I want to talk about writing and speaking tactics for getting information to “the other side.” I have noticed, both in some of the articles and in many of the comments on GFZ, that people are fairly liberal in their use of name calling. I’ve noticed that it’s been a bit of a trend over the past six to ten years. It’s not a trend that I like.
When I first moved to the States, I was expecting to run into “rude rednecks” all around me. Imagine my surprise when said “rednecks” turned out to be polite, well spoken, and for the most part, educated and intelligent. I quickly learned that the people I was most concerned about, that the liberal folks of the north had feared, were the people who were the most ready to help someone who was in need.
Fast forward to ten years ago. I had long come to understand that the Right were fairly polite except for a few extremists that no one liked. I had come to a personal understanding that the Left were only polite to their own, and even then it was iffy, but they often couched that lack of politeness with pretty words. I was disappointed, surely, but I started slowly moving to the Right.
And then Trump got into office, and something changed. Suddenly, the people who I had come to know as being well spoken and softly polite were not, anymore. They began using some pretty nasty tactics to rile up “the other side.” One of those tactics was name calling.
For the past twenty years, I have been calling out people on the Left for indulging in name calling and petty behavior. People who mocked Bush for his ears or for misspelling potato, people who attacked Trump because of his weight or his hair, these were people that I roundly denounced. I culled my friends vigorously, removing those who would use that kind of base rudeness to lash out at “the other side.”
Now I’m seeing it, more and more, from the Right. Boy, it bothers me. It bothers me more than it does from the Left, if I want to be honest. My movement from Left to Right has been slow, and due to people like Awa and others who I trust and who have taken the time to teach me. I expect more from the Right, and the Right is now letting me down.
What I need you to understand is that you are not ever going to sway the people who are far Left. It’s not going to happen. More than anything else, they just don’t read what you have to say. They’ve muted you, deleted you from their FB friends list, and they avoid you. You’re not talking to them. You don’t need to sway those on the Right. They already side with you. Your target audience is ME.
And you’re losing me.
By giving in and using the tactics used by the Left, the Right is going to lose this fight. Those of us who’ve slowly been migrating Right are now pulling back. We’re taking a close look at you, and making decisions.
Believe me when I say, I have no interest in Biden or Harris, or in the Left bull cookies that are currently being spread around. I very much want to see a solid Second Amendment, and I want to see the First Amendment protected as befits its place as first. I want to see each and every child in the country taught about the Constitution both as an historical document and as a living document.
But you are shooting yourselves in the foot when you lower yourself to using the Left’s nasty tactics. Every time I see someone on the Right call Biden by some insulting name, I withdraw further. If you want to call him inept, ineffective, medically unsound, I’ll stand beside you and hold a sign with you. Those are truths. But the insulting, the name calling, the stooping into the muck? No. That’s not truth, it’s anger. If you let your anger rule you, you lose.
I don’t think the Right can prevail over the Left if it continues to fight in the same way it has for the last five decades. But I KNOW the Right cannot win this if they lower themselves to the Left’s level. All it does is push away the people like myself who want to know more, who are beginning to see that the Left’s carefully crafted lies are unraveling.
Awa will tell you, I was hesitant to write this column (From Behind Enemy Lines). I don’t use my real name, and I’m hiding in my anonymity. That hurts, just to be clear. I’ve always despised those who hide behind shields. But it’s the only way I was willing to write here. Because I don’t want to be splattered with whatever it is you’re slinging at the Left this week. I no longer feel safe enough around the Right to speak my mind openly.
Read that one again: I no longer feel SAFE ENOUGH around the Right to speak openly.
I realize it isn’t your job to make me feel safe. I really do. However, if your aim is to convert people like me to the Right, to lure me in because y’all have good cookies, then you just cannot be handing out cow pies and claiming they are cookies. It doesn’t work.
