If you're a regular visitor to my blog, it has probably not escaped your attention that I am not a big fan of extremism.
Especially extremism that exists to the exclusion of everything else.
In a couple of days, a new President will be sworn in, here in the USA. Now, this is not a political post...it's more intended as an exploration of the changing nature of society.
When did we become so intolerant of anyone with an opinion different from our own?
When I was a kid — maybe nine or ten years old — I remember my dad and his much older brother frequently discussing politics. They were on completely opposite sides of the spectrum and would often have heated debates.
That said, their differences of opinion didn't lead to them becoming mortal enemies, nor to their entering some family rift, never to be repaired again.
And yet, these days it seems like the "opposition" is constantly being talked about like they are the Devil incarnate.
What's up with that?
As far as I can tell, it has little to do with politics, and uncomfortably much to do with a broad-based sense of entitlement to have things OUR way" in the world.
I'm not sure where it might have started, but it seems like a fair bet that we can go back to a time people started teaching their kids that "they can be ANYthing they want." And that they deserve to be anything they want.
Sure, when I was little it was perfectly OK for me to pretend to be a dragon, but it wasn't my legislative right to be able to BE a dragon.
What does this have to do with politics and extremism?
The problem here isn't opinions so much as the fact that society took it upon itself to "move the goalposts of life."
I realized that this afternoon, as a result of reading a magazine talking about vitamins and supplements, of all things.
A writer was berating some nutritionists for thinking that humans can actually get all the nutrition they need just from food.
My inclination would be to ask that person how they got here. And how their parents got here. And how their ancestors 20 generations ago got here, long before "supplements" were a thing. Clearly, they did so purely on the nutrition in their food, right?
So if they did it, why not you?
"Well, we have better lives and live longer!"
Undeniably true, but also an illustration of the fact that it's the goalposts that have been moved. We aren't any different.
Circling back to politics and opinions, we have somehow moved the "reality" in such a way that people don't just feel entitled to their opinions — which fine — but they feel entitled to be agreed with.
So anyway... a new President is about to be sworn in, and a lot of people believe him to be "the Devil incarnate" without actually hearing a word he's saying, or giving the man a chance to show what he can do, good, bad or indifferent.
But that's not about politics. And if "the other side had won, a different group of people would be saying the exact same thing, using different words, right now.
But is anyone really "right" or "wrong" all the time? I sincerely doubt it...
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Sunday!
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Created at 2025.01.19 01:15 PST
1305/2561
How dare you say that? You are dead to me. I bet you kick puppies and leave your shopping cart loose on the parking lot!
I think when I was in my 20s (in the mid 1990s) is when I first remember seeing people leaving shopping carts at a random places.
I've noticed it varies a lot in my semi-rural county from location to location. At the family-owned grocery store, where older folks tend to shop there is never a cart out of place, at Walmart it's anarchy :)
!ALIVE !BBH !SLOTH !PIZZA
Posted using sloth.buzz
Are you familiar with the shopping cart theory of ethics?
Fascinating. I am now!
$PIZZA slices delivered:
(4/20) @alohaed tipped @jacobtothe
I was in the County Courthouse all week reporting on the trial of now former County Board of Education member. He was charged with felony extortion and other crimes. He was convicted on all counts and walked out of the Courthouse in handcuffs.
He and his faction had resolved to take over politics in our County and were employing rather cutthroat tactics to achieve it. Part of that was a concerted effort to destroy the reputation of anyone who got in their way. Over time this mode of conversation has seemingly infected political discourse in our County and made it much nastier. People have forgotten they can constructively disagree, or make the issues the point of discussion and not the character of the person. Character matters, but in my experience, most people aren't villains or saints - but rather somewhere in between and likely closer to decency than bad.
I engage in a mixture of punditry and reporting, but I'm weighing my words very carefully. My focus is local politics and governance, and at the end of the day we are neighbors and have to get along, and hopefully well.
!BBH !SLOTH !ALIVE
Posted using sloth.buzz
It's a challenge.
I'm happy for people to have their opinion and tell me about it, they often have interesting ideas. What I'm not so keen on is when they bait me based on their assumptions about what I think (which may or may not be the case). It makes for a very boring meal.
I have a controversial opinion about extremism that few seems to understand. I say sometimes extremism is necessary to push boundaries and accelerate some processes that would take many years otherwise. I usually say so when I'm talking about the fight for ambient and green economy, for human rights (like for the LGBTQ community or anti-racism actions), for better living conditions. In these cases, extremism is necessary to speed things up.
It's bad when it's clearly used in unethical ways, for racist and discriminatory reasons, or religious extremism that harms people.
Reading your post made me so upset, I just reported you to the authorities!
lol