". This is one of the defining characteristics of a human being versus a human animal. Dealing with fear is the most predominate in present global cultures.
Like you, I have severed relationships with many. I find their emotional pleas and assertions invalid. I also have to evaluate the whole as if we are all dogs poked and prodded for the fighting ring.
One of my few remaining leftist friends is a very sweet person - making her unusual of course. She, like me, has always been pro medical freedom, pro informed consent. About a year ago she said “When Gavin Newsome signed SB278 he made sure that the child’s pediatrician would be part of the decision process on how a child would be vaccinated.” But she’s 180 degrees wrong on that. She’s read the bill, and our shared pediatrician has had several (all) requests for medical exemptions denied by the heath board in California (without them ever seeing the child nor the child’s health records). The bill completely removed the doctor from the process. But when I’ve pointed this out I just get a spacey blank stare and silence. She’s not able to acknowledge reality. I have found this very disturbing…this one example of the person with the wire bundle. Now there are packs of people (especially in California) who openly cheer when they see cars vandalized and lit on fire by people like them, w cars owned by people they know nothing about. I think this is quite troubling and I am curious as to what it might lead to. We’ve seen this kind of thing in the past. Very appropriate that a lot of this vandalism involves swastikas. I think we might want to start paying attention to that a little bit.
I liken this past 30 years to Peter Russle’s production of The Global Brain (1985). What happens when 10b (an arbitrary number) brain cells begin to integrate? Evolution in thinking. What happens when 10b of these minds begin to integrate through the medium of electronic, global communication network?
We are at the beginning of an evolutionary step. Sorting out values objectively and subjectively. A small group has knowledge, opportunity and influence to keep this development retarded ….. until … school let out. Recess on the playground of life …. the internet. Random interactions that can no longer be controlled through force or guile. The ability to research and confirm validity of a message …. noise or information.
The likeness of a child from birth to 7 years. Observing, testing, validating or invalidating threat or danger, comfort or discomfort. In the midst of WTF turmoil (very very technical term) the sanity of simple contextual expression can teach our young global mind …. the MEME. In reflection, I learned more from the Sunday Funnies than in all my formal schooling, regarding human interaction. The only difference …. the Funnies are no longer controlled by Command Central.
This next decade is going to be a hoot!
My problem is my kids - and THEIR kids! So, I just don't talk politics with them.
I still have a couple of Left-leaning acquaintances, but they know if / when politics rears it's ugly head, I don't back down.
I'm polite, civil, stick to the facts, cite my sources.
But I don't shy away from confronting BS.
But you bet, I have fewer "acquaintances" these days. Which is fine with me.
And while we are on the subject of culling acquaintances with whom I disagree, I have experienced a very small group of people who view my Christianity as some sort of problem.
I'm talking about long-time acquaintances whom I used to attend church with!
People who had their children Baptized and named my wife and I as God Parents...
I do understand the resentment some Catholics have with the church and the whole pedo thing (I'm a Baptist), but why did they turn their back on Christ?
ETA: my favorite set of Facebook friends are kids I attended K through 6th grade in Catholic school. The ones still living, anyway.
involves a baseball bat, can get ugly...
:-)
as for vaccines, the real issue is who do you trust?
i no longer trust the medical profession and less than zero trust for the pharm companies
By t he way, I just realized what some of my health problems are doing to me. Fewer than any 1 out of 2 of us who celebrate 85 manage to reach 88 Yuk whAT happens after that. Everyone AT MY UPCOMING REUNION WILL BE 88. DEPRESSING. WELL I WILL BE ATTENDING.NAN B