The Left has worn me down until I really just expect them to twist words. While that’s a very sad state of affairs, it is what it is. That’s the current status quo. What’s even more sad is that the Right is doing it now, too. When I bring it up, I’m told, “But they did it first!” I don’t really care. It’s not an excuse. When you shoot back with rude words or name calling, you seem to be telling me that you’re just like them, meaning the Left. Is that what you want?
And before I hear that it’s not the same thing… yes, yes it is. It is indeed lowering yourself to their level. It is behaving badly. It’s wrong. It’s wrong when the Left does it, but at this point, they’ve been doing it so long that I don’t think they are even aware. YOU are all aware, though. You know what you’re doing when you do it. Behaving badly “because the Left did it” is sort of like being a bad parent “because your neighbor did it.”
So… those of you who are actually interested in swaying the opinion of others, who want to teach the ones like me who are on the fence, who are learning… think about how your words and actions affect us. It’s looking pretty grim right now.
Heuristic Hagar
Thanks for the honesty, it’s very appreciated. And I understand where you’re coming from. I used to be you, and I’ve said the same exact things you are voicing here, now. However, and yes however, I have come to ‘know’ that there is no persuading anyone to move to one political side or the other. It’s well beyond that point now. The left has taken off the gloves, removed their masks, and are now blatantly demanding that their opposition be completely cancelled out of existence…literally and figuratively. So the time for civil respectful discourse is over, because they cancelled it out. They’ve upended the table of conversation, and are now resorting to war-like tactics, daring their opposition to make a stand.
The war has started, And war is hell. They initiated it. I do agree that using one’s mouth for the purpose of insulting them is just a waste of time and energy. But who is to define what is an insult and what isn’t?? In war all is fair play, and tactics are everything. Instigating the first move is essential to victory. Being polite and forbearing is not. There is nothing more immoral and reprehensible than a leftist. The individuals who choose to not take a firm stand in this hell, on one side or the other, will suffer the most because they will be caught in the middle.
Is there still time for civility? I think not. My family, my life, my convictions are under attack. I stopped being as you suggest, over the past ten years. And I would further argue that people like me are late to the battle. We waited far too long and now, I do believe even if we fight the fight brough to us, which was against our will to engage in for the past four decades, we will lose in the end. When I go down, I’m taking with me my attackers, as many as I can and yes, I’ll be insulting them as I do. War is hell. Sorry…there is no coming back from where we were force to, which is a corner with no way out.
It’s refreshing to read what you wrote Hagar, and I wish you could be correct. But, peace is impossible now. Time to prepare for the battle at hand.
>> The left has taken off the gloves, removed their masks, and are now blatantly
>> demanding that their opposition be completely cancelled out of existence…
>> literally and figuratively. So the time for civil respectful discourse is over,
>> because they cancelled it out.
Fighting against people who are attacking you is not the same as jeering and name calling. For instance, all of the people who’ve responded to me in this conversation have done so politely. In other comment threads on my articles, rude names were used. That shut off the communication. I was no longer interested.
This isn’t respectful discourse with the Left. This is learning about people. I’m not insulting you (you in general, not you in particular, David), and will not insult you. I’m just talking. And listening.
So… while I absolutely see the FAR Left wanting to delete the Right entirely… I don’t see the bulk of the Left doing that or wanting that. And I probably talk to more Leftists than most of y’all. 🙂 Just sayin’. LOL… There are many times I’ve been talking to Awa or others on the Right, and I hear, “Oh, the Left is spamming media saying X, Y, and Z”… and I’m over here going, “Wha-?” Because none of that has hit my feed. I understand it’s in your feeds… but it isn’t in mine. So the far and centrist Right are seeing it… but centrist Left is not. And apparently neither is far Left. What does that say about the media in question and who it’s designed to target?
It’s not just the Right, btw. I get the same thing from people on the Left. “Oh my GAWD the Right is trying to murder women!” Really? Where? Some obscure article that’s an opinion piece by someone who claims to represent the Right (not a Big Name) that’s definitely nothing I’ve heard come out of the mouth of someone on the Right. Someone out there is tweaking media so that both sides are seeing the worst of their perceived enemy. Most people are not extremists. At least IMO. 🙂
>> But who is to define what is an insult and what isn’t??
