Yes, and isn't it interesting that some on the Woke Left wanted to shut down Substack for being dangerous and spreading false information. The only think dangerous about Substack is that it allows people to think for themselves.
Hi Mohamed. I'm no libertarian, but Ayn Rand once wrote that "you can deny reality, but you cannot deny the consequences of reality." Like the grass growing up through the cracks in the concrete sidewalk, reality will emerge, and I see your point as representing that grass. Sorry for stretching the analogy to awkward proportions, but you are right, substack offers a kind of efficacy.
AMENтЭЧя╕ПЁЯЩПЁЯП╗ Very WELL SAID, Mohamed. ЁЯСПЁЯП╗ЁЯСПЁЯП╗ЁЯСПЁЯП╗ I so appreciate ALL the voices, both liberal and conservative, seeking to bring both REASON and HEART to this ENLIGHTENING, ESSENTIAL and ENCOURAGING Dialog.
Thank you, BARI for your STRONG CONVICTION and HARD WORKтЭгя╕П
We're putting our money where our mouth is by supporting this LONG-OVERDUE mode of Journalism. I Thank God for those DEDICATED to TRUTH!
My HEART and MIND are more at peace knowing that I have others who share deep concerns for the health and well-being of our Nation and are willing to explore solutions through CIVIL LISTENING and DIALOG. There was a time when I was feeling quite alone. BRAVER ANGELS changed that entirely for me.
A special THANK YOU to BRAVER ANGELS for INTRODUCING ME to BARI via their Podcast and also being a very PRACTICAL Vehicle for both LISTENING and LEARNING FACE-to-FACE with those "across the aisle" that I might never have metтЭгя╕П (With the help of ZOOM!). www.braverangels.org
I'd like to leave this world (not too soon, but when I do!) feeling that my children and grandchildren will live in a country, imperfect as it always will be, seeking UNDERSTANDING and EXCELLENCE, not through coercion but through the RIGHT to use CRITICAL THINKING and HEART-FELT EMPATHY for the good of ALL of her CITIZENS.
God gave us both a HEART and a BRAIN to be used in unison.
I'm an Independent-- used to vote for Democrats because of the environment.
Belief in the free and open exchange of ideas, the non- negotiable right to think for myself and speak my mind is classic liberalism. (Speaking of which, has Voltaire been banned?)
CRT denigrates free speech as a cover for oppression-- a tool of white supremacy. Truth and facts are fungible. They too are tools of white supremacy. To believe that, one has to be, above all else. breathtakingly, mind-blowingly, heart-stoppingly dumb.
Instead, every statement must be run through the Thought Police grinder, which seems to be headquartered in Brooklyn. You can't make this up, yet here we are.
CRT types, who are by definition illiberal, try to conflate opposition with conservatism, as right -wing, or as" racist," when challengers are normal people, and formidable black and white intellects. They pull out epithets to shut down dissent. You'll be fired, count on it-- see Paul Rossi. Or slandered. Some Brearley fathers have already stooped to hurl the "racist" slur at dissenter Andrew Gutmann instead of dealing with his trenchant takedown of what, precisely, they are letting happen to their kids. It's meant of course to shut him up, and is typical of the way these things go. But Guttman and Rossi aren't going anywhere. That's what's changing. That is why FAIR is so important.
The hardliners are defining normalcy down. Anti-racism is very different than opposing racism. It requires "active" - a nice touch- and systemic discrimination based on race and other immutable characteristics-- enforced by schools, snitching on friends-- see NYT piece lauding the practice-- the workplace, and the government. In perpetuity. It means some kids, as policy and metaphorically, go to the back of the line. As policy. That was horrid once, and it's horrid now.
It inculcates guilt and blame, celebrates some and shames others, not just once, but forever. A life- long auto da fe I can't imagine any parents, however woke, subjecting their child to this.
"CRT denigrates free speech as a cover for oppression-- a tool of white supremacy. Truth and facts are fungible. They too are tools of white supremacy. To believe that, one has to be, above all else. breathtakingly, mind-blowingly, heart-stoppingly dumb."
Damn, Susan, that is a GREAT paragraph. Mike drop. Truth.
