Sasha, you described my life in NYC. I don’t have a dog. But striking up conversations with peers, colleagues, people I’ve known for years, there is the implicit expectation that you are on their team, because the alternative is beneath contempt. There is no room for discussion. Their minds are hermetically sealed against any disagreement. Critical thought and self reflection are entirely alien. It feels like a Twilight Zone world filled with human-like robots that lack a mind.
Kurt, I live in Brooklyn & my wider family (not husband & son) decided I was a whack job when I quite simply had concerns about the COVID jab & then entirely separately watched a Joe Rogan episode on sacred geography. That's all it took. But I cannot & will never support the demonization of curiosity itself. —I see we read many of the same writers on Substack, but you are braver than I in displaying them all. I commend you for that, since as we all know, just asking questions & expressing doubts about official narratives is quite enough on its own. But the crowd that shouts about banned books most loudly, curiously, doesn't respect wide, meandering, unruly reading.
I've heard tell, of course. Seems we had the reincarnation of AH himself for four years & yet we survived & nothing too bad happened. Nevertheless, he remains the most threatening existential threat ever, somehow. That's quite an achievement.
What to say, the voice of common opinion is usually dumb, even when spoken by "the best & the brightest," whereas common sense remains a good guide.
My ex Facebook friend, an extremely gifted woman artistically and an idiot, posted side by sides of Hitler and Trump every day for months. One of many encouragers of violence, though of course, she could never see herself that way.
I’m sorry, but you really have to know just about zero history to be able to do that. It’s the double whammy of arrogance & sheer ignorance that is so damning & corrosive. That’s just dumb & yet it gets elevated. I don’t understand that part of it.
They have no decency. And they count on the ignorance, temptation to be generally nasty, and ability to be stampeded which the fallen human race is vulnerable to in order to make it work. They have an extremely low opinion of humanity, and I'm afraid in many cases, they're right.
Personally, I think it's worth giving people the benefit of the doubt, as we're all flawed & all capable of goodness & awareness. What I wonder is if it isn't a lack of humility & the ego troubles that seem to plague us when we lose the context of the larger story to which we belong & of which we are a part. And then there are all the current considerations of right brain dominance & the drive to categorize, label & control, without admitting of nuance, paradox & the larger sense of mystery that abides & will always abide. To lose a sense of the ineffable is to lose a sense of the whole, or of wholeness itself. Are you familiar with the work of Iain McGilchrist? If not, you might take a look. I highly recommend his work, for whatever that's worth, seeing you don't know me & I'm not necessarily a credible person. But give it a chance! I think I have better interpretive frames & grounds thanks to his work. And seeing you like meandering, unruly reading... it might just speak to you, too.
My immediate family. My distant her husband, both of whom are kind, generous and thoughtful otherwise, are so far up Elizabeth Warren’s hoo-hoo that the rest of us are stunned.
My brother-in-law is a self-made millionaire and I really mean it when I say that I’ve never met anyone anywhere that can work and play as hard as he can. He adores Jimmy Carter - can’t fault him for that - and is on a first name basis with him. Wish I could say the same - Jimmy Carter is a fine gentleman and American.
It’s just amazing to me, though, the low-life scammers that run the Democratic Party whose only platform is the awfulness of Trump. We all know, though, the gift that Trump is for them and how most of them literally couldn’t exist without him. Their biggest scam is that millions believe them and don’t see that they’re every bit as bad and worse than he is. At least he’s never hid behind sanctimony.
Living in Berkeley since 1968, and a republican since the Kavanaugh hearings—you’ve pretty much described my daily life, though I was never so tactful or adept at changing the subject. And so the friends I thought I had have drained away. But really, without a baseline tolerance for the differences between people, or with the kind of tolerance that only goes in one direction, what is friendship?
I've always leaned conservative, but the Kavanaugh hearings you mentioned, Working Man, was my tipping point. After that event, I became a straight party Republican. The truth simply no longer mattered to the Democrats. Perhaps it hadn't for a long time, but it was so blatant.
Watching the hearing, I kept saying to myself: "High school? Really? High school?" I couldn't believe it. Somehow I had thought that all reasonable people were absolved of whatever they did or were rumored to do in high school, but when one of the two major parties raised the issue in complete and incredible seriousness, I knew there was nothing left of their integrity. Certain doubts had been piling up for years, and it's funny that it had never, never occurred to me, not once, that switching parties would be the inevitable result—but when it happened, I was so disgusted I knew the door was closing and that it would never open again.
Ah yes, the Berkeley Hills. I had dinner regularly at a local restaurant with a group of professors, and every evening would inevitably conclude for them with a drunken squabble over who had ordered the pesto, and who had shorted the waitperson's tip—enough to make a bricklayer blush.
As someone living in a very conservative area, the vibe has always felt different than that. People have always disagreed on politics, but it’s never been personal. All the people on the right I know who are very passionate have a strong dislike for the politicians and problems they associate with the other side, but they don’t have problems with the voters or particular groups of them.
Conservative areas usually have a mix of both sides. We're used to each other and generally get along. Liberal areas are almost all blue and do not tolerate other viewpoints.
I live in a county in the South, and the last Dem president voted for here was FDR. Our libs here are just as crazy as they are anywhere, they’re just badly outnumbered.
Conservatives know the lib arguments and can refute them, libs live in a bubble and do not know the conservative arguments and cannot refute them.
My Southern Republican neighbors are fantastic people, and fun to be around. We are all done with associating with crazy libs.
Same here - I was coming here to say basically the same thing. Our coastal Southern town is full of Trump signs and hats, boats go by with Trump flags, people wear the American flag on their tee shirt. Somehow we all manage to get along, by realizing that politics isn’t THE ONLY THING. And as you say, the libs don’t know their argument (most are transplants anyway, and still think “bless your heart” means something nice!). My whole life people have avoided talking politics and religion, but that doesn’t mean we don’t be how. What’s nice here is that politics isn’t everything all the time like in blue areas.
People are still worried, but I’ve sensed a resolve over the past year or so - a “not happening here” attitude, helped by actually effective local law enforcement an our super majority in the state legislature. (Our idiot Dem governor - he is dumb as a box of rocks - is being considered in the veepstakes, Lord help us.)
I’m in NC too, Edenton. We are a very conservative town as a whole, but lefties are moving in and causing havoc. We have a civil war monument at the end of our Main Street that has been there since 1901. Now we have protesters parade around the statue every Saturday. The protesters don’t live here, they are bussed in. Same group bought two billboards saying Edenton is a racist town. They just can’t help making everything they touch toxic and ugly.
My roommate was from Edenton. I only visited once (back in the Stone Age!) but loved it. Beaufort has a civil war monument too, but as far as I know, no protests. I’m surprised someone targeted Edenton of all places!
And you just described the difference between the left and right in a nutshell. Most conservatives couldn't care less what someone else believes and are able to separate the person from their politics. Not so on the left. To them, you ARE your politics and they want nothing to do with someone who doesn't share their world view. It's a threat to them. Because politics is their religion.
Isn’t that sad? I have never met a happy liberal. There may be a veneer of happiness, but it doesn’t take much for their mean liberal core to come out. When it does, what it really shows is a lack of respect for their fellow human beings. It’s why I disassociate myself from libs. At their core the majority of them are not nice people.
From Gina Carano, who is a Happy Warrior, and has a great interview with Tucker Carlson:
Pay attention to what people say to you out of anger, they’ve been dying to tell you that.
To quote Dennis Prager: There are happy liberals, but no happy leftists.
I have known happy and nice liberals. But I agree that most leftists are miserable people. They project their personal failings onto politicians they don't like, and even their voters. They want everyone else to be as miserable as they are.
There is reportedly a survey that revealed people who identify as liberal or on the left have higher rates of depression and mental illness than people who don't.
I believe that the left, or at least the far left, is a magnet for the legit mentally ill. If you look at the stuff they do: BLM/Antifa, the current pro-Hamas histrionics (who are really the same people repackaged), do these look like mentally healthy people?
Meh it’s becoming more and more difficult to think of them as good people. They’ve tolerated and abetted the far left and will vote for Kamala no matter what.