Calling Pres. Trump “tRUMP” and “cheeto in charge” and stuff like that… is an insult. Calling him fat is an insult. Calling Hilary “cluntin” and such… that’s an insult. Saying Biden is possibly or probably suffering from some form of dementia may be insulting, but it’s a statement of fact and opinion, not an insult. Does that clear it up? One is very VERY clearly an insult. And I slap down *everyone* I see doing it.
>> It’s refreshing to read what you wrote Hagar, and I wish you could be correct.
>> But, peace is impossible now. Time to prepare for the battle at hand.
Honestly, my biggest concern is that there are a handful of Black Hats who are currently manipulating news sources so that this feels bigger than it is. I truly believe that most of this comes down to less than ten people, with fingers in the media, twitting around with you and me and everyone else. Because of where I sit, I see things that people farther Left and Right do not. And what I see is not what *either* side is seeing. And that scares me.
I’m here to talk not because I want to convince anyone to move left or right or anything else. I’m here because Awa felt that my ability to “translate things” across cultural divides might be useful. And I hope it is.
True – ad-hominems or insults are not that useful for convincing the neutral parties but I think many on “our” side simply do not care anymore about any neutral parties.
After years, decades of open abuse, verbal or otherwise, by the “other” side people simply do not care for the ones that need nice words to be convinced that the bullies are the bad guys.
I’ve been called a murderer, baby killer, racist, sexist, fascist blah blah blah so often and so regularly I pretty much start any reply to that w/ variations of ‘Go F*ck yourself’ and expanding from there. Sometimes they start out polite (and I’ll respond politely) but then usually get all passive-aggressive and come up w/ some BS tripe and I’ll just stop even pretending civility from then on.
If they’re groups that traditionally sh!t on us and/or our rights, I don’t even start nice. I just tell them were they can go.
TantivV, I get it. I’m called all of those things, too. I’m also called a right wing nut, a gun nut, and a bunch of other stuff. Being in a niche, any niche, requires thick skin. Sometimes it hurts more than others, of course.
I’m not saying you should put up with abuse. I’m not saying that you should fail to defend yourself, be it physical, verbal, or mental. What I am saying is that name calling is just nasty. I don’t tolerate people calling Pres. Trump any of the nasty stuff they came up with during his tenure (and I am *not* a Trump fan, in any way, shape, or form), and I don’t tolerate people calling Biden or Harris or Clinton names, either.
Speak truths. Speak facts. Don’t name call.
Perfect example of what I’m talking about:
https://monsterhunternation.com/2023/02/02/my-response-to-the-official-complaint-at-marscon-about-my-tone/
Just the other day, I responded to a blatant racist whining that Desantis was being a ‘fascist’ for not allowing certain books in schools (iow racist/porn). I asked why they wanted to give porn to kids. Another idiot responded asking why I wanted to ‘groom’ kids w/ the bible/Christianity. (note: I’m not Christian). Why should I even try to be nice to flat out nonsense like that? They went all passive-aggressive, made more insinuations, non-sequiturs, and flat out lies. They finally ran away when they directly compared the Bible to ‘Gender Queer’ and I posted pictures from the book along w/ evidence that it had been available in numerous schools.
These are the kinds of mentalities we’re dealing with.
I have been a conservative who has voted for the political candidate who is least likely to hurt conservativism. It’s that simple. So with that voting record I will start to name call. Nixon was a complete political moron when he advocated for China here in the USA. Reagan was a political idiot for listening to his wife for political advice. Both Bushes were utopian fools for believing the USA should be a global leader in a new world order. Trump is a typical billionaire elitist pompous asshole for believing he could understand American Politics enough to be president.
However, I voted for five of these moronic, idiotic, fool hearty, assholes, because they were the lessor of the two evils, which I define the greater evil candidates as immoral abominations, incapable of speaking any truth at all, on any issue they ran on. Note: the lesser evil candidates were only slightly better, but not by much.