Hey, please join me in counting down to my upcoming, 3-full-work-day, mandatory-for-all-employees white fragility and antiracism training session! Woo hoo! I've sat through some DUMB corporate training before, and listened to some DUMB consultants and motivational speakers, but I am sure that this is going to be the grandaddy of all DUMB wastes of time. Added bonus: If I can't manage to keep my mouth shut, I get to lose my job! Wow! It's like an amusement park ride of sorts, only not fun, just scary!
The attacks on speech are, of course, to silence opposition. It's free speech, for everyone, that rights wrongs. It is the beating heart of liberty. We've become so unused to it that the Gutmann letter was shock therapy for the wildly extreme, rapidly installed status quo. He actually called "bull****." Speech is why James Baldwin, who makes DEI racketeers look like pikers, made such gains under rampant, unadorned racism. God he was good. So is McWhorter, the linguist. Check him out. Enforced and codified neoracism isn't the way to move forward.
Thank you for sharing your WISDOM, Susan. While I consider myself Conservative leaning in many ways, I can also appreciate issues of great concern to those who don't vote as I do. I share many of those very same concerns in regards to the dignity of each individual life and helping to better their life conditions, as well as offering more opportunities for personal growth and betterment, dependent on their own personal investment of time and effort. My personal assessment is that we care for many of the same things but disagree about how to go about addressing the issues.
"...every statement must be run through the Thought Police grinder..."
Susan, reading this verbalized for me something that I have felt but had not put into words. Thank you for giving me words to express some of my frustration! It just feels so UNBELIEVABLE to me!!!
"...challengers are normal people, and formidable black and white intellects."
Thank you, again, for expressing this important reality!
It's as if there are those who believe that all the oppositional voices to CRT belong to a band of illiterate, uneducated, mindless people who WANT to be fighting this battle. I don't doubt that there are the few who enjoy the "challenge of the fight", but the disruption that has been brought to our nation and everyday life, for so many, has been so unfairly damaging and destructive. There are many good, well-meaning people who will suffer needlessly, all because a narrative has been imposed on them that in no way resembles their true feelings. Do they actually believe that there is no one on the other side of the issue for whom they can have respect?
I have always felt that there are intelligent voices on both sides of most issues, whether I agree or not. But, their push to paint everyone else as wrong, with no consideration or recognition of the reason for deep concern on the part of so many, leads me to question the leaderships motives. It's terribly concerning.
Thank you for lending your voice to this ongoing discussion!
Rita that was sweet. Politically I'm a mixed bag. But I know it when my country is in trouble. The very real kind.
The people defending speech and liberal democracy are among the best and the brightest. Politically, they run the gamut -- Matt Taibbi, on the left, Glenn Greenwald, on the left, both on the case against censorship and the startlingly rapid loss of a free press --to Bari, John McWhorter and the elegant Thomas Chatterton Williams, to Andrew Sullivan and Bill Maher. The legacy media surgically ignore them because, God forbid, they just may change the narrative. No incidents, no arguments, that may damage the narrative are allowed. Plus, cable and the most press no longer bother with the illusion that there are two sides. They just run some tape of an overweight guy in a Maga hat. Imagine Taibbi or Greenwald or Bari going head to head with (faceless) Twitter censors, Times editors, ubiquitous media "staff" mobs who sign letters urging censorship and firings, Rachel Maddow, Don Lemon. Exactly. That's is why you'll never see it.
Thank you so much, Susan for your thoughtful and kind answer.
"But I know it when my country is in trouble. The very real kind."
I so appreciate this statement because that is my greatest concern, too!
I can live in a world where my chosen candidate is not elected (I even considered voting for Biden, but after a long period of, not only prayer but observation, my heart just wasn't at peace with what I felt like I was seeing or what direction it might eventually take). I can even empathize with those who were opposed to Trump, even though he was my ultimate choice as opposed to not voting at all.
Thank you for sharing the names of people whose voices you respect because, up until things began to get so DIVISIVE and UGLY, I read very little on politics and tried to stay away from TV as much as possible! (I still relegate my information gathering to written media; I rarely have the TV on!) I have seen some of these names and will most definitely take a closer look. I appreciate the recommendations.
BRAVER ANGELS has been a WONDERFUL source of reputible voices of integrity; I am very thankful that they exists and have been working for the past several years to depolarize our country.