I wish I could talk to my husband about politics, we have an uneasy truce right now about Trump. I realized I was wrong about him and he is angry at me for it.
I get that. Politics breaks up families. I have really tried to find redeeming qualities of politicians themselves and I can’t (but they are still humans…), so I look at philosophy and go from there. I’m not a fan of many things from both “sides” but I prefer a reality that is very different from California’s.
Trump is playing this campaign so, so much smarter than Obama et al.
Going to Butler is an amazing idea, and will get the Mo back on his side. He will end up winning by a margin that even the Dem machine can't invalidate.
Laurent - I have read that the polls have to show a lead only big enough to cover the margin of error for the democrats to be able to pull off another ballot stuffed election.
That is why, all of the sudden, Kamala is polling within the margins. They (the MSM) will continue this through to the election, to facilitate the "battle box" full of fake/manufactured votes.
The lesson they learned from 2020 is to fill out the down ballot votes as well, to ensure they keep the Senate.
Expect many shenanigans while the votes are counted.
While we are among free spirits, I would like to have your opinion you all about a John Galt walkaway in case they cheat again.
I believe that Sharp Joe never had 80 million votes and Trump had more than the 74 millions the Regime got him, but assuming arguendo that he did and that he will get the same amount of votes this time.
What would happen if each and every voter walked away from his job?
Asking for a forensic recount of one or two of the most suspicious state ?
That would have to be coordinated by the Campaign.
The voters would have to stockpile food for a month.
But the USA is still using the black box voting machines. We have a now former County Clerk in CO who handed over her election server data to several cybersecurity experts. Read the summaries from the 3 Mesa County Reports at tinapeters.us. The deep state is after her. Pure lawfare. Her trial finally starts Tuesday. Pray for her victory. Our SOS erased the 2020 and 2021 elections early through a software update which is illegal. SHE should be on trial.
After hearing that totally phony phone call to Kamala from the Obamas ("I just had to call my girl Kamala" blah-blah blah ditty-blah!) I thought the best thing Trump could do is come out and ENDORSE Kamala too!!! it would be hysterical! He could tell her how happy and proud of her he is, and how it's a "honor" to be running against her!!!
Best idea of the Trump/Harris contest!! It would be hilarious if he did it in his Butler speech today. It would be one of the great things in American political history, such as when a victorious Harry Truman made fun of the radio presenter, H.V. Kaltenborn, reporting on the Truman/Dewey race on Election Night, 1948:
"President Truman is still ahead, but we are expecting that when the Western states begin to report, that will change..."
That should be on YouTube. If you haven't seen it, look for it. It's great political eye poking.
Please read Lee Smith's article in "Tablet" about the influence Obama has had on the Biden-Harris Administration, and Harris as the Dems' nominee - very insightful.
We cannot get complacent or too self-assured in victory. There are a lot of people in this country who will vote for Kamala simply because of her identity without knowing a single issue.
I yearn for the days when it was considered impolite to talk politics. Or at least go back to when it didn't mean the end of relationships because you had a different viewpoint. But that has been the democrat strategy of divide and conquer by belittling the conservative voters. Obama did it, Hillary, Biden, et al. They are constantly attacking the voters. I don't think I've ever heard Trump attack democrat voters.
I find it strange to hear about places like this. I live in Mississippi. I've lived here all my life. All over the State. I am currently close to Memphis. The demographic of my public school was 60% white, 40% black. That's still the demographic today. I live close to one of the most dangerous cities in America. Yet, I get lectures from people in your type of neighborhood, people who've never had to deal with crime, who think they know black people better than they know themselves. We all get along just fine together with a few bad apples here and there. We own a business in Memphis. My husband's customers are a mix of every race but it's mostly men. Do you know they are all planning to vote for Trump, but they will tell my husband and son not to ever ask them in front of their wives or girlfriends or they will lie? Crazy, huh? I also like those little signs they have in their yards. Be kind to everyone ✨️ unless they don't vote with you, of course. 😉
Attended dental school in Memphis back in the 70s. Fun place back then. Wouldn’t go to downtown Memphis after dark now if you put a gun to my head……Oh, wait…..
Exactly. Not happening. The last time I went after dark was a club night at Alfred's in 2006. Watched a person get stabbed multiple times. That was the last time I made that mistake.
We don't go at all except during the day for work and it's an industrial area. We don't live there, but close enough. As soon as this business is up and running, we are out, too.
All spot on , new people are tricky for sure , but my most difficult time is with my 3 “view” , msnbc watching friends. I spin out of control trying to change the subject.
The most difficult thing is when they try to talk politics, and clearly only have the vile bullshit they swallow for facts and I want to start screaming. I still have no clue what to do and find it hard to respect them when they continue to be sooo incurious about what they listen to
They are impossible to communicate with. We exist in entirely different realities and even with something as basic as secure borders it’s impossible. When I say we have to have secure borders they say it’s wrong to hate immigrants. They no longer see the difference between legal and illegal immigrants. In fact though I spent many years working with mostly immigrants from all over the world in Chicago. Excellent people with traditional values appalled by Woke ideology and open borders. None of them were okay with open borders. Not at all.
I think most people like that are virtue signaling. They say what makes them feel good about themselves while signaling to others that they "care". It's thin, meaning there's no true inclusive intentions on their part.
(Like how the locals all acted on Martha's Vinyard when the immigrants were sent there). We all know how that went.
They have little to no intentions of befriending the immigrants and inviting them in to their circles and homes.
"locals all acted on Martha's Vinyard when the immigrants were sent there"
One of my many ex liberal friends has a sister (who is a better person than me) who goes to Africa and helps the women in the village make tchotchkes that she sells back on Martha's Vinyard. These people . . .
The only people I know who for years freely welcomed (legal, Southeast Asian) refugees into their home (and worked tirelessly to help them assimilate) have been ardent Trump supporters from the beginning (not Johnny-come-latelies like me).
I no longer care to engage with those with a liberal worldview.
They are irrational, intolerant, not interested, and basically rude. New neighbor, thought we may have a few things in common. Went out for drinks which included a trump rant. I said I do not want to talk politics. Attempted to talk about true crime and concerts we have been to. She interjected trump crap. I didn’t bite and cut the nite short. The following day was trash day. Before bed, I went out to place the cans on the curb, and out of the darkness she appeared with her off-leash dog and proclaimed “We have a conviction”. I thought she was talking about the weirdo Chad Daybell, and made a snarky serial killer comment and she goes “No, Trump”.
Oh don’t ever say that about masks! Here in England they weren’t compulsory outside even at the very height of the utter nonsense, but yesterday, a lovely sunny day, I saw a middle aged couple walking past my house wearing blue surgical masks up to their eyeballs….The ‘man’ was also carrying thick black gloves….such sights always spoil my day for a few minutes, and I almost look at the ‘news’ to see whether some evil announcement has been made regarding a new ‘virus’. Anyways, as for talking to others about politics, well, I used to have a dog but he died last year but when I used to walk him, twice a day like this writer, I used to give the masked very evil looks, and if I did talk to anyone I told them what I thought of the nonsense. I no longer speak much to anyone - say hello, wave goodbye as the song goes. I have no friends, but I was never much of a mixer, twos company three is very much a crowd in my opinion, unless I am teaching or performing as I used to. I don’t talk to my husband about politics as I used to try to - he would become angry, not because he wholly disagrees but because he felt there was nothing he could do about it and I was just spoiling his peace of mind. He has heart failure now, and so I very much keep quiet about my fears for the future. I talk to my brother and sister, who both share my views - they live far away from me, but still, Skype is a wonderful thing.
I was thinking the same thing. I have never been to a Trump rally either, but it sure looks like a fun experience with lots of laughs mixed in. If it included getting to meet up with Sash’s readers.. now that would really be extra special.
You can talk to me if you want someone to vent to! I can’t talk with my husband about politics either, he gets angry at the drop of a hat about it and we don’t see eye to eye. I was fooled by the media too and finally started reading conservative news, I always leaned conservative to begin with, I hate myself for falling for this sham. My husband is angry with me that I have swung so far in the other direction.
