And who the fuck is Jo Jorgensen?
Everyone in my office keeps refreshing their screens every half an hour.
CNN and Fox give Virginia to Biden.
Anyway, the experience I described on Twitter over the past four years makes me wonder about American political culture and the dissolution of polite discourse. So much yelling and trolling and entrenchment of positions. It is hardly unique to US politics - I made a comment on Reddit the other day about how some large, pretty but invasive trees in our city should be chainsawed and I was accused of ecological vandalism. I thanked the person for correcting me on how birds do eat their fruit, and the name-caller was suddenly very contrite. If people are arming up and prepared to violently challenge or protest the election process or outcome, it is because polite society has been eroded by social media. I've come to realise (and always sort of knew) that politeness is a fundamental part of a functional democracy. Everyone has their views on the role of the media (I can't read WaPo anymore because even I think it is ridiculously partisan) but, y'know, people need to start talking, and stop yelling.
About 2 years ago, Tucker Carlson on his show said that at the Presidential, House and Senate level, the Republicans reach out with civility, but the Democrats constantly respond with partisan bile to try and leverage a scorched-earth win at every turn.
As he put it, Republicans think Democrats have some silly ideas that don't work, and respectfully disagree, but are at least willing to have a dialogue, and reach a compromise. But the Democrats
are at total war with Republicans.
At every turn they call us nazis, racist, intolerant, dangerous, portray us as militant with guns (even as they, not us, plot militant revolutions) . They portray Republicans as so extreme that they won't even talk to us or have a political dialogue with us. They portray our political views as hate speech, that they refuse to listen to, and try to have banned from being heard. In university speech forums, at university lectures, at signings in bookstores, they violently attack the guests, or those of an audence there to listen to them. Or if not violent attacks, at least shout chants to prevent conservatives from being heard. Or get events cancelled due to a leftist/Democrat threat of violence against the speaker and those attending. This is very common at university lectures now. They have even attacked Republican political candidates. Two Pensylvania Congress candidates had vandalism to their homes over this past weekend, with threatening messages spray painted on their homes. During the 2018 mid-term, one Republican candidate sitting at a table was punched in the back of the head and knocked unconscious, suffering a concussion. All these attacks are in one direction, not both ways.
I've had friends for years, some of them doctors and Phd's, where I just posted something on Facebook, an article about Benghazi, or about the liberal media narrative about immigrant children in cages, where I actually posted a Factcheck (liberal media) showing that the the cages were built and begun in 2014, that the incendiary photos were taken while Obama was president in 2014, not even in use when Trump was president, but Trump was excoriated for policy not his own. They un-friended me, and blocked their account, so they wouldn't be exposed to facts that would counter the media narrative they chose to believe.
At work, I myself tried to be silent about my political views. I was with a client in 2016, and this girl just ranted on for an hour about how evil Trump was, on and on. I deflected it with humor saying, "Yeah that crazy election..." without disclosing my political views. She kept pushing, I tried to respond acknowleging detachedly that the two parties gave 2 opposing views of the issues.
About 45 minutes in, she finally said, "Well pardon me, but... it sounds like you support Trump."
To which I finally disclosed: "Well... yeah !"
Then she exploded with : "HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY BLA BLA BLA!"
So with my back against the wall, I politely explained that Trump has previously been both a Republican and a Democrat, that he''s been a friend and a fundraiser to both the Reagans and the Clintons, he's an outsider and a pragmatist, who isn't ideologically tethered to either party. He's a pragmantist, a deal-negotiator, a businessman and a reformer who understands economics and international trade, who brings new ideas, and an alternative to the partisan deadlock, and to the corruption that has bred unnecessary wars and huge U.S. deficit spending for decades. Which is also why I previously supported Ross Perot and Ralph Nader. Who offered outside reform to a corrupt system.
She was a hippie chick in her late 20's/early 30's, and she actually thanked me (althoiugh questionably sincere, and still visibly annoyed) "for your alternate perspective".
A few days later, I found out that she gave me a bad evaluation and said I "forced my political views" on her, and she tried to get me fired. She actually cancelled her membership at our spa (that her parents had bought for her). My boss actually laughed and said it looked to him like she was looking for an excuse to cancel her membership and pocket the money her family paid, but to not disclose my views in the future, to avoid giving someone like that an opening to complain.
Frustrated, I explained that I evaded discussing my views for 45 minutes, until she basically DEMANDED that I explain my supporting Trump. And then she complained when I did, tried to get me fired. Although no other punishment, I still had to sign a reprimand form, that there was a complaint and that I'd so been advised.
That's my personal experience with the insane Left on the job, where they tried to get me fired. I've had multiple other clients force their views on me . Even though they still force thair angry views on me, I've learned from multiple attempted approaches that the only way to defuse the situation on the job (where I can't just walk away) is to feign complete political indifference and a lack of knowledge of either political side:
"Oh really? I didn't know that. I don't follow politics. Yeah I don't know anything about that...politics don't interest me..." That annoys them too, but at least it gives them no basis on which to escalate.
I can see the point of your example though, Australia-Dave, where just being polite in many situations
could defuse escalation in many cases, and make them less angry and less confrontational, more willing to have a friendly dialogue.
But there are many cases where the fanaticism is so intense that it's just not possible. My first approach is to be kind to the point that they feel like a jerk if they continue to be so aggressive, and if that doesn't de-escalate it, then as politely as possible just shut it down, whether professionally on the job, or out socially.
There was one girl my own age I was interested in romantically and things were going well after two weeks or so, she was into me, and imminently I was in like Flynn. And I made one comment during our last get-together, in response to a polittical remark she made, where I just expressed I'd be voting for Trump, and again, this girl just suddenly went wild shouting at me. She' been drinking, and became really abusive, I politiely de-escalated it, saying hey, we all have opinions, it's just an opinion,no big deal and tried to laugh it off. But the moment was gone, and I politely left at the first opporrtunity. Maybe it kept me from scoring with a pretty girl, but it manifested she was psycho-angry, with a hair-trigger temper beyond her political views, and I was better off in the long run.
When they're at total war, when they shout you down and won't even listen, when they won't even be tolerant enough to have a dialogue of the facts... what is it possible to discuss?
Since 2016, I run across an alarming number of people like this. I'm willing to have a polite dialogue, but that's something they won't even tolerate.
