The Partisan Divide on Issues

[David Horn]

(12-20-2020, 12:15 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(12-20-2020, 10:25 AM)David Horn Wrote: C-Xer and his allies believe -- deeply believe -- that white America is under siege, and being attacked from all sides.  They also believe they are the true Americans, and their opponents are <insert your degrading characterization of choice>. If you believe that, and you also believe your adversaries are anti-American, then it's easy to declare a no-holds-barred standard in opposing them -- and that's where we are.

What they believe - deeply believe - is in the division of wealth, in small government, that by hurting the working man and wealth going to the elites they remain 'superior' to minorities.  It would take a Hiroshima level event to make the examine the worth of this belief.  The deaths caused by COVID and the Black Lives Matter protests are not allowed to penetrate their thoughts.

And they are being attacked from all sides for these beliefs.  They believe in Identity Politics, that America exists for them alone, and all others are locked out.  For believing that, it is proper that they be attacked from all sides.

For all the good that that recognizing the problem does.

They can try to embrace racism, doublethink, elitism, cutting jobs, benefits, unions, concentration camps, authoritarianism all they like.  They can try to justify it by saying retaining their privileged position justifies hurting the things that got them that position.

Just so long as they recognized that there selfishness and greed is noted, and that no matter how they mischaracterize their opponents, the crisis problems will be countered.

Sure they can lie to themselves.  They can cluck like chickens.  It won't do them any good.

I used to believe it was all cynical, but not so much anymore, If you feel under siege -- rightly or wrongly --  you will react to the oppression, even though it may not actually exist.  Starting from there, it's really hard to get to a mental place that will allow unbiased observation.  And fwiw, we all suffer from that to some extent; we all have our demons.  The best of us can acknowledge our biases and try to balance them.  If getting there is considered weak or traitorous, then biases fester until they dominate.  C-Xer isn't quite there, but he's far enough along that simple argument is no longer a potential counterweight.  He'll have to do this the hard way. We have plenty on our side of the argument who fall into the same abyss.  It's only a case of how deep. I'm certainly as subject to that as anyone else.