I weep for my generation
Here are the highlights of a converstion I had with a friend on instant messenger last night, edited slightly to be easier to read. It's long, but you need to read the whole thing to see why I am so upset*:
*Note: I am not upset by her being Republican...the upsetting stuff comes later, and believe me, you will recognize it.
Her: So here's an ironic story. I think I've gone Republican. :-\ Good job us.
Me(joking): No you didn't. We'll talk and it will all be ok, haha.
Her: Here's the thing: I see both sides but I believe that most repub ideas are better for the country/people. It's hard to take, I know, but everyone is a democrat till they're 30...and if they are still demo after 30, they're a trekkie.
Her: Casey had the perfect quote when I told him I'd switched...he said: "Exactly. Republicans are successful businessmen who wear suits and make important decisions....and democrats...are in Green day."
Me(really offended): Whatever.
Me: Just don't go forming opinions without looking at the news/what politicians say for yourself.
Her: What I meant was how I feel JUST BY MYSELF might in some ways reflect how republicans feel. For example (and I may be a horrible person for this) I hate tent city. And free loving democrats are all for having these people in their neighborhoods and near their churches. I am not. I hate the idea.
Her: I hate hurricane katrina.
Her: I think the people down there are dirty and deserved the douching they got.
Her: Most of those people are being put up in really nice hotels when they didn't even have a house to begin with...how about helping the people who had houses and paid taxes?
Me(shocked): Who are all these people in hotels of which you speak?
Her: Umm the people they took into hotels for housing whose "homes" were detroyed by the flood. Some of them were homeless and were getting really good treatment yet were still looting and stealing.
Her: I heard a first hand story from a girl in a sorority near Casey who was stuck there 5 days. People were getting into their hotel and most were wearing brand new clothes. The superdome was a disgusting place full of nasty people who were raping others.
Me: So this makes you hate everyone down there and think they're all dirty and 'they deserve the douching they got'?
Her: Pretty much yeah. hahaha I told you I'm horrible
Me (appalled and angry at this point): Because there were a group of a**holes screwing over other people, thus everyone down there deserves their suffering...I'm really not getting your logic.
Her: Well anyone in their right mind wouldn't live in New Orleans so they must all be psycho.
Me: Wow.
Her: Honestly, that's why the smart people are in Seattle. Nothing happens here but rain.
Me: I can't even believe you.
Her: I'm sorry?
Me: So how bout when some big 9.0 earthquake hits Seattle, it's our fault for living on a fault line I guess. No help/sympathy for us.
Her: Yes I would expect some help, cause we produce lots of things.
Her: Boeing, Microsoft, music.
Her: What does New Orleans produce? Jumbalaya?
Me(sarcastic and angry): The people in third world countries are just stupid for living there...we shouldn't help them either. What do they produce, AIDS?
Me: It's only because you live in Seattle that you know we are where Boeing is from and all that...I've found most people from other places don't know that. You don't know what new orleans produces because you're not from there and you've never heard about it.
Me: I just wish you had a better basis for your opinion, cuz I could deal if you did...ok we're really done now.
Her: Oh no we're not!
Her: I have a FINE basis, it's called MY OWN OPINION.
Her: I have NOTHING to say about Bush or the news, just my OWN thoughts.
Her: I don't need to watch the f***ing news to get my own f***ing opinion.
Me: Not to GET your opinion, to get FACTS then form your opinion FROM them...that's how it's supposed to work.
Me: How can you have an opinion on Bush without hearing what he has to say?
Her: I don't form my opinion on basic human instincts from facts, I do it from my feelings.
Me(speechless): We are done.
Her: Don't pull this.
Me: I'm not pulling anything!
Her: You are doing the OPPOSITE of what you are saying! You are retreating: "I don't wanna talk about this."
Me: I DO, but it's impossible to communicate with you when you won't listen.
Her: KTB, I am listening!
Me: YOU CANNOT FORM AN OPINION BASED ONLY ON FEELINGS WITH NO INPUT OF FACTS FROM OUTSIDE...YOU CAN'T COME UP WITH A POLITICAL VIEW FROM SCRATCH IN A SENSORY DEPRIVATION TANK!
Her: Yes I can.
Me: You have to have heard SOMETHING about republicans to know that you agree with them, then you decide what you think about the facts.
Her: Someone who has been in a hole for their entire life can form an opinion of a homeless man begging for money, whether they support him or not based on THEM alone. They don't need someone to tell them he is bad or good.
Me: Yeah, but you have to SEE the man first, to have an opinion on him. Do you get that at all?
Her: You used a horrible example there. You are talking about just seeing something, an object. But you mean that I need facts from the news to form my own opinion, and I don't.
Me: If you've never heard of the issue, how can you form an opinion? If I've never heard of AIDS, how could I FEEL something about it? When I don't even know what it is? So yes, you need facts, because then what you are deciding is HOW YOU FEEL about the facts.
Her: Now you are stating the obvious. Of course you have to know what AIDS is to form an opinion. I'm talking about actual things. You act like I know nothing.
Me: THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING, AND YOU ARGUED WITH ME.
Her: NO: "You have to have heard SOMETHING about republicans to know that you agree with them." That line.
Me: If you didn't know what a republican believed, then you wouldn't know you WERE one.
Me: Ok...I am going to sum up what I have been trying to say to you about forming opinions.
Me: You cannot have an opinion or feeling about nothing.
Me: You need a fact to have an opinion on or feeling about.
Me: I think you should be seeking out facts to have opinions about.
Me: That is all.
Me: Does that make sense?