And I will say that currently in my great state of Florida, Desanto so far has made it very difficult for me to come up with some accurate form of insulting names, but we’ll see how it plays out. Since it’s all politics, I’m sure some form of human shit will eventually happen. How does one address shit in a civil manner anyway?
And by the way Hagar, I’m from the most liberal state in New England, was schooled in liberalism, and the first things I read in my feed is ‘all things liberalism-socialism, -leftism. A wise man must always learn his opposition’s words before considering what his own words should be. And I’ve been doing this religiously since 1968. It’s a hobby really, an addiction passed to me by my father who got it from his father and so on. And I use my real name, for good reasons.
I’ve got a question for Hagar. Where are you from originally? You mentioned moving to the states. I’m just trying to understand your cultural background.
I was originally from Canada, and moved to the States over 20 years ago. I have British and Slavic background that is very strong, though. So I’ve lived in a place where socialized medicine failed me, and my mind was twisted as a young person on many different subjects.
Canada. That explains it. You’re programmed at a genetic level to be nice. 😉
Honestly, this is truth. LOL… I had a long number of years being taught to be polite. On the other hand…
There was a time when I got very involved with a number of online discussion groups. I would spend pretty much all my free time there, correcting The Stupid. I would get my knickers in a knot over all the idiotic things people would say. For a very long time, I was extremely polite about it. After a while, I got tired of it (does this sound familiar?), and I started being nasty in return.
When I was nasty in return, it was… I got left alone by understanding moderators. I was responding in kind. But I got into the habit of REacting instead of acting. That low response became my primary response. Instead of thinking and engaging with my brain, I let my amygdala take over, and I made hip shots on a regular basis.
That’s where the problem is. At least IMO. 🙂
I hear you, but I’ve had 30 years of explaining my beliefs, trying to make the point that I’m not evil, that I want to solve the same problems but have a different way to do it — and then getting called a fascist, racist, etc. ad nauseam every time. I explained from my base principles to conclusions, honestly and openly, then was told that I was a liar, and that this person who knew me only from this discussion really knew what I was thinking.
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I think attitudes on the Right changed with the election of Trump because it exposed that: 1) the Left doesn’t want us to have ANY input into the political process, and increasingly seem to be working themselves up to horrible acts, and 2) a big chunk of the party we’d given our support ALSO didn’t want us to have any input into the political process.
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Toss in the pandemic — which both sides overreacted to in their own ways — and what seems to be an unending, uncompromising campaign to brainwash children into destroying themselves and tempers are short.
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I wish things would chill, but it would take everyone agreeing to live and let live and stop messing with kids. I don’t see that happening soon, sadly.
I have a couple friends that are always trying to convert those on the left.. and it never works. Me, personally I wont talk to the “other side”. I find its a waste of effort. Yes, some on our side are sinking to the tatics of the left and thats sad..when conversations devolve into name calling niether side wins. We the People MUST be the calm cool rational ones.. Tread softly in the world.. I do by the way, have awesome cookies…. And a van… heh heh heh..
“I don’t think the Right can prevail over the Left if it continues to fight in the same way it has for the last five decades. But I KNOW the Right cannot win this if they lower themselves to the Left’s level.”
Let me get this straight, you don’t think we can win driving on the high road as we’ve tried to over the last five decades, but fighting to win by any means necessary (as leftists do) won’t let us win either? So, when the so called middle of the roaders withdraw from the left and the right in this countries fight for survival, who will help you when you get run over? something to keep in mind, considering that the leftists are openly calling for the death of anyone that does not agree with their evil.
So again, we can’t win being civil to evil and we can’t win by being as vicious as the left, what is your suggestion for winning? Playing possum? To me it seems you are trying to sit on the fence and look down on others that are trying to straighten things out. Pick a side, it’s a bitch to receive fire from all sides, been there done that, it don’t work.
>> Let me get this straight, you don’t think we can win driving on the high road
>> as we’ve tried to over the last five decades, but fighting to win by any means
>> necessary (as leftists do) won’t let us win either?
