Tit for Tat - Where Are We Really?

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_honorentheos
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Tit for Tat - Where Are We Really?

Post by _honorentheos »

The Washington Post has an article out regarding a 16-13 vote by the House Judiciary Committee in favor of amending a resolution related to a request for documents on James Comey's past conversations with the Obama administration to once again revive Clinton as an issue that needs further investigation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pow ... 80ed108645

....

Yesterday I was doing a little grocery shopping on the way home from work when a random guy in an isle asked me if I knew when the Dunkirk movie was coming out? After I told him it was already out and had heard it was a must see movie, he suddenly turned the question into a whole lotta hate for Asians. I guess by answering him and making eye contact it showed I wanted to know he really wanted a movie about the Bataan Death March to show how savage the Japanese were with their "warrior godless religion" and why someone ought to shoot Jane Fonda since they aren't charging her with war crimes. I stopped him at that with something that to the best of my recollection included, "Um, we'd probably all be a lot better off if we didn't see shooting people as the best solution for our problems...whether American soldiers or Jane Fonda. I get why you might feel that way, I lost friends in war and..yeah. I think I get it. But I really need to go, I'm sorry."

I don't know if that was a good thing to say, the wrong thing to say, and I am fully aware I brushed off a guy who might not have looked hateful at all but then really led with it which is...I guess scary in it's implications. I mean, he wasn't in any way a physical threat to me and part of my reaction is probably because at no point did I personally feel threatened so there's that filter I guess. But it was shocking and I wasn't prepared when he just jumped right in instead of what I thought was going to be something about Dunkirk. You know, just to have some conversation and a bit of human contact (he struck me as a bit of a shut in so he initially had my sympathy). I don't have the professional background to know if he showed signs of mental illness, and frankly what was shocking as well was how I don't think it was that different from things I've heard from other acquaintances who are roughly the age to have fought in Vietnam, are conservative, and assume an average looking white guy around the age I could be their son would not be that friendly to liberal ideology so they are safe to say crazy crap without testing the waters.

...

So...what does the first thing have to do with this second thing? They both contributed to the fact that no matter how much I try to avoid the sense the world is becoming an irrational pressure-cooker of emotion, most of which is hate, it imposes itself. It feels like we are through the looking glass more and more each day. Trying to reduce my news consumption to minimal sources doesn't change the underlying facts being reported. Avoiding Facebook, and otherwise focusing on my home improvement projects, job, and eating well/working out isn't enough to keep the crazy out there at a distance.

I hate the alarmism that is part of the above. I do. I don't know that I'm saying anything meaningful, either. I'm just tired of everything feeling off when looking too far out to the horizon. Honestly? The further out I look, the less hopeful I feel. And I hate that, too.
The world is always full of the sound of waves..but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows it's depth?
~ Eiji Yoshikawa
_The CCC
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Re: Tit for Tat - Where Are We Really?

Post by _The CCC »

Dehumanizing our political foes is a time worn method to get us to kill them.
_Some Schmo
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Re: Tit for Tat - Where Are We Really?

Post by _Some Schmo »

honorentheos wrote:I hate the alarmism that is part of the above. I do. I don't know that I'm saying anything meaningful, either. I'm just tired of everything feeling off when looking too far out to the horizon. Honestly? The further out I look, the less hopeful I feel. And I hate that, too.

I can relate to your concern. I console myself with remembering having a similar reaction to 9/11 and how life did sort of bounce back to normal eventually.
God belief is for people who don't want to live life on the universe's terms.
_subgenius
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Re: Tit for Tat - Where Are We Really?

Post by _subgenius »

The CCC wrote:Dehumanizing our political foes is a time worn method to get us to kill them.

I thought Glory was the better method
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires...seek discipline and find your liberty
I can tell if a person is judgmental just by looking at them
what is chaos to the fly is normal to the spider - morticia addams
If you're not upsetting idiots, you might be an idiot. - Ted Nugent
_subgenius
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Re: Tit for Tat - Where Are We Really?

Post by _subgenius »

honorentheos wrote:I hate the alarmism that is part of the above. I do. I don't know that I'm saying anything meaningful, either. I'm just tired of everything feeling off when looking too far out to the horizon. Honestly? The further out I look, the less hopeful I feel. And I hate that, too.

Do not "works of art" like Dunkirk inherently create polarizing emotions, viewpoints, and opinions?
otherwise i would recommend the "here and now" method of living. You indeed do not have to have an opinion on everything nor do you have to find controversy in another's opposing viewpoint. For example, that fella in the grocery store - big deal right? what purpose does your response (or any response) really serve in a situation such as that? I believe close inspection of that answer will console your angst. Don't lose sight of the ball


Image
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires...seek discipline and find your liberty
I can tell if a person is judgmental just by looking at them
what is chaos to the fly is normal to the spider - morticia addams
If you're not upsetting idiots, you might be an idiot. - Ted Nugent
_The CCC
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Re: Tit for Tat - Where Are We Really?

Post by _The CCC »

subgenius wrote:I thought Glory was the better method


The "Glory" comes after the killing.
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