What a freak! I agree. I have committed social suicide and posted for years now on instagram about hypocrisy and corruption from left and how the media lies. I finally posted that I am “unapologetically MAGA”. I live in Houston, TX… have not lost any real friends but absolutely sure they talk about me behind my back.. hopefully curious but also think I am stupid or naive. I am nice to people who are nice to me and i still get invited to things. I don’t bring up politics in mixed company unless someone else brings it up. People know where i stand so I feel liberated.
What I find fascinating in this interaction, I verbally told her I had no interest in talking politics - and she continued with the politics. Hence, the rude . . . or is it not interested, arrogant, dim, or committed to signaling what a good person she is.
Got me.
What I do know is not enjoyable, interesting or entertaining.
Also what I know is if she had been wearing the mask, we would never have had a first date.
Next time she does this, just say “I told you before that I have no interest in talking politics”, then just turn and walk away. It might be hard to do the first time, and you might have to do it again, but trust me, it will feel liberating.
When you see her after this, just keep smiling and waving hi. Your neighbor will find this to be infuriating. Be a Happy Warrior!
As I said in another post here, do not be tolerant of the intolerant.
Even more disheartening to walk on eggshells with much beloved family. I self-censor to preserve the most important relationships in my life. Heartbreaking.
Maybe these family members don’t deserve your association. Sometimes, unfortunately, even family members need cut off, not entirely bug out of your orbit. My older son thought I should get jabbed. I made it very clear I would not and the discussion was closed. He respected me enough to know my love was forever, but my medical decisions were mind to make.
I'm not courageous enough to disassociate from all three children (and my three grandchildren.) I can bear this, though the relationships feel superficial at times. The big exception is having a relationship with my grandchildren that is pure joy.
That’s true. But it’s this weird unexplainable thing. At least for me so far . These are people with advanced degrees who either can’t or won’t think . They spew talking points. Never do they have a “ could that be bullshit coming out of my mouth?” Moment
I lost my respect for the Ivy League and advanced degrees 20+ years ago when a black man with a Harvard MBA (words he said together like a mantra - “I’m a black man with a Harvard MBA” - whenever he could) wanted to buy our business. He was the dumbest, most ill-informed person I’d ever met. He didn’t understand a single thing about actual business, and particularly a business with blue collar employees, subcontractors, and some of the clients. He was my first real interaction with an obvious DEI situation (of course we didn’t call it that then, but everyone knew about the racial quotas). I haven’t had my mind changed by interactions with “the smart people” since.
If you haven’t read Jonathon Haidt’s “Why Good People are Divided by Faith and Politics” I highly recommend it. His research on moral reasoning is fascinating. Apparently we all form our beliefs pretty much emotionally, but smart people can be more prone to judgment errors—their brains are so good at coming up with reasons to belief what they *want* to believe.
Add to that the tenor of the last 10+ years (well covered Coddling of the American Mind by Haidt and What’s Wrong With Us? by Tim Urban) and you get a recipe for smart people covered in belief Teflon. Sigh.
Even more than it’s frustrating, it’s just so incredibly *boring*.
I completely agree and actually always have. I’m an attorney and the dumbest lawyers I know went to Ivy League schools. So I know it , it’s my failing for failing to get it when they are old friends. Thanks Leah. I’ll get the book
Thomas Sowell explains the liberal hive mind succinctly in his books The Vision of the Anointed and Social Justice Fallacies.
The anointed are “promoters of a worldview concocted out of fantasy impervious to any real world considerations”.
Mr. Sowell, born in 1930, is our greatest living American. I am in awe of his ability to take seemingly complex subjects and explain them in plain English. I also recommend his autobiography as a fantastic journey through the 20th Century. He went from growing up in a house in North Carolina with no indoor plumbing, to living in Harlem, then a stint in the US Army, then on to earning a Harvard degree in 1958. All of his books are great reading. Many YouTube clips out there, too.
I think it’s so curious to me that Trump supporters feel they have to self censor themselves. Leftists are so arrogant and clueless as to what they support they just assume you agree with them.
The silent majority is no longer silent. If a true conservative holds their tongue ‘to be polite’ they are being disingenuous to themselves. Speak up. Stand up. Stand firm and show determination.
Coming here from the former Soviet Union and not participating in the politics of the country, but reading, watching and seeing, I came to the sad results: democrats behave like our former Communists, their scream about how they care about a country, but doing nothing concrete about it. Word 'democracy' came from Greek - 'demos' -people, so why democracy, the government of the people doesn't care about their people? I see old people have to work to survive democratic ruling. I spent $235.00 on my food shopping every week, instead of $100.00 two yers ago. Ok, I have those $235, but people who serve me in the store, don't, what is why they spent 8-hour a day on their poor old legs. Instead of enjoying life their last time on the earth. I feel ashamed and guilty. Democrats are drank on their own demagogy about care about country and opened the border to millions of emigrants, not thinking what to do with them. And what had they done to police? They cut down police and increased crime and stealing. And in this free country somehow the American people are afraid to tell their American neighbors that they are republicans and they understand differently about their government's ruling the country.
Yes and what’s truly horrifying is that they were able to do it all by telling us that a vote for them was a vote to “save democracy.” They just care about power.
I always find comments like yours, from someone who has lived in a communist country, very enlightening. As Sebastian Gorka has noted repeatedly, individuals like you know what life in a communist nation is really like, and appreciate the freedoms in the USA.
Thank you very much for your reaction to my comment. We are both grandmas, and you are very welcome to read about my native country, which served as a source for my comment.
I feel awful about how we are treating Russia. We have that awful Victoria Nuland desperate to start war there and she isn’t even an elected official! Where do you live in the US now? What brought you here? I’m so sorry you are here for this debacle our country is in. I am a mother and I am so scared for my daughters’ futures.
Democrats are so unbelievably stupid. They actually don’t consider who pays for the programs they create. No thought or logo goes into anything. They are destroying everything here. And all of them are vain enough to believe they can do socialism or communism “the right way”, like they have some brilliant new insight nobody else has considered.
I totally get you. Moved from Washington state to Texas three months ago. I didn’t realize how constipated my dialogues were (I knew, but not the extent) until I moved here. We live in NW Texas. Small town. Everyone is so nice. It is such a live and let live place. When people ask why did we move here, I tell them we literally picked it off a map (on Zillow, which we had been pouring over since 2017 all over the SW). People ask why did we leave Wa, “it’s so beautiful there.” Yes, I tell them, it is. But it is a one party state with all mail in voting and every election they “find” extra ballots, just enough to beat the Republican contenders. Homeless camps everywhere. Theft, trash, graffiti. A ridiculous notion that drugs have “nothing to do with homelessness (You racist!)” but merely “houselessness.” As if giving a daily meth user a house will cure the addiction. People say, “yes, we’ve heard about hat but didn’t know if it was really true.” I tell them, it is worse than you can imagine. And don’t get me started on the mask addicts, Covid Karens, and the Covid internment camps that Jay Inslee built in more conservative counties.
It is truly amazing to be able to express opinions in normal conversation and have respectful dialogues. To hear people say, “yes, I agree, and did you hear about . . .?”
In a Barre3 exercise class back in 2018 or 19, in the WA suburbs of Portland, OR, someone asked me if that was my green Crosstrek with the Q sticker on the back window in the parking lot. “Like QAnon?” she said. I replied, first, there is no such thing as QAnon. There is Q and there are the anons who interpret Q posts. And yes, that is my car. “Oh, my G-, I have never met a Q person before!” I just looked at her. She never came back to the class. Probably scared her off.
MeriBear, So interesting to hear the other side of the story! I’m a Texan and we have so many east coast/west coast folks moving here that locals believed that there was a movement to turn Texas blue (or at least purple). That’s what the news told us and what we’d heard from liberals. We pretty quickly learned that most were moving here to get away from the things that ruined their states. My first question when meeting new folks, after welcoming them to Texas, was “why did you choose here” or “your state (fill in the blank) is so beautiful, what made you leave?” See what I mean? This is exactly the other side of your coin! So many have said this is the first time they felt like they could just be who they were, that they felt like they could just breathe for the first time. Visitors from blue states have said the same and my Canadian visitors don’t want to go home! How horrible to always have to have your guard up…that’s no way for anyone to live. I’m glad you were able to get out and glad you chose Texas!