Not quite what I meant. I apologize for not being clearer. I *know* that taking the low road won’t win you any fights. What I meant about not winning is that if you continue to use the same currently losing tactics, you will continue to lose. The things you’ve done until now have not won anything. Gun rights have eroded. Education has eroded. Personal freedoms on most levels have eroded. It’s time to find a new way to fight the fight. Finding new tactics is separate from “not being a dick” (to quote the reply button’s warning).
>> So, when the so called middle of the roaders withdraw from the left and
>> the right in this countries fight for survival, who will help you when you get
>> run over? something to keep in mind,
I don’t intend to be run over. 🙂 However, if I were hurt, I have plenty of friends. I’m a prepper, and I know how to prepare for things. I can not agree with the tactics of Left or Right, and still survive just fine.
>> considering that the leftists are openly calling for the death of anyone that
>> does not agree with their evil.
That’s a very generic statement. While I’ve seen a few wingnuts calling for the death of people, it certainly does not seem to be what the vasty majority are saying. Also, what is “their evil”? That’s kind of vague. Just so you know, I’ve seen a few wingnuts on the right call for deaths, too… Seen a few doctors and nurses get shot for doing their jobs… It’s not just the Left that has mixed nuts.
>> So again, we can’t win being civil to evil and we can’t win by being as
>> vicious as the left, what is your suggestion for winning? Playing possum?
No. Stop playing their game. Right now, there’s a *really* good Supreme Court up there. Challenge bad laws. Audit freedoms as often as you can. Prepare and be ready to take care of yourself. Live life, because literally that’s the whole point. This is America; be free, and pursue happiness.
Thanks for your comments.
While I’ve seen a few wingnuts calling for the death of people, it certainly does not seem to be what the vasty majority are saying.
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Colleges are teaching students that “whiteness must be eliminated”. Granted, they don’t strictly mean white people, but the way they define “whiteness” maps to traditional American values.
“Gun rights have eroded.” There have been several posts recently right here stating that isn’t true.
Generic statement on leftists wanting us dead? Really? What about members of congress, the pResident Bidet, I mean biden, leading members of the fellow traveling fake media, hollywierdos, members of numeroust state government, etc. I have to ask, where do you get your news, I don’t follow fake media much, but I see that written/spoken/ broadcast almost daily. They want you dead if you won’t take the clotshot.
I talk to people. Lots of them. And there’s that name calling. *shrug* You don’t have a real argument, so you throw out names. Done.
Not too much I can add to what’s been said. Everyone has limits, and since Trump was elected it’s felt to me as though the Left has pulled out all the stops.
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Bullies never stop in response to soft words and gentle asks.
Just a quick response here… I’m not calling for being gentle or soft. I’m anything but. I can and do use words as weapons. If someone hurts you (or in some/a lot of cases, if someone is making credible noises that they’re going to hurt you), you hurt them right back.
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I find it interesting that y’all seem to think that being polite is equated with being kind, nice, or a doormat. I can be polite and shoot you center of mass twice. 🙂
Insults lower the discourse and tend to be a verbal gang sign. Things like Obummer, Blumf, Vodka Granny and so on are often heard and repeated as a sign of your allegiance. The saddest part is they are rarely original.
Your point as a lefty centrist gives you a different lense to see things than say a person on the right or me a political bum/homeless. Yet so long as we can agree that everyone has a different experience and thus a different perspective from each other and take the experiences in good faith (so long as the person deserves said good faith) we can have a useful conversation rather than an argument. Tribalism will always increase in times of unrest and strife as people look for a real or metaphorical warrior at their side against “The Enemy”.
