The Partisan Divide on Issues

[Bob Butler 54]

(07-28-2020, 09:26 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: Most of us know the rules for getting along. Do not assume evil in a difference unless the behavior is inexcusable in any culture. No culture can excuse murder, rape, or theft. Most cultures have a mainstream in which rogues who take the outer identity of the group and do horrible things are objects of hatred. Mexican-Americans hated serial-killer and demon-worshiper Richard Ramirez. Blacks recognize serial killer and thug Alton Coleman with about as much sympathy as white people hold Ted Bundy. What people hate the Mafia thugs most? You guessed it: Italian-Americans who have legitimate ways of making a living. You find few German-Americans showing admiration for John Dillinger -- or Nazis. Jews do not defend the Jewish monbsters of about eighty years ago or such scum as Bernie Madoff, Harvey Weinstein, or Jeffrey Epstein. 

For some reason, the 9/11 plotters stayed clear of Dearborn, Michigan, a community with a large Arab Muslim (and lots of people of Middle-Eastern origin who might not be Arab or Muslim) community.

Thing is, some ideologues will state all A believe B.  Then, someone will respond, I am A and do not believe B.  The response by the ideologue is all A believe B.  Again.  Rinse.  Repeat.  They have created a false idea and will cling to it no matter how often they are corrected.

In particular some of many races have what I call the ghetto ethic.  In short, drug pushers are seen driving fancy cars, wearing fancy jewelry, and are therefore to be imitated when you grow up.  Using violence to establish your monopoly is cool.  It is reasonable to assume this mentality is real, to take precautions against it.  If you can afford it, you move to places where it is not prevalent.  If you can’t afford it, you take such precautions as you can, which might include joining a neighborhood watch group and telling your kids to stay away from areas the pushers may be active.  You do not want them to catch a stray bullet.

That is rational.

What is not rational is thinking all people with a certain skin pigmentation have ghetto ethics and deserve to be shot.  What is not rational is believing all liberals believe a certain thing when you know many liberals who do not believe this thing.  Yet the devout conservative will insist they do.  They will cling to their false motivations tightly, thus justifying their own mindset, and making any sort of conversation impossible.

Now, Classic is useful.  You can make an argument that opposes him ever clearer in hopes of convincing more rational people.  Convincing Classic?  Unlikely.  He is stuck somewhere between rinse and repeat.

But lately I can repeat a question that he can’t answer and he responds by changing the subject.  You get to know his values well enough to ask what he cannot answer.  Instead he will make silly threats and repeat distractions.

Not only not rational, but not constructive.