Hey there Tamo (and hey to anyone else, if you too happen to be reading clandestinely),
In a Judith Warner blog-posting on the NYTimes, she referenced an article by a psycologist in Virginia who does reaserch on morality and emotion titled "What Makes People Vote Republican."
It makes some rather interesting points about liberals' inability to empathize with conservative viewpoints, and it also makes reference to how conservatives' "moral clarity" presents a black/white, good/evil world-view that helps them tap into (manipulate) people's deepest fears. Intersting stuff, me thinks.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Yeah, I'm commenting on myself. Much of that article talks about how emotion overrides reason and then applies that to politics. I admit, when voting in the CA primary, I went with Obama because I was inspired and excited by his rhetoric and what he claimed to stand for (hope, change, etc.) I admited to Bri many times that I thought Hillary was way better on policies. But, my emotion trumped my reason.
I think part of the dip in Obama's campaign is due to recent appeals to reason. McCain's campaign advisor was right when he said this issue is NOT about issues, it's about personality. So far, Palin is overshadowing both sleepy John as well as Barack and Joe. Getting back to Obama's early high-flying (if vague) talk about hope and change might be our best strategy here...
Still blogging with thyself, Rog? Ah ah ah-oh?
I'd like to jump in on the pros and cons of leaving the US in the event that McCain is elected. It's certainly something that Roo and I have tossed around. Is it walking away from a destructive relationship? Is staying like urging a friend to get help?
Several of us Groupees have walked away from the Catholic Church for various reasons. For me, it was because of my struggles with doctrine and the institution. Was that right? Should I have stayed and advocated change within the institution? Should I have taken what was helpful and ignored what was hurtful? What has it been like to not be a part of the Catholic Church community? What have I lost? What have I gained?
The one drawback to this analogy is that the process of leaving a church is much easier than leaving a country. One can be without a church community much more easily than one can be without a country. Of course, there are also drawbacks to making an analogy between the relationship to country and the relationship to a friend. Ditto the differences with the church analogy. Also, Rog, you talked about urging a friend to seek counseling. I think the major problem with that is that with a friend, it is a one-on-one relationship. Now, even in a one-on-one situation, it can be very difficult to influence someone else's decisions and behaviors. My question is whether or not we believe that we COULD influence our president or even our fellow citizens, if McCain were elected. The fact that after eight years of George W. Bush, fewer jobs, more wars, more abortions, more corporate bailouts, less credibility in the world, fewer animal species, and more pollution, people are willing to let a man who voted with Bush 90% of the time into the White House. And, meanwhile, Fox News is the most popular cable news station in the country...which has without a doubt helped influence people's decisions in this country...not that they're the only ones.
Meanwhile, Palin wants creationism taught in schools. We went to Catholic schools, and we weren't even taught creationism!!! Somehow, that didn't compromise our faith in God at the time. Palin doesn't believe that women who are the victims of incest or rape should have the option to have an abortion. She wants these victims/survivors to have to drastically change their lives in order to carry a baby they were never given the choice to conceive. That, to me, is sick and so full of White person entitlement that it makes me want to vomit.
If we're debating the pros and cons of staying or leaving, we have to remember that there is plenty of f'ed up stuff going on in every country around the world.
In the MFT field, we talk about differentiation. Differentiation is a term that addresses an individual's ability to be different. The more differentiated a person is, the more easily he or she can resist the wishes, demands, and influences of others in order to make what they believe is their best decision. It also talks about the relationship between emotion and reason. A differentiated person experiences emotion like everyone else, but uses his or her reason to moderate and facilitate the proper role of emotion in their decisions and behaviors.
As an example, I did not have the personal fortitude to stick with the church after I graduated. I know plenty of people who know everything I know about the church and more or who have had their own personal struggles but stayed. I did not feel supported or understood, and I didn't feel that my views were welcome. So, I left. Perhaps, I could have stayed and continued to speak my truth and listen to others' thoughts and experiences. Others have. Others have also left. I know it was the right choice for me at the time.
B-Rad, interesting connection b/t your apostasy and leaving our native country, particularly b/c you were born into both. I think what's overlooked in your commentary is something else that connects those two things: belief.
When I stopped believing in Christianity, I too left the Christian faith and the physical structure of the church community as well. I can understand the hypothetical desire to leave the country in the frightening event of another 4 years of failed Republican policies. But, I haven't stopped believing in our nation's ability to change, even if the majority of our fellow countrymen again elect what I see as failed leadership.
I may not agree with the direction our country has taken in the past 8 years (and perhaps 4 more), but that doesn't stop me from believing in my own vision for what America should be, or from wanting to work toward that vision in ways that build up and refresh communities from the bottom up. 51 to 54% of Americans disagree with my basic political views (as they have in the past two presidential elections), but the optimist in me thinks that means the change we want is not far off. In sum, I still believe we can help shape American into the place we want it to be, and I don't plan on leaving it for that reason.
...Then again, there is something to be said about voting (or praying as Al Gore mentioned in Denver) with your feet. Like the consumers our culture has trained us to become, if you don't like what you see on sale, then you go to the next store and let the market adjust that original store (or not) in hopes of meeting your needs as a consumer. If America is not what you want to put your money into (actual money, and figurative money as well - political, emotional, communal, etc.) then, you have every consumer's right to shop somewhere else. In today's globalized world (and market), it's now certainly an option.
But, if the only grocery store in my state stopped selling the organic veggies I like, instead of driving to another state to shop, I would lobby my in-state store to bring back what I wanted.
(Hmmmm. Above, I jumped from faith and belief right over to consumerism. Does this confirm some social (often conservative) theorists notions that consumerism has become the new god of American life?)
Poke holes in all these lines of thought, at will. :) Much love to you guys.
With regard to the topic of belief, I just randomly went on the Obama website and this quote was on the top of his site: "I'm asking you to believe. Not just about my ability to about real change in Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours."
Couple quick inserts (that's what she said!):
1) Brad, nice work on the C-church analogy. It brings up the necessary question: Why try and change something if you realize you fundamentally disagree with its foundations and mission? It makes leaving the U.S. (again, something I was only joking about--just to be clear) less analogous for me. I agree with the foundations (especially as laid out by Jefferson) and mission of the U.S., and disagree with a majority of its citizens and leaders (apparently). So looking at it in light of something I DID leave, I'd find myself able to argue myself out of it.
2) Rog, any actual meager desire I would have to leave if the country once again votes for the Bush option wouldn't be because I'm afraid of the next four years. It would be because I'd feel absolutely remote and "other" from the majority, to such a new degree that I would not feel very "American" anymore, partly for the same reason I left the Catholic Church--I don't want to be painted with the same brush as everyone else in that club because I so abhor actions/beliefs of that club. And I read a great editorial by some Brit that pointed out that up till now most of the rest of world was like, "Look, Americans are okay--their leaders suck." But now, if we don't elect Obama and elect McCain, the world's going to start being like, "Those Americans...how much can they love backward-thinking, science-hating, violence-pursuing leaders?" I'll agree, and that's the exact moment I'll start thinking of myself as "other."
3) Finally, Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" is right in line with anyone taking Northern Flight (or Southern, for that matter) seriously. The government only responds when citizens start removing their financial support, and if citizens start disappearing... Furthermore, if you disagree with the nation's policies (especially wars being waged), but still pay taxes, you are still funding the problems you claim to lament so much. To go back to the friend on drugs analogy, this would be like saying, "Hey, man, I really wish you would quit the smack, but until you do I'm going to keep buying it for you."
Post a Comment