I'm so thankful to have people who have added their voices for the health and survival of our country. I am so relieved to find that it isn't just those of us who lean conservative who were seeing and feeling very threatened by the craziness.
I am still amazed (just as I was with Donald Trump!) how people can take the freedom to be so derogatory toward others on a National and International stage viewed by millions of people and expect no blow-back for their actions!? (I'm not a fan of unkind or rude actions regardless of where it occurs.) But I KNEW, or at the very least was hopeful, that there were intelligent people seeing what I was seeing who couldn't possibly agree (despite differing political perspectives). Thank God I wasn't wrong!
Do they believe that "Power" will win out over Truth? It might take time and hard work, but I believe that Good/Truth will ultimately win.
I did check out the link you offered below and will be reading it in the next few days. ЁЯШК
I want to respond as a life long progressive liberal, who has been engaged in nearly any liberal issue you can name from the Viet Nam war onward.
I find the successor ideology (wokeness, pc) to be dramatically at odds with many of the values I have spent my life supporting, and to be honest, it feels like a potential existential threat to Western liberal democracy itself.
I have been realigning, but not be becoming a conservative. While my values have not changed much, it feels like the tribes have. While my "origin story" is definitely on the left, I am coming to feel that today at core "my tribe" is no long identifed as left or right. Instead, I see the key division as being between reasoned thinkers anchored with human values, and dogmatic extremists on both sides. I feel I have more in common with smart, thoughtful folks from center left, center right, and off the spectrum, than with the brainwashed or conspiracy obsessed folks on either side. We are feeling our tribe is more people like you and Susan.
It's frankly scary to see how many intelligent, caring people are becoming zombies operating on autopilot, turning off their critical thinking and compassion on command. Friends who put signs in their yards expressing their broad loving acceptance of all sorts of diverse groups - are becoming radically intolerant of any dissent in practice. Where I live, the ones preaching the One Right True and Only Way are now more from the left.
One book we found incredibly valuable is Haidt's "The Righteous Mind", but there are many others. Intellectually, this has been an exciting period, filled with inspiring thinkers and engaging subject, political and spiritual and philosophical reflections - at the same time as it's disheartening and frightening to see a tsunamic of wokeness sweeping away the rational order.
In the 80's, my spouse and I traveled to Nicaragua during the Contra war with a solidarity group, and found it very different than Reagan portrayed it. When we returned, my mother (a Reagan fan) had a hard time believing us, it was just too outside her conceptual universe; she was sure they were a "totalitarian dungeon" where everybody was afraid of their own government. But eventually, she shared one of her real concerns - wouldn't we get on "some list" secretly maintained by our own government and get in trouble (tho we had done nothing remotely illegal)? She believed that Nicaragua was a police state, but underneath was really afraid of our own government, tho she couldn't directly admit that without cognitive dissonance! It was very illuminating for us, tho she did not perceive the implied conflict.
Now I'm seeing that on the left; even people who support the woke perspective, are sometimes afraid of it; yet they cannot admit how coercive and threatening it is, because they want to believe it's they are supporting the victory of lovr over hate, leading to good things.
Anyway, I'm mostly writing to let you know that you are not alone (or to reassure myself of that).
We are going to our first local Braver Angels event soon, and hope to meet more local folks who we can talk more freely with. Cheers!
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my comment.
I read what you shared with great interest and so appreciate the sharing of your personal experience. Stories like yours help to bring issues to life for all who read your words. Life experience has taught me so much, personally, and I am always thankful for those who understand and are able to connect their experiences to the formation of personal understandings and beliefs.
Since I have but one life to live and can only experience a limited existence (at least in relation to what I can imagine!) I relish the interesting and diverse experiences of others.
Your words were very heart-warming and assuring to me, Passion, and for that I am so grateful. I believe that all people of SINCERE goodwill, capable of understanding that differences of experience, understanding and opinions do not necessitate hatred and division are worthy of my time and consideration. I will continue to learn until the day I die, thank God! Life is a journey.
"Now I'm seeing that on the left; even people who support the woke perspective, are sometimes afraid of it; yet they cannot admit how coercive and threatening it is, because they want to believe it's they are supporting the victory of love over hate, leading to good things."