....its a possibility. Texas is slightly bigger than France, we have a coastline, we have our own electrical grid, abundant energy reserves/natural resources, engrained work ethic, Bible-belt values. And terrific 'people' resources at all socio-economic levels: even MUSK is a Texan now.
Only the N half of Texas is Bible Belt. The vote against Prohibition shows that quite clearly: N of the Orange/Odessa line the vote was for Prohibition, and S of that line the vote was against. In (more or less) the E part of that areas, the vote against Prohibition was from Germans and other central Europeans, since Mexicans at that time were largely limited to San Antonio and areas S and W of there. My mother, brought up in Waco, experienced strong "culture shock" in Austin during the 50s.
Hmmm, I accept your analysis D.White, but thinking it was more accurate in pre-WWII Texas. Today, too many yankee carpetbaggers came and never left, north and south half, diluting the distinctions. (not to mention Mexicanos and the like....).
Exactly right. Vancouver was really nice when we moved there in 2001. Woke politics statewide and locally, along with Portland refugees who brought their crappy politics with them, have ruined it.
Thank you! We LOVE it here! Blue skies! No chemtrails daily striping the sky and blotting out the sun (imagine the idiocy in a place where it rains nine months of the year to block the sun when it does come out). We are here to help HOLD THE LINE!
It is strange to think that our country came within an inch of who knows what just two weeks ago and now the MSM acts like nothing ever happened and everything is back to "normal". I guess it is like a David Lynch movie, placid on the surface with corruption and rot just below.
I grew up in a liberal city (Providence, RI) and spent most of my adult life in very liberal College Park Maryland. I worked for the federal government, which again was dominated by liberals. Most of my friends and acquaintances were liberal. Most people knew of my politics and it was never that big of a deal. But this was mostly in the pre-Trump era, and although there was plenty of hate for Reagan and the Bushes, nothing has approached the level of venom directed at Trump, which is kind of strange because Trump is actually quite moderate on many issues.
I moved to West Virginia three years ago, partly because land was much cheaper here but also to get away from what I sensed was a society teetering on the edge of collapse. It is still quite easy to go about daily life and think things are pretty much the way they have always been. It is actually astonishing to think that we've just witnessed an attempted assassination, that might very well have involved the government; we have a barely functional president who suspends his campaign and gives no reason for doing so; and we've seen the coronation of a new candidate who a few years ago was so disliked she couldn't even make it to the primaries. But hey the Olympics are on! Let's watch that and pretend nothing extremely strange is happening.
I lived in Providence during the Buddy Cianci days. What a character! Sat next to him at a pub once and talked story. The only guy to win re-election after having his personal body guard take his wife’s lover on a ride and burn his forearm with a lit cigarette. His defense after the public found out? “What would you do?” It was a landslide.
I am reminded of the time a middle-aged wokester came to my house, inviting me to her new business for a community-based open house. I mentioned that the place was kind of "woke" from the one time I had stopped in, and she was very proud that it was. After asking her "Why," I said that I was a Trump supporter and had volunteered for the campaign in 2020. You should have seen the look on her face as I shook her hand. There was no Clorox close enough to get rid of my political cooties.
I mentioned that even though we were vastly far apart on most things, perhaps we could join forces to advocate for new sidewalks and curbs, etc. Never heard a thing back. No loss.
You described my life in Austin, Texas, where I was a physician (now retired). The libs and RINOs finding out I voted for Trump, are disbelieving, assuming that only people of lesser status and intelligence would fall into that demographic! I was not sad to leave, and move a little further north, where I am surrounded by more of my ilk. But not completely…no. There are friends and family members, with whom I can only talk about “the weather…or dogs.” The most important issues of our time are beyond the scope of conversation…and I find myself seeking the company of my like-minded peeps, rather than trying to ask for a more open mind from them.
Sasha, you just described my life in Boulder. Of course other places too. Many of my friendly conversations with friendly strangers are many times left hanging after my adept pivoting; just like yours. My goal is usually to bring up topics that are universal and uniting. Easier said than done? The best times are when I find a kindred spirit - a classicist. I hope these days turn around. Soon.
Haha…I just posted about her post seeming like she was describing Boulder. Thankfully, I’m in southern Colorado…but my sister lived in Boulder for over 35 years (she’s moved south this past year TG)…but I heard the many liberal stories of life in Boulder…I don’t know how she stood it for so long!
It’s been interesting, to say the least? Good news is there are many more of us here in Boulder than meets the eye. We all fly under the radar, which seems absurd, but it is gratifying.
I just wish these people who worried about Trump winning would just think that through...what was so bad about Trumps Presidency? Or was it just what the media said, the real hatred they stirred up? The media's the real villian here. They're so dishonest. They're the Main entity we need to expose and defeat.
In this link, Victor Davis Hansen gives a chronology of all of the ways the left tried to ruin Trump in the last DECADE. Consider how complicit the media has been. They truly are evil.
You’re right, but they’ve been so brainwashed you can’t even try to have a quiet civilized discussion. Everything is all emotions, it’s like talking to a deranged toddler.
Sasha, you described my life in NYC. I don’t have a dog. But striking up conversations with peers, colleagues, people I’ve known for years, there is the implicit expectation that you are on their team, because the alternative is beneath contempt. There is no room for discussion. Their minds are hermetically sealed against any disagreement. Critical thought and self reflection are entirely alien. It feels like a Twilight Zone world filled with human-like robots that lack a mind.
Kurt, I live in Brooklyn & my wider family (not husband & son) decided I was a whack job when I quite simply had concerns about the COVID jab & then entirely separately watched a Joe Rogan episode on sacred geography. That's all it took. But I cannot & will never support the demonization of curiosity itself. —I see we read many of the same writers on Substack, but you are braver than I in displaying them all. I commend you for that, since as we all know, just asking questions & expressing doubts about official narratives is quite enough on its own. But the crowd that shouts about banned books most loudly, curiously, doesn't respect wide, meandering, unruly reading.
What a lovely phrase: '...wide, meandering, unruly reading." The best kind!
I guess you didn't get the word that all we Trump supporters are dumb, at least when we're not being Nazis, because we like to burn books, you know.
I've heard tell, of course. Seems we had the reincarnation of AH himself for four years & yet we survived & nothing too bad happened. Nevertheless, he remains the most threatening existential threat ever, somehow. That's quite an achievement.
What to say, the voice of common opinion is usually dumb, even when spoken by "the best & the brightest," whereas common sense remains a good guide.
My ex Facebook friend, an extremely gifted woman artistically and an idiot, posted side by sides of Hitler and Trump every day for months. One of many encouragers of violence, though of course, she could never see herself that way.
I’m sorry, but you really have to know just about zero history to be able to do that. It’s the double whammy of arrogance & sheer ignorance that is so damning & corrosive. That’s just dumb & yet it gets elevated. I don’t understand that part of it.
They have no decency. And they count on the ignorance, temptation to be generally nasty, and ability to be stampeded which the fallen human race is vulnerable to in order to make it work. They have an extremely low opinion of humanity, and I'm afraid in many cases, they're right.
Personally, I think it's worth giving people the benefit of the doubt, as we're all flawed & all capable of goodness & awareness. What I wonder is if it isn't a lack of humility & the ego troubles that seem to plague us when we lose the context of the larger story to which we belong & of which we are a part. And then there are all the current considerations of right brain dominance & the drive to categorize, label & control, without admitting of nuance, paradox & the larger sense of mystery that abides & will always abide. To lose a sense of the ineffable is to lose a sense of the whole, or of wholeness itself. Are you familiar with the work of Iain McGilchrist? If not, you might take a look. I highly recommend his work, for whatever that's worth, seeing you don't know me & I'm not necessarily a credible person. But give it a chance! I think I have better interpretive frames & grounds thanks to his work. And seeing you like meandering, unruly reading... it might just speak to you, too.
Who is he? Is he a substack writer or does he have a book?
