MJN interviews McCain supporters in Virginia

[winterbadger]

It sometimes seem to me that a huge number of my fellow citizens are decent, honest people who have simply climbed so far into the lunacy hole that they can't see where the exit is anymore.

Comments

[snolan.livejournal.com]

I admire your sense of compassion towards them and need to regain my own.

[tylluan-wen.livejournal.com]

Ditto.

[winterbadger]

Well, I have to either decide that democracy is unworkable or that I need to accept that my fellow electors are people too with their own POV and their own reason for proceeding as they do, whether I agree with it or not.

As it is, I'm being pretty insulting and superior to them. But that's because I honestly believe they have become so invested in their POV, based on flawed reasoning and faulty information, and so shut down to (seriously) listening to any voice outside their comfort zone that they simply can't communicate effectively with people who don't share their perspective.

The same, however, frankly, is true of a lot of progressive and liberal people. They treat those with whom they disagree with contempt, scorn, and anger. And they don't seriously listen to or read news sources that depict events in a way that isn't implicitly or explicitly adjusted to their preferences.

It's a dangerous and unhealthy way for both sides to proceed. One of the reasons that I am so invested in Obama is that I truly believe he wants to throw that model of politics out of the window.