This observation is also very comforting; it is not only "Reds" who are experiencing "fear" from what we have observed. I cannot tell you how many times I have said aloud, "Has the world gone mad!?"
We are only human (as the saying goes) and, often, doing the best we know to do. That is true across the board, despite any "label" we might carry. Your words help to assure me that what we are observing (although, I will admit that the left's actions have been much more concerning and scary to me, personally) is human weakness: anger, frustration, inhumanity, etc., which none of us can escape in varying degrees. The "work" to be our best as human beings, one to another, is a daily endeavor!
I am so excited to hear that you are reaching out to Braver Angels! I believe that you will find open willingness from those you meet to garner deeper understanding and a desire to work for common ground. There is no attempt to change anyone's mind (strictly against the rules) but rather a safe place to express your personal views and be heard without fear. I have learned so much about others and myself. The phrase (and movie name) "Educating Rita" often comes to mind! ЁЯШД
"I see the key division as being between reasoned thinkers anchored with human values, and dogmatic extremists on both sides."
I could not agree more, Passion! I have a feeling that I would enjoy hearing more from you. After your first Braver Angels Event, I am hopeful that you will join the "choir". ЁЯШК I hope you will find it as helpful and uplifting as I, and so many others, have.
I have "blue" friends that I keep in contact with in Colorado and California and I continue to meet so many interesting and good-hearted people across our Nation, both Blue and Red.
If our paths should cross (I stay quite active with as many BR online events as possible) please say "hello"! ЁЯШК
And once again, Thank You for sharing your personal experiences and observations. ЁЯЩПЁЯП╗ЁЯТХ
I am a new subscriber too... we need level-headed, thoughtful journalism more than ever now.
Yes, and isn't it interesting that some on the Woke Left wanted to shut down Substack for being dangerous and spreading false information. The only think dangerous about Substack is that it allows people to think for themselves.
Can you post some links or expand on that? I would be interested in how people have tried to shut down something like this.
https://www.nationandstate.com/2021/03/01/taibbi-in-defense-of-substack/
Susan,
Thank you again for some GREAT reading material! Once again, I am so thankful for the voices standing up for our democracy. Really good article!
Rita, I am assuming you are familiar with FAIR. In case not. https://www.fairforall.org/
Susan, I have heard of them in passing but have not done any further investigation. I'll check them out. Thanks!
Bari's on the board.
I'll definitely check it out!
Checked it out and it's WONDERFUL! My heart exactlyтЭгя╕П
Exactly.
Hi Mohamed. I'm no libertarian, but Ayn Rand once wrote that "you can deny reality, but you cannot deny the consequences of reality." Like the grass growing up through the cracks in the concrete sidewalk, reality will emerge, and I see your point as representing that grass. Sorry for stretching the analogy to awkward proportions, but you are right, substack offers a kind of efficacy.
Absolutely me too
AMENтЭЧя╕ПЁЯЩПЁЯП╗ Very WELL SAID, Mohamed. ЁЯСПЁЯП╗ЁЯСПЁЯП╗ЁЯСПЁЯП╗ I so appreciate ALL the voices, both liberal and conservative, seeking to bring both REASON and HEART to this ENLIGHTENING, ESSENTIAL and ENCOURAGING Dialog.
Thank you, BARI for your STRONG CONVICTION and HARD WORKтЭгя╕П
We're putting our money where our mouth is by supporting this LONG-OVERDUE mode of Journalism. I Thank God for those DEDICATED to TRUTH!
My HEART and MIND are more at peace knowing that I have others who share deep concerns for the health and well-being of our Nation and are willing to explore solutions through CIVIL LISTENING and DIALOG. There was a time when I was feeling quite alone. BRAVER ANGELS changed that entirely for me.
A special THANK YOU to BRAVER ANGELS for INTRODUCING ME to BARI via their Podcast and also being a very PRACTICAL Vehicle for both LISTENING and LEARNING FACE-to-FACE with those "across the aisle" that I might never have metтЭгя╕П (With the help of ZOOM!). www.braverangels.org
I'd like to leave this world (not too soon, but when I do!) feeling that my children and grandchildren will live in a country, imperfect as it always will be, seeking UNDERSTANDING and EXCELLENCE, not through coercion but through the RIGHT to use CRITICAL THINKING and HEART-FELT EMPATHY for the good of ALL of her CITIZENS.