Claudia, we should get coffee and compare notes on how we are knuckle-dragging Neanderthals in this most enlightened city. I’m in FiDi.
I'd be glad to! Feel free to message me or I'll message you.
(Not wanting to jinx anything, but I have to tell you that a rom-com just played out in my mind...)
Kurt -- Well said. Yes; those aliens who seemingly lack a mind, and also a soul!
John
My immediate family. My distant her husband, both of whom are kind, generous and thoughtful otherwise, are so far up Elizabeth Warren’s hoo-hoo that the rest of us are stunned.
My brother-in-law is a self-made millionaire and I really mean it when I say that I’ve never met anyone anywhere that can work and play as hard as he can. He adores Jimmy Carter - can’t fault him for that - and is on a first name basis with him. Wish I could say the same - Jimmy Carter is a fine gentleman and American.
It’s just amazing to me, though, the low-life scammers that run the Democratic Party whose only platform is the awfulness of Trump. We all know, though, the gift that Trump is for them and how most of them literally couldn’t exist without him. Their biggest scam is that millions believe them and don’t see that they’re every bit as bad and worse than he is. At least he’s never hid behind sanctimony.
Their opinion box forms their whole reality.
Living in Berkeley since 1968, and a republican since the Kavanaugh hearings—you’ve pretty much described my daily life, though I was never so tactful or adept at changing the subject. And so the friends I thought I had have drained away. But really, without a baseline tolerance for the differences between people, or with the kind of tolerance that only goes in one direction, what is friendship?
Good Riddance to them my Friend
I've always leaned conservative, but the Kavanaugh hearings you mentioned, Working Man, was my tipping point. After that event, I became a straight party Republican. The truth simply no longer mattered to the Democrats. Perhaps it hadn't for a long time, but it was so blatant.
Watching the hearing, I kept saying to myself: "High school? Really? High school?" I couldn't believe it. Somehow I had thought that all reasonable people were absolved of whatever they did or were rumored to do in high school, but when one of the two major parties raised the issue in complete and incredible seriousness, I knew there was nothing left of their integrity. Certain doubts had been piling up for years, and it's funny that it had never, never occurred to me, not once, that switching parties would be the inevitable result—but when it happened, I was so disgusted I knew the door was closing and that it would never open again.
I visited a few times in the Berkeley Hills while my daughter attained grad school @ Berkeley. Such a cool place.
Hang in there.
I was always warned by my daughter to be on my best behavior while there.
But I was always too stoned to cause any real trouble.
Ah yes, the Berkeley Hills. I had dinner regularly at a local restaurant with a group of professors, and every evening would inevitably conclude for them with a drunken squabble over who had ordered the pesto, and who had shorted the waitperson's tip—enough to make a bricklayer blush.
🤣🤣
As someone living in a very conservative area, the vibe has always felt different than that. People have always disagreed on politics, but it’s never been personal. All the people on the right I know who are very passionate have a strong dislike for the politicians and problems they associate with the other side, but they don’t have problems with the voters or particular groups of them.
Conservative areas usually have a mix of both sides. We're used to each other and generally get along. Liberal areas are almost all blue and do not tolerate other viewpoints.
I live in a county in the South, and the last Dem president voted for here was FDR. Our libs here are just as crazy as they are anywhere, they’re just badly outnumbered.
Conservatives know the lib arguments and can refute them, libs live in a bubble and do not know the conservative arguments and cannot refute them.
My Southern Republican neighbors are fantastic people, and fun to be around. We are all done with associating with crazy libs.
Same here - I was coming here to say basically the same thing. Our coastal Southern town is full of Trump signs and hats, boats go by with Trump flags, people wear the American flag on their tee shirt. Somehow we all manage to get along, by realizing that politics isn’t THE ONLY THING. And as you say, the libs don’t know their argument (most are transplants anyway, and still think “bless your heart” means something nice!). My whole life people have avoided talking politics and religion, but that doesn’t mean we don’t be how. What’s nice here is that politics isn’t everything all the time like in blue areas.
People are still worried, but I’ve sensed a resolve over the past year or so - a “not happening here” attitude, helped by actually effective local law enforcement an our super majority in the state legislature. (Our idiot Dem governor - he is dumb as a box of rocks - is being considered in the veepstakes, Lord help us.)
Spot on!
I’m in NC, too, but in the mountains.
Cooper looks like an undertaker in an old Hollywood movie.
I’m in NC too, Edenton. We are a very conservative town as a whole, but lefties are moving in and causing havoc. We have a civil war monument at the end of our Main Street that has been there since 1901. Now we have protesters parade around the statue every Saturday. The protesters don’t live here, they are bussed in. Same group bought two billboards saying Edenton is a racist town. They just can’t help making everything they touch toxic and ugly.
My roommate was from Edenton. I only visited once (back in the Stone Age!) but loved it. Beaufort has a civil war monument too, but as far as I know, no protests. I’m surprised someone targeted Edenton of all places!
Illiberal liberals. Crazy!
Never be tolerant of the intolerant.
And you just described the difference between the left and right in a nutshell. Most conservatives couldn't care less what someone else believes and are able to separate the person from their politics. Not so on the left. To them, you ARE your politics and they want nothing to do with someone who doesn't share their world view. It's a threat to them. Because politics is their religion.
Isn’t that sad? I have never met a happy liberal. There may be a veneer of happiness, but it doesn’t take much for their mean liberal core to come out. When it does, what it really shows is a lack of respect for their fellow human beings. It’s why I disassociate myself from libs. At their core the majority of them are not nice people.
From Gina Carano, who is a Happy Warrior, and has a great interview with Tucker Carlson:
Pay attention to what people say to you out of anger, they’ve been dying to tell you that.
To quote Dennis Prager: There are happy liberals, but no happy leftists.
I have known happy and nice liberals. But I agree that most leftists are miserable people. They project their personal failings onto politicians they don't like, and even their voters. They want everyone else to be as miserable as they are.
There is reportedly a survey that revealed people who identify as liberal or on the left have higher rates of depression and mental illness than people who don't.
I believe that the left, or at least the far left, is a magnet for the legit mentally ill. If you look at the stuff they do: BLM/Antifa, the current pro-Hamas histrionics (who are really the same people repackaged), do these look like mentally healthy people?
It's scary indeed.
That is a good distinction.
Here it is:
https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/low-verbal-iq-predictor-of-politically?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1119676&post_id=145573080&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=yyzmm&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Definition of one of my sisters, absolutely pathetic.
Meh it’s becoming more and more difficult to think of them as good people. They’ve tolerated and abetted the far left and will vote for Kamala no matter what.
I LOVE this post. I have decided / like you / not to comment with ANYONE about politics except my wife. And to just be nice. I’m tired.
I wish I could talk to my husband about politics, we have an uneasy truce right now about Trump. I realized I was wrong about him and he is angry at me for it.
I get that. Politics breaks up families. I have really tried to find redeeming qualities of politicians themselves and I can’t (but they are still humans…), so I look at philosophy and go from there. I’m not a fan of many things from both “sides” but I prefer a reality that is very different from California’s.
Trump is playing this campaign so, so much smarter than Obama et al.
Going to Butler is an amazing idea, and will get the Mo back on his side. He will end up winning by a margin that even the Dem machine can't invalidate.
Hope you’re right….because the cheating will be super strong this time.
I have been thinking a lot about the cheating. Apparently many officials are in, as shown by 2020. No-one was caught and 2020 succeeded.
What would prevent them from doing it again ?
Nothing.
Optimists say the vote for Trump will be so overwhelming that fraud will not be able to hide it.
Not sure. I believe that 2020 was already overwhelmingly for Trump.
There are still 100 days.
What can the Trump voters do to prevent a second steal ?
Laurent - I have read that the polls have to show a lead only big enough to cover the margin of error for the democrats to be able to pull off another ballot stuffed election.
That is why, all of the sudden, Kamala is polling within the margins. They (the MSM) will continue this through to the election, to facilitate the "battle box" full of fake/manufactured votes.
The lesson they learned from 2020 is to fill out the down ballot votes as well, to ensure they keep the Senate.
