05-10-2019, 12:00 PM
Well, I would not try to politicize a discussion of how to plant a garden. Maybe the world would be better if people did plant gardens and took pride in the plants that they grow that they incorporate into dinner, or the beauty of some floral design. Of course, someone would come up with a floral design that has an overt message such as "F--- (insert name of political or cultural figure)". If the topic were contract bridge, I might suggest rhymes for "trump"; "bump", "jump", lump", and "stump" come to mind.
I wish that the discussions in most people's lives would go back to "Gustav Mahler: wonderful or horrible?", "Casablanca or Citizen Kane?", "Golden Gate or Mackinac Bridge -- which is more beautiful?", "High Renaissance or the Impressionists", "cats or dogs", or even "Mustang or Camaro?"
The economy is getting nastier, and life is getting less rewarding despite harder work and more skill by most. Politics is becoming more polarized, as is shown in news media that people find themselves using in efforts to make sense of the world. As life gets nastier, people become more political.
I wish that the discussions in most people's lives would go back to "Gustav Mahler: wonderful or horrible?", "Casablanca or Citizen Kane?", "Golden Gate or Mackinac Bridge -- which is more beautiful?", "High Renaissance or the Impressionists", "cats or dogs", or even "Mustang or Camaro?"
The economy is getting nastier, and life is getting less rewarding despite harder work and more skill by most. Politics is becoming more polarized, as is shown in news media that people find themselves using in efforts to make sense of the world. As life gets nastier, people become more political.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.