God gave us both a HEART and a BRAIN to be used in unison.
I'm an Independent-- used to vote for Democrats because of the environment.
Belief in the free and open exchange of ideas, the non- negotiable right to think for myself and speak my mind is classic liberalism. (Speaking of which, has Voltaire been banned?)
CRT denigrates free speech as a cover for oppression-- a tool of white supremacy. Truth and facts are fungible. They too are tools of white supremacy. To believe that, one has to be, above all else. breathtakingly, mind-blowingly, heart-stoppingly dumb.
Instead, every statement must be run through the Thought Police grinder, which seems to be headquartered in Brooklyn. You can't make this up, yet here we are.
CRT types, who are by definition illiberal, try to conflate opposition with conservatism, as right -wing, or as" racist," when challengers are normal people, and formidable black and white intellects. They pull out epithets to shut down dissent. You'll be fired, count on it-- see Paul Rossi. Or slandered. Some Brearley fathers have already stooped to hurl the "racist" slur at dissenter Andrew Gutmann instead of dealing with his trenchant takedown of what, precisely, they are letting happen to their kids. It's meant of course to shut him up, and is typical of the way these things go. But Guttman and Rossi aren't going anywhere. That's what's changing. That is why FAIR is so important.
The hardliners are defining normalcy down. Anti-racism is very different than opposing racism. It requires "active" - a nice touch- and systemic discrimination based on race and other immutable characteristics-- enforced by schools, snitching on friends-- see NYT piece lauding the practice-- the workplace, and the government. In perpetuity. It means some kids, as policy and metaphorically, go to the back of the line. As policy. That was horrid once, and it's horrid now.
It inculcates guilt and blame, celebrates some and shames others, not just once, but forever. A life- long auto da fe I can't imagine any parents, however woke, subjecting their child to this.
"CRT denigrates free speech as a cover for oppression-- a tool of white supremacy. Truth and facts are fungible. They too are tools of white supremacy. To believe that, one has to be, above all else. breathtakingly, mind-blowingly, heart-stoppingly dumb."
Damn, Susan, that is a GREAT paragraph. Mike drop. Truth.
Hey, please join me in counting down to my upcoming, 3-full-work-day, mandatory-for-all-employees white fragility and antiracism training session! Woo hoo! I've sat through some DUMB corporate training before, and listened to some DUMB consultants and motivational speakers, but I am sure that this is going to be the grandaddy of all DUMB wastes of time. Added bonus: If I can't manage to keep my mouth shut, I get to lose my job! Wow! It's like an amusement park ride of sorts, only not fun, just scary!
The attacks on speech are, of course, to silence opposition. It's free speech, for everyone, that rights wrongs. It is the beating heart of liberty. We've become so unused to it that the Gutmann letter was shock therapy for the wildly extreme, rapidly installed status quo. He actually called "bull****." Speech is why James Baldwin, who makes DEI racketeers look like pikers, made such gains under rampant, unadorned racism. God he was good. So is McWhorter, the linguist. Check him out. Enforced and codified neoracism isn't the way to move forward.
Thank you for sharing your WISDOM, Susan. While I consider myself Conservative leaning in many ways, I can also appreciate issues of great concern to those who don't vote as I do. I share many of those very same concerns in regards to the dignity of each individual life and helping to better their life conditions, as well as offering more opportunities for personal growth and betterment, dependent on their own personal investment of time and effort. My personal assessment is that we care for many of the same things but disagree about how to go about addressing the issues.
"...every statement must be run through the Thought Police grinder..."
Susan, reading this verbalized for me something that I have felt but had not put into words. Thank you for giving me words to express some of my frustration! It just feels so UNBELIEVABLE to me!!!
"...challengers are normal people, and formidable black and white intellects."
Thank you, again, for expressing this important reality!
It's as if there are those who believe that all the oppositional voices to CRT belong to a band of illiterate, uneducated, mindless people who WANT to be fighting this battle. I don't doubt that there are the few who enjoy the "challenge of the fight", but the disruption that has been brought to our nation and everyday life, for so many, has been so unfairly damaging and destructive. There are many good, well-meaning people who will suffer needlessly, all because a narrative has been imposed on them that in no way resembles their true feelings. Do they actually believe that there is no one on the other side of the issue for whom they can have respect?