For example, our HR Lady had a large poster of the Constitution on the wall behind her desk and use those little narrow post it notes to point our every area that she believed former President Trump violated and proudly walk around the office with a Conservative Tears coffee mug, a direct counter punch to Liberal Tears mugs, but authored an interoffice memo banning any political clothing due to people feeling unsafe. Hillary and then Biden/Harris merch was totally fine and celebrated but there were a few cases across campus of Trump hats getting stolen, things thrown at/on, or the person assaulted. Normally it was elderly people going to or leaving from the hospital. Cars with Trump stickers were vandalized. Most of the teachers and administrative staff lean heavily left and the daily word on their lips was how they feared for their safety and about all the tiki torches and violence they feared/faced and by the way they talked you’d think there were running a gauntlet of nazis in their every day lives. Meanwhile anyone on the right has to keep their head down and voices silent or face firing or actual violence. It probably heavily depends on where you are too and what unconscious biases people have when communicating. For instance my given name is pretty anglo so when communicating via email or over the phone people will act or speak one way but seeing me in person as a scruffy bearded brown mountain-man, even knowing it is the same person, will act, speak, and use references differently.
Two wrongs dont make a right and I wont let their behavior give me an excuse to be rude or vulgar but it does make me angry when the people doing the punching keep crying out how victimized they are.
This. Thank you for putting into words better than I did.
Few thoughts:
SHORT Version:
Stop expecting an entire side of the political aisle to ignore their human nature and act like the “adult in the room” 100% of the time. It is unrealistic, and if that is what causes you to sway back to the left, you will be equally disappointed by them as well.
LONG Version:
“I’ve noticed that it’s been a bit of a trend over the past six to ten years. It’s not a trend that I like.”
Has been going on since humans first started using words to communicate.
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There is a reason why “right wing nut job” is a term in common use. Not sure, but I would be surprised if it were not in Websters.
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“I expect more from the Right, and the Right is now letting me down.”
You have a typo there. Let me help, I think you wanted to say “I expect more from humans, and humans are now letting me down.” No need to thank me, I am happy to help.
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“And you’re losing me.”
If the folks on the right side of the political aisle are causing you to move further left because a few bad actors are using insults, then we never “had” you, nor were we ever going to have you among our ranks. You cannot set a standard that is unreachable for an entire side of the political aisle and decide that you do not want to be part of that half of the country because of a few insults.
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“By giving in and using the tactics used by the Left, the Right is going to lose this fight.”
I agree with you when it comes to lodging insults. I do not agree at all when it comes to using the tactics of the left. It is not the tactics that are the problem, it is using them exactly the way the left uses them that is the problem. Personally, I think every person who is making political comments should read and understand Rules for Radicals, and employ those very tactics. Saul Alinsky was brilliant, he was very insightful into human nature, and developed methods to manipulate human nature. Very effective methods.
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However, I do agree that insulting someone is not effective. However, pointing out that the actions of a leftist are similar to those of a toddler is not insulting, it is potentially constructive.
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“I’ve always despised those who hide behind shields.”
There is no nobility in standing out in the open, knowing the attack is coming. It is not noble, it is stupid. I do not care about stories of “counting coup” or taking the first punch. Sorry, but I have had to file police complaints because of threatening voicemails I have received when I used my real name. So, I fully support your decision to go anonymous. Whether the attack is coming from the left or the right is meaningless. The attack is coming.
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“I no longer feel SAFE ENOUGH around the Right to speak openly.”
Speak openly. What is the worst thing that happens? Someone on the internet calls you a name?
I am going to encourage you to speak whatever is on your mind here. Please continue to do so. And, if someone writes a response that you do not like, shake it off. Humans will be humans. Do not ask the right side of the political aisle to be the “bigger person” while you cannot do the same.
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“I’m told, “But they did it first!” I don’t really care. It’s not an excuse. When you shoot back with rude words or name calling, you seem to be telling me that you’re just like them, meaning the Left. Is that what you want?”
And, you are here again, holding an entire side of the political aisle to a standard that.. frankly… humans cannot live up to. Sorry if this comes off as rude, but show us how to be the bigger person, and stop veering back off to the left because a few folks on the right are… well… doing EXACTLY what all humans do, and have done for eons.
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Sorry about the long post. But, reality is ugly.
