Reply #21: It can be tough [View All]

I have had experiences with friends who have been lured to the Dark Side.

It kind of depends. One was so nuts that I cut off contact with him completely (he has since gotten burned BIG TIME by the policies of the Bush administration and has now revised his opinion of things, so now we are friends again, and have very interesting discussions).

Another very dear friend fell into Darkness. I love him dearly, so I strenuously avoid all discussion of politics and current events. When he brings them up, I make diplomatic comments like "Yes, it's true the country is very polarized and people on both sides have strong emotions about things." I *think* he is too far gone for an intelligent discussion, but what I may say to him at some point is -- look dear, we've been friends for a long time; if *we* can't talk about these matters in a reasonable matter, it indeed bodes very ill for our nation.

Some people, in Darkness, who I am chummy with, I can joke with, and openly ridicule their beliefs in a humorous fashion, which tends to shut them up, and with no long-lasting ill effects.

Some people (none of which are friends of mine, but just acquaintences) are so barking mad that -- depending on the occasion, I just ignore them. I was at a funeral for someone I loved recently, at which some religious wacko went on and on and on -- not because she was being prompted to do so, or that it was appropriate at all -- about how great Bush is, and how -- happily!-- the world was going to end soon, anyway. I just listened, and pretended to be an anthropologist doing field research of the Wacko Tribe, because if I would have responded to this bitch in any fashion, it would have been an insult to the occasion -- which is why she probably rattled on like she did -- because she knew she had a captive audience, and could depend on us to be "decent" and let her rant on.

I am sure this is a problem for a lot of people in one way or another.

The country is polarized! And no one is giving an inch -- you *can't* these days, because the rightwing that has hijacked the Republican Party are bent on eliminating a community of diverse ideas -- they demand a monolithic society based on their personal beliefs, and they regard cooperation as weakness.

I don't know what it is going to take to end this confrontation of ideology in the USA. As Al Sharpton has said -- we are in a virtual Civil War.