I have always felt that there are intelligent voices on both sides of most issues, whether I agree or not. But, their push to paint everyone else as wrong, with no consideration or recognition of the reason for deep concern on the part of so many, leads me to question the leaderships motives. It's terribly concerning.
Thank you for lending your voice to this ongoing discussion!
Rita that was sweet. Politically I'm a mixed bag. But I know it when my country is in trouble. The very real kind.
The people defending speech and liberal democracy are among the best and the brightest. Politically, they run the gamut -- Matt Taibbi, on the left, Glenn Greenwald, on the left, both on the case against censorship and the startlingly rapid loss of a free press --to Bari, John McWhorter and the elegant Thomas Chatterton Williams, to Andrew Sullivan and Bill Maher. The legacy media surgically ignore them because, God forbid, they just may change the narrative. No incidents, no arguments, that may damage the narrative are allowed. Plus, cable and the most press no longer bother with the illusion that there are two sides. They just run some tape of an overweight guy in a Maga hat. Imagine Taibbi or Greenwald or Bari going head to head with (faceless) Twitter censors, Times editors, ubiquitous media "staff" mobs who sign letters urging censorship and firings, Rachel Maddow, Don Lemon. Exactly. That's is why you'll never see it.
Thank you so much, Susan for your thoughtful and kind answer.
"But I know it when my country is in trouble. The very real kind."
I so appreciate this statement because that is my greatest concern, too!
I can live in a world where my chosen candidate is not elected (I even considered voting for Biden, but after a long period of, not only prayer but observation, my heart just wasn't at peace with what I felt like I was seeing or what direction it might eventually take). I can even empathize with those who were opposed to Trump, even though he was my ultimate choice as opposed to not voting at all.
Thank you for sharing the names of people whose voices you respect because, up until things began to get so DIVISIVE and UGLY, I read very little on politics and tried to stay away from TV as much as possible! (I still relegate my information gathering to written media; I rarely have the TV on!) I have seen some of these names and will most definitely take a closer look. I appreciate the recommendations.
BRAVER ANGELS has been a WONDERFUL source of reputible voices of integrity; I am very thankful that they exists and have been working for the past several years to depolarize our country.
I'm so thankful to have people who have added their voices for the health and survival of our country. I am so relieved to find that it isn't just those of us who lean conservative who were seeing and feeling very threatened by the craziness.
I am still amazed (just as I was with Donald Trump!) how people can take the freedom to be so derogatory toward others on a National and International stage viewed by millions of people and expect no blow-back for their actions!? (I'm not a fan of unkind or rude actions regardless of where it occurs.) But I KNEW, or at the very least was hopeful, that there were intelligent people seeing what I was seeing who couldn't possibly agree (despite differing political perspectives). Thank God I wasn't wrong!
Do they believe that "Power" will win out over Truth? It might take time and hard work, but I believe that Good/Truth will ultimately win.
I did check out the link you offered below and will be reading it in the next few days. ЁЯШК
Thanks again, Susan, for your contributions.
I want to respond as a life long progressive liberal, who has been engaged in nearly any liberal issue you can name from the Viet Nam war onward.
I find the successor ideology (wokeness, pc) to be dramatically at odds with many of the values I have spent my life supporting, and to be honest, it feels like a potential existential threat to Western liberal democracy itself.
I have been realigning, but not be becoming a conservative. While my values have not changed much, it feels like the tribes have. While my "origin story" is definitely on the left, I am coming to feel that today at core "my tribe" is no long identifed as left or right. Instead, I see the key division as being between reasoned thinkers anchored with human values, and dogmatic extremists on both sides. I feel I have more in common with smart, thoughtful folks from center left, center right, and off the spectrum, than with the brainwashed or conspiracy obsessed folks on either side. We are feeling our tribe is more people like you and Susan.
It's frankly scary to see how many intelligent, caring people are becoming zombies operating on autopilot, turning off their critical thinking and compassion on command. Friends who put signs in their yards expressing their broad loving acceptance of all sorts of diverse groups - are becoming radically intolerant of any dissent in practice. Where I live, the ones preaching the One Right True and Only Way are now more from the left.