The people on the right side of the political aisle are… people. They are biased, prejudiced, and emotionally driven. Just like every other person that has ever been born, or ever will be born. It is unrealistic to think one side of the political aisle will act rationally, logically, and without emotion all the time. If you are going to stop listening to the right side of the aisle because they are not living up to some idealistic standard, nothing I or anyone else says will change your mind. But, you will be disappointed a lot in life. Humans are, and always will be humans.
CBMTTek… First off, this was not “TL;DR”. Thank you for the response.
I think a lot of my problem is that for the past 25 years (the time I’ve known Awa and other responsible, awesome Conservatives), I’ve been told that the Right *is* better. Then I get a laundry list of why. But the things on that laundry list are getting shorter. And it disappoints me. I guess I’m human, too.
There’s only been one person in this thread that used name calling. I’ve had no issues with being called out by anyone here. Y’all have been polite, pointed, and blunt. None of that is nasty, even if sometimes it hurt a bit. I’m not *damaged* from it, nor should I be.
As for speaking openly… there are some things that I just don’t feel would do well here. I’m mindful of the time I spent, getting my panties in a wad over stuff, way back when the interwebz was young. I have the ability to eviscerate people with my words, but it’s something I learned from being abused, and I’ve no desire to go back to doing it. I’m very careful about what I say. Sometimes I am better at it than others.
But I’m here. I’m trying. I’m learning.
Hagar, thank you ever so much for the personal response. I am sure there were a lot of comments on your post that were worthy of a response, and I am glad mine made the list.
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“I’ve been told that the Right *is* better.”
And, I have no doubt the left said exactly the same thing. Both of us are wrong, both are right. We are all human, and no matter how much virtue signaling we do, we fall to the constraints of human nature.
Humans. Gotta live with them, and all their faults.
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Be the adult in the room, or strive to. I do, and I know I fail at it a lot.
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One thing to realize, there is a difference between using an insult for snark, and using an insult for offensive. There is a difference between being clever, and being shocking. If you find the majority of one side of the political aisle tends to be shocking, the other tends to use words to be clever more often, you are looking at the correct side of the political aisle to sit.
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Please keep posting here. I have several liberal leaning friends, and would like to include your insight along with theird.
Larry has a good write up showing a bit of the difference between the left and right use of “words as weapons.”
https://monsterhunternation.com/2023/02/02/my-response-to-the-official-complaint-at-marscon-about-my-tone/
Neither “side” is better, both are two sides of the same coin meeting in the center to violate your rights and deny your individuality and liberty.
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IMO there is humor in insult and if you can’t laugh at yourself as equally as when you take the piss out of the other “side” you are the problem and not the insult. Cheeto is equally humorous to me as vodka granny for example, but hey I’m no sides bitch either.
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“Honestly, my biggest concern is that there are a handful of Black Hats who are currently manipulating news sources so that this feels bigger than it is. I truly believe that most of this comes down to less than ten people, with fingers in the media, twitting around with you and me and everyone else. Because of where I sit, I see things that people farther Left and Right do not. And what I see is not what *either* side is seeing. And that scares me. ”
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That is the most important thing you said between the comments and the post and people just gloss over it. Everyone likes to be pissed off and angry at the “other side” and feel the righteous indignation that assures their own correctness/moralness/goodness etc. But social media and the internet has accelerated the speed that information flows to such an extreme speed that it amplifies everything and makes it seem more than it is. Most people here should be old enough to remember that person they know that had some off base, weird, or wild idea about one thing that they only found out about by actually talking to them. Well take a minute to step back with some perspective and realize that everyone has at least one of those things that are off base, weird, or wild to someone else and that we are significantly more connected and in communication with random strangers than we ever were so we are bombarded with everyone’s dumb bullshit now instead of just the one guy you talked to at the bus stop. It is warping our minds.
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“I no longer feel SAFE ENOUGH around the Right to speak openly.”
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Like how? As in words hurt or physically unsafe? If it is just words, I advise you to stay out of any video game voice chat.