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| Debate Square, site of second debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in 1858. Freeport, Illinois, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Congratulations and thank you for maintaining a sensibly civil discussion in your comments for my previous few posts. Hopefully this will continue as I progress in my series. Name-calling as well as persistently repetitious derogatories are not very productive when trying to bring opposing minds together in some degree of agreement. I do plan to address all the negatives about Donald Trump and his supporters over a span of several posts.
As a blogger I am in dangerous territory in certain respects. So far I have lost about fourteen followers which is sad, but that's up to those who "unfollow" to do this and I'm sorry to see them make that decision. On the other hand, I've been experiencing a lot of blogger ennui over the past many months and have felt that I was heading to some kind of change in what I've been doing. Right now I'm in wait-and-see land.
The other day I picked up my phone to listen to a gentleman with an intelligent, considerate, and pleasant voice explain who he was and why he was calling. He asked me some simple yes or no questions and I responded. I listened until I had a question about what he was saying and tried to break in on his spiel. He just kept talking. It dawned on me that the voice was just a recording. I began saying random things while the voice continued talking. Suddenly the voice stopped and the line disconnected. I guess I must have spoken some kind of trigger word that caused the caller program to shut down.
In relation to talking about important topics that are causing division, I often get the sense that plenty of people want to talk until it's time to listen to the other side. Then when the counter-argument is being presented, the opposing side of the argument digs in as they think about what they going to say next. Coming to agreement is not easy when each side is so firmly rooted.
As we listen to one another when we are in a state of debate, we come to our conclusions on not so much what is said as what is heard and the way this hearing processes that information. What one hears becomes filtered through one's own perception.
In any serious discussion each side wants to sway the other side. Predatory listeners are ready to pounce on what people they don't agree with say without considering exactly what they mean or what their point of view actually is. When both sides take on a debate in this matter then a discussion can easily escalate into a shouting match with accusations superseding any rational understanding of the issues on either side. I think that's a lot of what is going on now on line as well as in the media. Thankfully I haven't engaged in any face-to-face confrontations about the election, but I'm sure at least a few of you have.
I'd just like for people to watch what they say and how they say it. Everyday I'm still hearing the tired recitation of the litany of Hillary's 'basket of deplorables.' Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.
Please, already--can we stop labeling with words ending in -ist or -phobic. It's a weary old ruse--calling someone with what sounds like a clinical or scientific term in order to derogatorily insinuate that the disagreeing side is like a mad dog foaming at the mouth or some member of a loony cult or something. Maybe that's actually what's in your mind when you are thinking of someone in those terms, but maybe it would be better to understand that you are often referring to someone who might merely disagree with you. We may be on different sides of opinion, but we are also sharing the same world and would be far better off getting along and working together.
I'll be breaking this all down in the next few posts. On Friday I'll start with the term "racist." But let's have a happy Thanksgiving first. Maybe the healing can begin this week.
Battle of the Bands Results
When I first set out with this Battle I had planned on pairing my other favorite version of "I Don't Want to Talk About It"--the version by Rita Coolidge--with the original by Crazy Horse. Then I found the magnificent version by the Indigo Girls and was so caught up by it that I just had to use it and was totally prepared to give my vote for that one. But after listening throughout the week I went back to my old favorite, Crazy Horse. I still don't think any artist captures the feeling of the song like Danny Whitten's sad vocals. My vote on this pairing goes to Crazy Horse. In the end I had a fairly even Battle...
Final Vote Tally
Crazy Horse 13
Indigo Girls 15
Next Battle Thursday December 1st!
Since I plan to continue with my President Trump Acclimation Series, an elucidation of the election results from my perspective, my song pick for my next Battle will be on the lighter side. With Christmas coming I want to keep a happy balance to my posts so my next two Battles won't necessarily be Christmas songs, but they will be in keeping with the spirit of the season. I hope you'll stay with me for my series and most importantly come back to vote on the upcoming Battles.
Have a great Thanksgiving and then be here on Friday when we figure out why Donald Trump and his supporters are racists and what this really means.
Do you believe that many of our disagreement problems come about from filtering what we hear and not seeing things from the other side of the argument? Do you think there is too much labeling going on? Of all pejorative labels that might be used to describe a person, which one would you like least to be called?