Expect many shenanigans while the votes are counted.
And who will investigate any accusations of ballot fraud? Merrick Garland’s DOJ? We are cooked.
They ignored violations of the Voting Rights Act (with regard to number of votes being over number of voters) in 2020.
In Michigan the Dems wrote and passed a bill that limits the ability to fight fraud. I dont know the details though
While we are among free spirits, I would like to have your opinion you all about a John Galt walkaway in case they cheat again.
I believe that Sharp Joe never had 80 million votes and Trump had more than the 74 millions the Regime got him, but assuming arguendo that he did and that he will get the same amount of votes this time.
What would happen if each and every voter walked away from his job?
Asking for a forensic recount of one or two of the most suspicious state ?
That would have to be coordinated by the Campaign.
The voters would have to stockpile food for a month.
What say you ?
But the USA is still using the black box voting machines. We have a now former County Clerk in CO who handed over her election server data to several cybersecurity experts. Read the summaries from the 3 Mesa County Reports at tinapeters.us. The deep state is after her. Pure lawfare. Her trial finally starts Tuesday. Pray for her victory. Our SOS erased the 2020 and 2021 elections early through a software update which is illegal. SHE should be on trial.
Going back to Butler is a fantastic idea. I hadn't known until I read it here. The msm will not report it enthusiastically.
After hearing that totally phony phone call to Kamala from the Obamas ("I just had to call my girl Kamala" blah-blah blah ditty-blah!) I thought the best thing Trump could do is come out and ENDORSE Kamala too!!! it would be hysterical! He could tell her how happy and proud of her he is, and how it's a "honor" to be running against her!!!
Best idea of the Trump/Harris contest!! It would be hilarious if he did it in his Butler speech today. It would be one of the great things in American political history, such as when a victorious Harry Truman made fun of the radio presenter, H.V. Kaltenborn, reporting on the Truman/Dewey race on Election Night, 1948:
"President Truman is still ahead, but we are expecting that when the Western states begin to report, that will change..."
That should be on YouTube. If you haven't seen it, look for it. It's great political eye poking.
Thanks Bobby!! I will check that out!
Please read Lee Smith's article in "Tablet" about the influence Obama has had on the Biden-Harris Administration, and Harris as the Dems' nominee - very insightful.
do you have the title of article? I can't find it!
Thanks Les. I'll check it out!
If at all.
We cannot get complacent or too self-assured in victory. There are a lot of people in this country who will vote for Kamala simply because of her identity without knowing a single issue.
Yup
I strongly suspect there will be no more sweeps in this country. Demographics is destiny.
I yearn for the days when it was considered impolite to talk politics. Or at least go back to when it didn't mean the end of relationships because you had a different viewpoint. But that has been the democrat strategy of divide and conquer by belittling the conservative voters. Obama did it, Hillary, Biden, et al. They are constantly attacking the voters. I don't think I've ever heard Trump attack democrat voters.
“They are constantly attacking the voters.”
Trump has said at rallies “You’re the ones they’re after. I’m just in the way.” That’s true.
I find it strange to hear about places like this. I live in Mississippi. I've lived here all my life. All over the State. I am currently close to Memphis. The demographic of my public school was 60% white, 40% black. That's still the demographic today. I live close to one of the most dangerous cities in America. Yet, I get lectures from people in your type of neighborhood, people who've never had to deal with crime, who think they know black people better than they know themselves. We all get along just fine together with a few bad apples here and there. We own a business in Memphis. My husband's customers are a mix of every race but it's mostly men. Do you know they are all planning to vote for Trump, but they will tell my husband and son not to ever ask them in front of their wives or girlfriends or they will lie? Crazy, huh? I also like those little signs they have in their yards. Be kind to everyone ✨️ unless they don't vote with you, of course. 😉
Attended dental school in Memphis back in the 70s. Fun place back then. Wouldn’t go to downtown Memphis after dark now if you put a gun to my head……Oh, wait…..
Exactly. Not happening. The last time I went after dark was a club night at Alfred's in 2006. Watched a person get stabbed multiple times. That was the last time I made that mistake.
Oh my!
Hi, neighbor. Be careful in Memphis. We got out of there last year.
We don't go at all except during the day for work and it's an industrial area. We don't live there, but close enough. As soon as this business is up and running, we are out, too.
All spot on , new people are tricky for sure , but my most difficult time is with my 3 “view” , msnbc watching friends. I spin out of control trying to change the subject.
The most difficult thing is when they try to talk politics, and clearly only have the vile bullshit they swallow for facts and I want to start screaming. I still have no clue what to do and find it hard to respect them when they continue to be sooo incurious about what they listen to
They are impossible to communicate with. We exist in entirely different realities and even with something as basic as secure borders it’s impossible. When I say we have to have secure borders they say it’s wrong to hate immigrants. They no longer see the difference between legal and illegal immigrants. In fact though I spent many years working with mostly immigrants from all over the world in Chicago. Excellent people with traditional values appalled by Woke ideology and open borders. None of them were okay with open borders. Not at all.
I think most people like that are virtue signaling. They say what makes them feel good about themselves while signaling to others that they "care". It's thin, meaning there's no true inclusive intentions on their part.
(Like how the locals all acted on Martha's Vinyard when the immigrants were sent there). We all know how that went.
They have little to no intentions of befriending the immigrants and inviting them in to their circles and homes.
No intentions.
You're right. I should say they have ZERO intentions of being inclusive with illegals, or minorities in general actually.
"locals all acted on Martha's Vinyard when the immigrants were sent there"
One of my many ex liberal friends has a sister (who is a better person than me) who goes to Africa and helps the women in the village make tchotchkes that she sells back on Martha's Vinyard. These people . . .
Ask them how many they welcome to their ‘tolerant’ home.
“Oh, no. Not in my house. The government should take care of them. Not me.”
That’s the left’s mentality. ~smh~
Yes. The government DOES take care of them.
They send them to OUR neighborhoods and communities while THEY live in their woke and virtuous little bubbles!
They're all so much "better" than the rest of us that think differently than they.
It's true.
The only people I know who for years freely welcomed (legal, Southeast Asian) refugees into their home (and worked tirelessly to help them assimilate) have been ardent Trump supporters from the beginning (not Johnny-come-latelies like me).
A border that's OPEN isn't really a border.
If we left the doors to our home always wide open they may as well be gone.
They serve no purpose.
It's the same.
I no longer care to engage with those with a liberal worldview.
They are irrational, intolerant, not interested, and basically rude. New neighbor, thought we may have a few things in common. Went out for drinks which included a trump rant. I said I do not want to talk politics. Attempted to talk about true crime and concerts we have been to. She interjected trump crap. I didn’t bite and cut the nite short. The following day was trash day. Before bed, I went out to place the cans on the curb, and out of the darkness she appeared with her off-leash dog and proclaimed “We have a conviction”. I thought she was talking about the weirdo Chad Daybell, and made a snarky serial killer comment and she goes “No, Trump”.
I seriously miss them wearing masks.
Oh don’t ever say that about masks! Here in England they weren’t compulsory outside even at the very height of the utter nonsense, but yesterday, a lovely sunny day, I saw a middle aged couple walking past my house wearing blue surgical masks up to their eyeballs….The ‘man’ was also carrying thick black gloves….such sights always spoil my day for a few minutes, and I almost look at the ‘news’ to see whether some evil announcement has been made regarding a new ‘virus’. Anyways, as for talking to others about politics, well, I used to have a dog but he died last year but when I used to walk him, twice a day like this writer, I used to give the masked very evil looks, and if I did talk to anyone I told them what I thought of the nonsense. I no longer speak much to anyone - say hello, wave goodbye as the song goes. I have no friends, but I was never much of a mixer, twos company three is very much a crowd in my opinion, unless I am teaching or performing as I used to. I don’t talk to my husband about politics as I used to try to - he would become angry, not because he wholly disagrees but because he felt there was nothing he could do about it and I was just spoiling his peace of mind. He has heart failure now, and so I very much keep quiet about my fears for the future. I talk to my brother and sister, who both share my views - they live far away from me, but still, Skype is a wonderful thing.
