ecosophia: (Default)
hand on shoulderJust recently, in the wake of last month's rioting and vandalism, I've started to hear of (and in some cases from) a lot of Americans who have considered themselves liberals -- in many cases, lifelong, serious liberals -- but who are looking at the positions currently being promoted by the Democratic Party and the corporate media, and finding it impossible to square those positions with their own values. That's affected people as well known as Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi -- here's his latest, and if you notice that he's starting to sound as though he's been reading my blog, let's just say you're not alone. 

But it's also happening to a lot of ordinary Americans, who are having to deal with some very unpalatable realizations:  above all, the discovery that much of what the education industry and the corporate media have taught them to think was right and good and true is none of these things.  That's a bitter pill to swallow -- especially if you've been taught to build your entire sense of personal worth around those beliefs, as most people on the leftward end of politics have been told to do. 

If, dear reader, you happen to know someone who's going through this process -- a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker -- now is not the time to point fingers and say "I told you so." A certain gentleness, a certain degree of courtesy and patience, and a little compassion is what's called for. Remember that these people are seeing their entire worldview crumble around them.  To the extent that you can, give them the kind of support you'd like to have if you were going through some similar process. 

And if, dear reader, you are one of the people who's having to rethink a longtime commitment to the political Left, I'd encourage you to talk with a conservative. One of the central lies that's been pushed at you by the corporate media is the claim that anyone noticeably to the right of Antifa must by definition be a bona fide goose-stepping Nazi.  It ain't so; the political spectrum consists of more than its two extreme ends, and in fact there are a vast number of options in between. The world is nothing like as frightening, as crazy, or as monomaniacally one-dimensional as you've been taught, and a frank conversation with the people you've been told you must never talk to is one way to find that out. 
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