My Futility Needs Some Exercise...

[TygrBright]

Background: While I am not addressing this directly, it is a tangent that resulted from hearing that the “biggest applause line” at the September 7th GOP debate was the reference to Rick Perry signing 231 death warrants.

Human beings perpetually re-invent ourselves. We learn. Things we experience now combine with things from our past, or our genes, or our life circumstances, to transform us, slowly or quickly, into the next iteration of ourselves. We do this to ourselves, either thoughtfully and intentionally: “I would like to become a person who inspires more respect. I will try to do (whatever) to make that happen” or unintentionally: “Looking back on my younger self, I realize I had a completely different approach to (whatever) then. How did that happen, I wonder?”

And here in America, our culture pressures us to be obsessed with appearances. Maybe this contributes to our unthinking assumptions about people, based on “what you see is what you get.”

Which we all know is not a very reliable assumption to make, but we keep making it anyway. It seems to be hard-wired into us, or else the cultural pressure is so relentless, so overwhelming, that it’s become a default setting in our social makeup.

Of course, what I see when I look at something may be different from what you see. Therein lies the heart, I think, of the tragic divide among the Bottom Ninety Percent (BNP) that is leaching away our democracy and defiling our Constitution and the very fabric of our nation.

What looks to me like cruel, unthinking folly looks to someone else like moral conviction. What looks to me like willful, selfish malice looks to someone else like towering strength of character in defense of noble ideals. What looks to me like intelligent compassion for others looks to someone else like woolly-minded folly or burgeoning authoritarian dictatorship.

And we have stopped talking to each other. We have stopped even trying to understand each other. We have written each other off, certain that the humanity of those others is compromised, diminished, and unworthy of our respect. After all, how can I respect the humanity of someone who appears to be such a vile, stupid, malicious person?

Thus we stay divided, never mustering enough united will to turn on those who are leaching away our democracy, the infrastructure of our nation, our own lives and independence and resources, our childrens’ futures, and demand they stop. Even if we did, how then could we sit down and negotiate with one another and begin rebuilding a society that guards the futures of all of our children? “We” can’t negotiate with “them,” after all, because we know that their vision and beliefs are evil.

We are certain, in fact, that they are in league with the powerful few who are rampaging unchecked through the halls of freedom, smashing and grabbing anything that impedes their will. We believe implicitly that they are knowingly enabling the unholy elite who are looting our economy and gutting our financial security.

I’d like to think that “they” are truly unworthy, because after all, what they say and do clearly reveals their racism, their contempt for people like me, their will to deprive me and people like me of my rights, my freedom, my self-determination, my respect. Of course, they think the same thing. About me.

I fear them, although I would not admit it to them. I muster my courage. I express my fear as horror and contempt. I withdraw from them. I point out how different I am from them. I am proud of that. I am fully human. They are not.

They would never admit they fear me, either. They sneer at me and my beliefs, they vilify them and attempt to make others fear me and my beliefs.

If “we” and “they” can continue to stir up fear and hatred for each other, the BNP remains divided and powerless. We look ahead, to how impossible it would be to rebuild a society based on values we assume are in direct and visceral conflict, and so we fear opening that door more than we fear the continued destruction of our combined futures. We cannot possibly make common cause with them.

The revolution might, after all, result in “them” coming out on top. We can’t possibly concede any of our morally superior beliefs and positions and plans for a society that will be just and ethical under a rule of values-infused law to their toxic, vicious, freedom-destroying, oppressive demands. We might, if they gave them up, of course.

But they won’t. It breaks my heart.

Is there a way out?

Maybe.

But it is very, very difficult. It demands a lot of me. Too much, perhaps.

It demands that I stop operating from a place of fear, and stop regarding “them” as less human than me.

The way out demands that I try to overcome the horror and disgust that their behavior and words provoke, and try to look beyond that-- to their humanity and their fears, and the core of their needs and wants.

I think we do have common ground.

But as long as I am determined not to give an inch, or at least not to be the FIRST to give an inch (after all, I’ve given so many yards and miles over the years...) it will not happen.

Maybe I don’t have to give anything, though. Maybe I just have to try and respect their humanity, listen to the cries of distress that underlie their hateful rantings, and respond to the distress rather than the hate.

I’m not a saint. I don’t think I can do it.

I will try, though. Maybe I can reinvent myself yet again. Maybe.

Maybe I’m too old for this shit.

But I’ll try anyway.

discouragedly,
Bright

[russspeakeasy]

1. I have no doubt that I'm too old for this shit. I'm not going to

change. I resent the right wings "holier than thou attitude". That the only way to save this country is to destroy it. They knowingly/unknowingly vote against their own self interest. I hate their attitude toward the poor, the disenfranchised, the minorities and the air we breathe. Fuck 'em.
And that goes for relatives, neighbors, former friends, and anybody else that doesn't agree with me.
I'm too old to change; fuck 'em.
I've shot and been shot at and I hate war. They won't change my mind with their signs, chants, or budgets. I'm glad I'm old. Too old to change.:evilgrin:

[JDPriestly]

2. Who is "they"? How do you define your "they"?

Are you talking about the top 10% who own everything?

Are you talking about the working guy who watches and trusts Fox News?

Because I really don't think that the 10% who own everything view us as human, really I don't.

[TygrBright]

3. Sorry I wasn't clearer.

I was talking about the REST of us, being divided into "we" and "they" by our hatred of each other, and how well that serves our Beloved Oligarchs.

discouragedly,
Bright

[AndyTiedye]

4. I Do Not Hate Them, But

I cannot embrace their hatred of others to gain their support, even if it is the only way to do so.

[JDPriestly]

5. Thanks. But I don't think that it is up to us ordinary folks to

reconcile with the rich and powerful. They have to reach out to us. Since Reagan, the power has all been on their side.

When the weak try to befriend the powerful, the powerful just take advantage. That has been repeated throughout the history of the past 42 years.

[TygrBright]

6. I'm really blowing it today, aren't I?

Reconciling with the rich and powerful was not my suggestion nor anything I meant to imply.

Maybe I better deepsix the OP.

diffidently,
Bright

[JDPriestly]

7. Don't take it personally. TygrBright, you post a lot of interesting things.

Thanks for being on DU. It's possible I did not understand your post.

[chervilant]

11. Please,

don't 'deepsix this OP.'

The internet, providing such varied means of communication as this blog, is the perfect tool for reaching out, and connecting.

Those of us who've done considerable research--and those who are simply astute about human nature--know that our nascent revolution is and will continue to be VERY difficult. Overcoming the fear and resentment that informs the extremists among us IS a most daunting task.

I am reminded of an analogy I use with my college algebra students: we can eat this elephant, one bite at a time.

[dotymed]

8. A good and very astute O.P.

The "wedge issues" are much deeper than I try to categorize them.

It seems "we" are entirely different species.

[mother earth]

9. Values are optional seemingly, but aren't higher qualities

always more rare? Education and upbringing are priceless and important, understanding not everyone has those along the way, nor does everyone practice empathy or compassion. The applause is very telling unfortunately.

[chervilant]

10. The common ground is

that 'we're all Bozos on this Bus' (tyvm, Firesign Theater). We cannot exit this planet at the next galaxy. If the varied members of the VAST hoi polloi join together (despite our 'differences' harped on incessantly by the 'Oppressors'), we can definitively be the change we hope to see in this world.