Letters to the Editor
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Time For A "Time Out"?
It reminds me of something a commentator once wrote: "Americans have lost the ability to debate, to gather around the family dinner table and respectfully disagree with each other. We are like 2 yr olds who have never learned how to play with others in the sandbox. We grab each others toys, scream loudly and make each other cry."
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My dad went the other way!
What a great article, Wil! I look forward to reading more from you in the future.
My father is a retired United Airlines pilot, who graduated from a Catholic high school in Texas in 1955. He was always fairly conservative and really liked Ronald Reagan- until he saw Reagan do his best to destroy unions. Then, my dad's outlook really changed. Today, he refers to George W. Bush as "the idiot", is emotionally supportive of his gay kids (two out of five!) and their adopted kids, votes Democrat, and doesn't hold back when it comes to voicing his opinions about fairness and inclusion.
I'm so proud of him and the way he's never stopped learning and growing. It also gives me hope that other older folks aren't all becoming more conservative as they get older, some actually become more liberal!
Thanks, Wil!
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Suggest Dinner Prayer
As dinner is at my house this year, I'm trying to come up with an alternative to the Catholic before-dinner grace. A poem maybe, something vaguely spiritual, or about winter, or family being together...
How 'bout:
"God is great, God is good. By his grace, George W Bush and the rest of the Christian Taliban will end next year in jail. Amen."
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The real war on Christmas meets the Summer of Love
Ah, Boomers. They thought they destroyed it, now they're trying to rebuild it: "Real America."
As the spectre of mortality becomes more tangible, your parents, like so many others, are no doubt trying to reconcile the "sins" of their youth with the possibility of an unpleasant come-uppance in the afterlife. It's true: the abortion your mom had in high school, the dick your coked-up pops sucked during their brief period as "swingers" in '74- these are the memories that now haunt the classic-rock set, and they're afraid their children/grandchildren will behave similarly. They'll have enough to answer for at St. Peter's velvet rope.
Couple this with consistently losing wars, Communists in China owning our asses- not to mention the disappearance of "real" cars and "real" music, it's no wonder they've had a change of heart. Luckily, they still have their precious Harleys- God Bless America!
The real joy for those of us in younger generations will be to see the Boomers in diapers, drooling on themselves, desperately clinging to "life in the Golden Years," -just like 'Ol Ronnie, Our Great Cowboy.
Idiots-shoulda voted for assisted suicide.
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To not be open to thought is not a republican problem only....
Wil,
Alot of the times I will disagree with you but in this case, Tookie Williams, I am with you all the way.
However I find it is the liberals that I find have the greatest difficulty seeing the other sides points. It is the liberals that usually flip flop back and forth. The only time I have seen a Republican change is because things change. It is also the Liberals who can't back up thier opinions with logic (not wishy washy things like because it's wrong)I used to vote for Democrats because I hated what Reagan was doing alot of the times and that was mostly because I didn't understand what he was doing or why it was good for American. Republicans aren't the extream right leaning people all of the time. In fact, even though I skew republican I have been known to vote for a Democrat every once in a while. Calling names and making fun of our "ideas" is all I see liberals do. I don't think that your dad thinks everything Rush Limbaugh says is right either. Talk to your dad about these things and find out why he listens to Rush. It may surprise you.
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Unless this house is on fire-
A good article, a lot of good comments, but one strategy for dealing with this stuff has not really come up. Go on and fight about it. Argue it out. Scream, if you must.
In my experience with such things, these people (family memebers included) are just simple bullies. They use the same schoolyard bully techniques- the sudden attack, the threat of 'outnumbering' you, all the classics. Plus, of course, it's the holidays, which means if you slap 'em down, YOU are the bad guy (and bullies are experts at this- crossing your 'line' but not everybody's 'line').
Three words: So. Be. It.
I've grown accustomed to the bad guy role in recent years, as I too have suffered and retaliated from this political badgering. I'm the bad guy at my in-law's because I told my father in-law that, unless something in this house is on fire, not to ever raise his voice to me again.
I'm the bad guy at my parents' house since I made it clear that, if they ever cut me off in mid sentence again, I'll leave.
I'm the bad guy at my brother's house since I said, unsmiling, that his tone is not appropriate for this particular gathering.
You'll note that I don't bother arguing the pros and cons of the death penalty or the quagmire in Iraq, the debacle in New Orleans. I attack (counter-attack, to be honest) on their tone, on their attitude, on the fact that I didn't drive six hours to be greeted with this shit.
They sputter, they sulk, they stew, then the apologize or change the subject (I chalk that up as a win!).
Bullies thrive on weakness, on hesitation. Anything else ruins the fantasy. Ruining fantasies has become the best part about Christmas in the past few years.
I get away with it all because I'm a reasonable guy, and they all know it. They attacked me- and they know it. Wierd thing is that I'm still invited to the all the gatherings, and we sometimes even talk politics. But I've made it clear that they don't want to lower the tone of the debate with me.
Merry Christams. Drive safe. Mix it up.