Being part of a comments section online is a great place to share your views and vent about the crazies.
So true! It would be fun if we "sasha-stone-heads", ("stoneheads" ha!) Could meet up. Perhaps at a Trump rally. I've never been to one.
I was thinking the same thing. I have never been to a Trump rally either, but it sure looks like a fun experience with lots of laughs mixed in. If it included getting to meet up with Sash’s readers.. now that would really be extra special.
You can talk to me if you want someone to vent to! I can’t talk with my husband about politics either, he gets angry at the drop of a hat about it and we don’t see eye to eye. I was fooled by the media too and finally started reading conservative news, I always leaned conservative to begin with, I hate myself for falling for this sham. My husband is angry with me that I have swung so far in the other direction.
What a freak! I agree. I have committed social suicide and posted for years now on instagram about hypocrisy and corruption from left and how the media lies. I finally posted that I am “unapologetically MAGA”. I live in Houston, TX… have not lost any real friends but absolutely sure they talk about me behind my back.. hopefully curious but also think I am stupid or naive. I am nice to people who are nice to me and i still get invited to things. I don’t bring up politics in mixed company unless someone else brings it up. People know where i stand so I feel liberated.
What I find fascinating in this interaction, I verbally told her I had no interest in talking politics - and she continued with the politics. Hence, the rude . . . or is it not interested, arrogant, dim, or committed to signaling what a good person she is.
Got me.
What I do know is not enjoyable, interesting or entertaining.
Also what I know is if she had been wearing the mask, we would never have had a first date.
Next time she does this, just say “I told you before that I have no interest in talking politics”, then just turn and walk away. It might be hard to do the first time, and you might have to do it again, but trust me, it will feel liberating.
When you see her after this, just keep smiling and waving hi. Your neighbor will find this to be infuriating. Be a Happy Warrior!
As I said in another post here, do not be tolerant of the intolerant.
Good luck!
Find new friends. How disheartening to walk on eggshells with supposed friends who would annihilate you for having a different political view.
I no longer associate with people when I can’t be myself around them. These are just superficial friendships, and I no longer have time for that.
Exactly! It takes time and energy to have a true friendship.
Fully agree Atar.....life is too short to walk on eggshells.
Had to end some decades long friendships, but I gotta be me.
Two powerful words from the inscription at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi:
Know Thyself
Ah! And similar in Hamlet: 'To thine own self be true'.
(Shakespeare probly got that from the Temple....)
Plato said it meant Know Your Soul. I like that.
Even more disheartening to walk on eggshells with much beloved family. I self-censor to preserve the most important relationships in my life. Heartbreaking.
Maybe these family members don’t deserve your association. Sometimes, unfortunately, even family members need cut off, not entirely bug out of your orbit. My older son thought I should get jabbed. I made it very clear I would not and the discussion was closed. He respected me enough to know my love was forever, but my medical decisions were mind to make.
I'm not courageous enough to disassociate from all three children (and my three grandchildren.) I can bear this, though the relationships feel superficial at times. The big exception is having a relationship with my grandchildren that is pure joy.
Yes, grandchildren are grand blessings. Enjoy every moment.
The reason they are so hard to engage is because they’re not in it to think. It’s just a popularity club, that’s all.
That’s true. But it’s this weird unexplainable thing. At least for me so far . These are people with advanced degrees who either can’t or won’t think . They spew talking points. Never do they have a “ could that be bullshit coming out of my mouth?” Moment
I lost my respect for the Ivy League and advanced degrees 20+ years ago when a black man with a Harvard MBA (words he said together like a mantra - “I’m a black man with a Harvard MBA” - whenever he could) wanted to buy our business. He was the dumbest, most ill-informed person I’d ever met. He didn’t understand a single thing about actual business, and particularly a business with blue collar employees, subcontractors, and some of the clients. He was my first real interaction with an obvious DEI situation (of course we didn’t call it that then, but everyone knew about the racial quotas). I haven’t had my mind changed by interactions with “the smart people” since.
Was it really Kamala? lol
If you haven’t read Jonathon Haidt’s “Why Good People are Divided by Faith and Politics” I highly recommend it. His research on moral reasoning is fascinating. Apparently we all form our beliefs pretty much emotionally, but smart people can be more prone to judgment errors—their brains are so good at coming up with reasons to belief what they *want* to believe.
Add to that the tenor of the last 10+ years (well covered Coddling of the American Mind by Haidt and What’s Wrong With Us? by Tim Urban) and you get a recipe for smart people covered in belief Teflon. Sigh.
Even more than it’s frustrating, it’s just so incredibly *boring*.
I completely agree and actually always have. I’m an attorney and the dumbest lawyers I know went to Ivy League schools. So I know it , it’s my failing for failing to get it when they are old friends. Thanks Leah. I’ll get the book
Thomas Sowell explains the liberal hive mind succinctly in his books The Vision of the Anointed and Social Justice Fallacies.
The anointed are “promoters of a worldview concocted out of fantasy impervious to any real world considerations”.
Mr. Sowell, born in 1930, is our greatest living American. I am in awe of his ability to take seemingly complex subjects and explain them in plain English. I also recommend his autobiography as a fantastic journey through the 20th Century. He went from growing up in a house in North Carolina with no indoor plumbing, to living in Harlem, then a stint in the US Army, then on to earning a Harvard degree in 1958. All of his books are great reading. Many YouTube clips out there, too.
Yes. Sowell is a national treasure.
Have been wanting to read Sowell but didn’t know where to start. Thanks for these recs!
Shasta,
I think it’s so curious to me that Trump supporters feel they have to self censor themselves. Leftists are so arrogant and clueless as to what they support they just assume you agree with them.
The silent majority is no longer silent. If a true conservative holds their tongue ‘to be polite’ they are being disingenuous to themselves. Speak up. Stand up. Stand firm and show determination.
Coming here from the former Soviet Union and not participating in the politics of the country, but reading, watching and seeing, I came to the sad results: democrats behave like our former Communists, their scream about how they care about a country, but doing nothing concrete about it. Word 'democracy' came from Greek - 'demos' -people, so why democracy, the government of the people doesn't care about their people? I see old people have to work to survive democratic ruling. I spent $235.00 on my food shopping every week, instead of $100.00 two yers ago. Ok, I have those $235, but people who serve me in the store, don't, what is why they spent 8-hour a day on their poor old legs. Instead of enjoying life their last time on the earth. I feel ashamed and guilty. Democrats are drank on their own demagogy about care about country and opened the border to millions of emigrants, not thinking what to do with them. And what had they done to police? They cut down police and increased crime and stealing. And in this free country somehow the American people are afraid to tell their American neighbors that they are republicans and they understand differently about their government's ruling the country.
Yes and what’s truly horrifying is that they were able to do it all by telling us that a vote for them was a vote to “save democracy.” They just care about power.
I always find comments like yours, from someone who has lived in a communist country, very enlightening. As Sebastian Gorka has noted repeatedly, individuals like you know what life in a communist nation is really like, and appreciate the freedoms in the USA.
Thank you very much for your reaction to my comment. We are both grandmas, and you are very welcome to read about my native country, which served as a source for my comment.
I feel awful about how we are treating Russia. We have that awful Victoria Nuland desperate to start war there and she isn’t even an elected official! Where do you live in the US now? What brought you here? I’m so sorry you are here for this debacle our country is in. I am a mother and I am so scared for my daughters’ futures.
Democrats are so unbelievably stupid. They actually don’t consider who pays for the programs they create. No thought or logo goes into anything. They are destroying everything here. And all of them are vain enough to believe they can do socialism or communism “the right way”, like they have some brilliant new insight nobody else has considered.