One book we found incredibly valuable is Haidt's "The Righteous Mind", but there are many others. Intellectually, this has been an exciting period, filled with inspiring thinkers and engaging subject, political and spiritual and philosophical reflections - at the same time as it's disheartening and frightening to see a tsunamic of wokeness sweeping away the rational order.
In the 80's, my spouse and I traveled to Nicaragua during the Contra war with a solidarity group, and found it very different than Reagan portrayed it. When we returned, my mother (a Reagan fan) had a hard time believing us, it was just too outside her conceptual universe; she was sure they were a "totalitarian dungeon" where everybody was afraid of their own government. But eventually, she shared one of her real concerns - wouldn't we get on "some list" secretly maintained by our own government and get in trouble (tho we had done nothing remotely illegal)? She believed that Nicaragua was a police state, but underneath was really afraid of our own government, tho she couldn't directly admit that without cognitive dissonance! It was very illuminating for us, tho she did not perceive the implied conflict.
Now I'm seeing that on the left; even people who support the woke perspective, are sometimes afraid of it; yet they cannot admit how coercive and threatening it is, because they want to believe it's they are supporting the victory of lovr over hate, leading to good things.
Anyway, I'm mostly writing to let you know that you are not alone (or to reassure myself of that).
We are going to our first local Braver Angels event soon, and hope to meet more local folks who we can talk more freely with. Cheers!
Dear Passion (GREAT User name!),
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my comment.
I read what you shared with great interest and so appreciate the sharing of your personal experience. Stories like yours help to bring issues to life for all who read your words. Life experience has taught me so much, personally, and I am always thankful for those who understand and are able to connect their experiences to the formation of personal understandings and beliefs.
Since I have but one life to live and can only experience a limited existence (at least in relation to what I can imagine!) I relish the interesting and diverse experiences of others.
Your words were very heart-warming and assuring to me, Passion, and for that I am so grateful. I believe that all people of SINCERE goodwill, capable of understanding that differences of experience, understanding and opinions do not necessitate hatred and division are worthy of my time and consideration. I will continue to learn until the day I die, thank God! Life is a journey.
"Now I'm seeing that on the left; even people who support the woke perspective, are sometimes afraid of it; yet they cannot admit how coercive and threatening it is, because they want to believe it's they are supporting the victory of love over hate, leading to good things."
This observation is also very comforting; it is not only "Reds" who are experiencing "fear" from what we have observed. I cannot tell you how many times I have said aloud, "Has the world gone mad!?"
We are only human (as the saying goes) and, often, doing the best we know to do. That is true across the board, despite any "label" we might carry. Your words help to assure me that what we are observing (although, I will admit that the left's actions have been much more concerning and scary to me, personally) is human weakness: anger, frustration, inhumanity, etc., which none of us can escape in varying degrees. The "work" to be our best as human beings, one to another, is a daily endeavor!
I am so excited to hear that you are reaching out to Braver Angels! I believe that you will find open willingness from those you meet to garner deeper understanding and a desire to work for common ground. There is no attempt to change anyone's mind (strictly against the rules) but rather a safe place to express your personal views and be heard without fear. I have learned so much about others and myself. The phrase (and movie name) "Educating Rita" often comes to mind! ЁЯШД
"I see the key division as being between reasoned thinkers anchored with human values, and dogmatic extremists on both sides."
I could not agree more, Passion! I have a feeling that I would enjoy hearing more from you. After your first Braver Angels Event, I am hopeful that you will join the "choir". ЁЯШК I hope you will find it as helpful and uplifting as I, and so many others, have.
I have "blue" friends that I keep in contact with in Colorado and California and I continue to meet so many interesting and good-hearted people across our Nation, both Blue and Red.
If our paths should cross (I stay quite active with as many BR online events as possible) please say "hello"! ЁЯШК
And once again, Thank You for sharing your personal experiences and observations. ЁЯЩПЁЯП╗ЁЯТХ
Biden (eg his staff) is using taxpayer dollars to incentivize CRT in schools https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/04/19/2021-08068/proposed-priorities-american-history-and-civics-education#print