Eternal Grace
I'm touched by Gail-Tz's story about Michael Weisser and Larry Tripp, and I believe it's essential to counter the Furrows of the world.
There is an incredible amount of hatred today in the air, born of the excruciating economic and societal uncertainties of our times, and I don't think we make much headway by shaming those who think and talk and act shamefully.
Sometimes we get pulled into pointless but vicious debates about "which side" is more guilty of hate, and why we're justified in, well, hating those whom we believe hate us even more. It not only derails our efforts to become better as individuals and as a society, it accelerates us down a cliff.
The Weisser way is, with apologies for punnery, the wiser way.
Agreed, as I already said, that Gail's story points the way to the only answer to people who truly are consumed with hatred, toward whomever.
HOWEVER. Disagreed that it does not matter who is "hating" more, speaking in the political sense, because there is a "side" that has consistently accused the other side of "hatred" and yet offers some pretty powerful hatin' themselves. I do not think this is new. I think this battle has been going on a long time in this country. Weren't there some really nasty nuclear bomb ads against Goldwater? Well there you go. It isn't new.
I don't think it's pointless, at all, to point out when people are being hypocritical. Personally, I have seen some people actually change their minds, when confronted with such hypocrisy.
>>Personally, I have seen some people actually change their minds, when confronted with such hypocrisy.
I dunno, Diane -- usually, when I confront people with their hypocrisy, it doesn't work. Hypocrisy is an unkind word for inconsistency, and they either blame their inconsistency on outside factors or talk about how all humans are imperfect.
In other words, their ability to see "truth" is unaffected. All they see is that they are being criticized or attacked, and they become like cornered animals.
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No, no, Rob, I don't mean confronting the hypocrite. :) I mean pointing out the hypocrisy -- you know, like to a third party. A third party that can judge for themselves whether there is hypocrisy. In those instances, on more than one occasion, I have seen some minds changed. It is interesting that the minds weren't changed by the "pure" position so much as realizing that one "side" was exhibiting rank hypocrisy. That was the deciding factor in changing their minds, and having them see a viewpoint they had never before considered.
I do not think hypocrisy is as mild as inconsistency. One might see you as inconsistent since your views sometimes range across several fairly well-delineated categories. I hardly think this makes you a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is when you push everyone else to do something that you won't do yourself. (Like DC Democrats talking about the joys of public school and never letting their children set foot in one... you know, like that!)