I totally get you. Moved from Washington state to Texas three months ago. I didn’t realize how constipated my dialogues were (I knew, but not the extent) until I moved here. We live in NW Texas. Small town. Everyone is so nice. It is such a live and let live place. When people ask why did we move here, I tell them we literally picked it off a map (on Zillow, which we had been pouring over since 2017 all over the SW). People ask why did we leave Wa, “it’s so beautiful there.” Yes, I tell them, it is. But it is a one party state with all mail in voting and every election they “find” extra ballots, just enough to beat the Republican contenders. Homeless camps everywhere. Theft, trash, graffiti. A ridiculous notion that drugs have “nothing to do with homelessness (You racist!)” but merely “houselessness.” As if giving a daily meth user a house will cure the addiction. People say, “yes, we’ve heard about hat but didn’t know if it was really true.” I tell them, it is worse than you can imagine. And don’t get me started on the mask addicts, Covid Karens, and the Covid internment camps that Jay Inslee built in more conservative counties.
It is truly amazing to be able to express opinions in normal conversation and have respectful dialogues. To hear people say, “yes, I agree, and did you hear about . . .?”
In a Barre3 exercise class back in 2018 or 19, in the WA suburbs of Portland, OR, someone asked me if that was my green Crosstrek with the Q sticker on the back window in the parking lot. “Like QAnon?” she said. I replied, first, there is no such thing as QAnon. There is Q and there are the anons who interpret Q posts. And yes, that is my car. “Oh, my G-, I have never met a Q person before!” I just looked at her. She never came back to the class. Probably scared her off.
MeriBear, So interesting to hear the other side of the story! I’m a Texan and we have so many east coast/west coast folks moving here that locals believed that there was a movement to turn Texas blue (or at least purple). That’s what the news told us and what we’d heard from liberals. We pretty quickly learned that most were moving here to get away from the things that ruined their states. My first question when meeting new folks, after welcoming them to Texas, was “why did you choose here” or “your state (fill in the blank) is so beautiful, what made you leave?” See what I mean? This is exactly the other side of your coin! So many have said this is the first time they felt like they could just be who they were, that they felt like they could just breathe for the first time. Visitors from blue states have said the same and my Canadian visitors don’t want to go home! How horrible to always have to have your guard up…that’s no way for anyone to live. I’m glad you were able to get out and glad you chose Texas!
Thank you so much! What a privilege and honor to be able to live here!
TEXIT !
Wouldn’t that be nice!
....its a possibility. Texas is slightly bigger than France, we have a coastline, we have our own electrical grid, abundant energy reserves/natural resources, engrained work ethic, Bible-belt values. And terrific 'people' resources at all socio-economic levels: even MUSK is a Texan now.
And Texas is a Sovereign State. When I mentioned that to WA folks before I left, most had no idea what I was talking about.
....arrived to US by 'treaty'....not annexation.
Only the N half of Texas is Bible Belt. The vote against Prohibition shows that quite clearly: N of the Orange/Odessa line the vote was for Prohibition, and S of that line the vote was against. In (more or less) the E part of that areas, the vote against Prohibition was from Germans and other central Europeans, since Mexicans at that time were largely limited to San Antonio and areas S and W of there. My mother, brought up in Waco, experienced strong "culture shock" in Austin during the 50s.
Hmmm, I accept your analysis D.White, but thinking it was more accurate in pre-WWII Texas. Today, too many yankee carpetbaggers came and never left, north and south half, diluting the distinctions. (not to mention Mexicanos and the like....).
WASHIT! OREGIT! CALIFIT! COLORIT! All Woke State refugees seeking Shangri-La welcome here.
Judy,
I’m still in NYS (but born in Tx) believe me, if I moved to a red state, it would only become more red.
We’d be delighted to get you back, too! Keep fighting the good fight up there!
Western Washington….what a beautiful place.
But the left has ruined it.
Just like LA, SF, Portland and____________ (fill in the blank).
Everything the left touches, it destroys!
Exactly right. Vancouver was really nice when we moved there in 2001. Woke politics statewide and locally, along with Portland refugees who brought their crappy politics with them, have ruined it.
Welcome to Texas
Thank you! We LOVE it here! Blue skies! No chemtrails daily striping the sky and blotting out the sun (imagine the idiocy in a place where it rains nine months of the year to block the sun when it does come out). We are here to help HOLD THE LINE!
Welcome to Texas!!
It is strange to think that our country came within an inch of who knows what just two weeks ago and now the MSM acts like nothing ever happened and everything is back to "normal". I guess it is like a David Lynch movie, placid on the surface with corruption and rot just below.
I grew up in a liberal city (Providence, RI) and spent most of my adult life in very liberal College Park Maryland. I worked for the federal government, which again was dominated by liberals. Most of my friends and acquaintances were liberal. Most people knew of my politics and it was never that big of a deal. But this was mostly in the pre-Trump era, and although there was plenty of hate for Reagan and the Bushes, nothing has approached the level of venom directed at Trump, which is kind of strange because Trump is actually quite moderate on many issues.
I moved to West Virginia three years ago, partly because land was much cheaper here but also to get away from what I sensed was a society teetering on the edge of collapse. It is still quite easy to go about daily life and think things are pretty much the way they have always been. It is actually astonishing to think that we've just witnessed an attempted assassination, that might very well have involved the government; we have a barely functional president who suspends his campaign and gives no reason for doing so; and we've seen the coronation of a new candidate who a few years ago was so disliked she couldn't even make it to the primaries. But hey the Olympics are on! Let's watch that and pretend nothing extremely strange is happening.
I lived in Providence during the Buddy Cianci days. What a character! Sat next to him at a pub once and talked story. The only guy to win re-election after having his personal body guard take his wife’s lover on a ride and burn his forearm with a lit cigarette. His defense after the public found out? “What would you do?” It was a landslide.
I am reminded of the time a middle-aged wokester came to my house, inviting me to her new business for a community-based open house. I mentioned that the place was kind of "woke" from the one time I had stopped in, and she was very proud that it was. After asking her "Why," I said that I was a Trump supporter and had volunteered for the campaign in 2020. You should have seen the look on her face as I shook her hand. There was no Clorox close enough to get rid of my political cooties.
I mentioned that even though we were vastly far apart on most things, perhaps we could join forces to advocate for new sidewalks and curbs, etc. Never heard a thing back. No loss.
You described my life in Austin, Texas, where I was a physician (now retired). The libs and RINOs finding out I voted for Trump, are disbelieving, assuming that only people of lesser status and intelligence would fall into that demographic! I was not sad to leave, and move a little further north, where I am surrounded by more of my ilk. But not completely…no. There are friends and family members, with whom I can only talk about “the weather…or dogs.” The most important issues of our time are beyond the scope of conversation…and I find myself seeking the company of my like-minded peeps, rather than trying to ask for a more open mind from them.
Sasha, you just described my life in Boulder. Of course other places too. Many of my friendly conversations with friendly strangers are many times left hanging after my adept pivoting; just like yours. My goal is usually to bring up topics that are universal and uniting. Easier said than done? The best times are when I find a kindred spirit - a classicist. I hope these days turn around. Soon.
Haha…I just posted about her post seeming like she was describing Boulder. Thankfully, I’m in southern Colorado…but my sister lived in Boulder for over 35 years (she’s moved south this past year TG)…but I heard the many liberal stories of life in Boulder…I don’t know how she stood it for so long!
It’s been interesting, to say the least? Good news is there are many more of us here in Boulder than meets the eye. We all fly under the radar, which seems absurd, but it is gratifying.
Cool beans. My family had all lived in Denver from the early 1900s. Those of us left moved to southern Colorado in the last ten years.
I just wish these people who worried about Trump winning would just think that through...what was so bad about Trumps Presidency? Or was it just what the media said, the real hatred they stirred up? The media's the real villian here. They're so dishonest. They're the Main entity we need to expose and defeat.
In this link, Victor Davis Hansen gives a chronology of all of the ways the left tried to ruin Trump in the last DECADE. Consider how complicit the media has been. They truly are evil.
https://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2024/07/19/can-we-let-the-voters-decide-not-the-fbi-cia-doj-lawyers-prosecutors-and-judges-n2642168
Thank you Staci. I don't think the average voter has a clue about this- especially Democrats. I'm spreadin the news!
You are SO right.
You’re right, but they’ve been so brainwashed you can’t even try to have a quiet civilized discussion. Everything is all emotions, it’s like talking to a deranged toddler.
Yeah and a closed-minded one at that. Best way is to calmly drop truth bombs a little at a time....or so I read :-)