*Note: she did not answer that, instead she sent me a portion of the conversation she was having with Ben at the same time*
Her: Ben. Want to know the difference between our views????
Her: I honestly have it. The end of our convo. Right here:
Ben: I'm listening.
Her: "YOU and I have different views cause YOU care about helping everyone else that can't help themselves...while IIII am too busy with my own life to worry about anyone else's."
*back to us*
Me: ...
Me: Ok then, you still didn't answer my last question.
Her: I'm done, I'll talk to you later.
*signed off*
I'm horrified. I don't think it needs any further comment.
*Note: I am not upset by her being Republican...the upsetting stuff comes later, and believe me, you will recognize it.
Her: So here's an ironic story. I think I've gone Republican. :-\ Good job us.
Me(joking): No you didn't. We'll talk and it will all be ok, haha.
Her: Here's the thing: I see both sides but I believe that most repub ideas are better for the country/people. It's hard to take, I know, but everyone is a democrat till they're 30...and if they are still demo after 30, they're a trekkie.
Her: Casey had the perfect quote when I told him I'd switched...he said: "Exactly. Republicans are successful businessmen who wear suits and make important decisions....and democrats...are in Green day."
Me(really offended): Whatever.
Me: Just don't go forming opinions without looking at the news/what politicians say for yourself.
Her: What I meant was how I feel JUST BY MYSELF might in some ways reflect how republicans feel. For example (and I may be a horrible person for this) I hate tent city. And free loving democrats are all for having these people in their neighborhoods and near their churches. I am not. I hate the idea.
Her: I hate hurricane katrina.
Her: I think the people down there are dirty and deserved the douching they got.
Her: Most of those people are being put up in really nice hotels when they didn't even have a house to begin with...how about helping the people who had houses and paid taxes?
Me(shocked): Who are all these people in hotels of which you speak?
Her: Umm the people they took into hotels for housing whose "homes" were detroyed by the flood. Some of them were homeless and were getting really good treatment yet were still looting and stealing.
Her: I heard a first hand story from a girl in a sorority near Casey who was stuck there 5 days. People were getting into their hotel and most were wearing brand new clothes. The superdome was a disgusting place full of nasty people who were raping others.
Me: So this makes you hate everyone down there and think they're all dirty and 'they deserve the douching they got'?
Her: Pretty much yeah. hahaha I told you I'm horrible
Me (appalled and angry at this point): Because there were a group of a**holes screwing over other people, thus everyone down there deserves their suffering...I'm really not getting your logic.
Her: Well anyone in their right mind wouldn't live in New Orleans so they must all be psycho.
Me: Wow.
Her: Honestly, that's why the smart people are in Seattle. Nothing happens here but rain.
Me: I can't even believe you.
Her: I'm sorry?
Me: So how bout when some big 9.0 earthquake hits Seattle, it's our fault for living on a fault line I guess. No help/sympathy for us.
Her: Yes I would expect some help, cause we produce lots of things.
Her: Boeing, Microsoft, music.
Her: What does New Orleans produce? Jumbalaya?
Me(sarcastic and angry): The people in third world countries are just stupid for living there...we shouldn't help them either. What do they produce, AIDS?
Me: It's only because you live in Seattle that you know we are where Boeing is from and all that...I've found most people from other places don't know that. You don't know what new orleans produces because you're not from there and you've never heard about it.
Me: I just wish you had a better basis for your opinion, cuz I could deal if you did...ok we're really done now.
Her: Oh no we're not!
Her: I have a FINE basis, it's called MY OWN OPINION.
Her: I have NOTHING to say about Bush or the news, just my OWN thoughts.
Her: I don't need to watch the f***ing news to get my own f***ing opinion.
Me: Not to GET your opinion, to get FACTS then form your opinion FROM them...that's how it's supposed to work.
Me: How can you have an opinion on Bush without hearing what he has to say?
Her: I don't form my opinion on basic human instincts from facts, I do it from my feelings.
Me(speechless): We are done.
Her: Don't pull this.
Me: I'm not pulling anything!
Her: You are doing the OPPOSITE of what you are saying! You are retreating: "I don't wanna talk about this."
Me: I DO, but it's impossible to communicate with you when you won't listen.
Her: KTB, I am listening!
Me: YOU CANNOT FORM AN OPINION BASED ONLY ON FEELINGS WITH NO INPUT OF FACTS FROM OUTSIDE...YOU CAN'T COME UP WITH A POLITICAL VIEW FROM SCRATCH IN A SENSORY DEPRIVATION TANK!
Her: Yes I can.
Me: You have to have heard SOMETHING about republicans to know that you agree with them, then you decide what you think about the facts.
Her: Someone who has been in a hole for their entire life can form an opinion of a homeless man begging for money, whether they support him or not based on THEM alone. They don't need someone to tell them he is bad or good.
Me: Yeah, but you have to SEE the man first, to have an opinion on him. Do you get that at all?
Her: You used a horrible example there. You are talking about just seeing something, an object. But you mean that I need facts from the news to form my own opinion, and I don't.
Me: If you've never heard of the issue, how can you form an opinion? If I've never heard of AIDS, how could I FEEL something about it? When I don't even know what it is? So yes, you need facts, because then what you are deciding is HOW YOU FEEL about the facts.
Her: Now you are stating the obvious. Of course you have to know what AIDS is to form an opinion. I'm talking about actual things. You act like I know nothing.
Me: THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING, AND YOU ARGUED WITH ME.
Her: NO: "You have to have heard SOMETHING about republicans to know that you agree with them." That line.
Me: If you didn't know what a republican believed, then you wouldn't know you WERE one.
Me: Ok...I am going to sum up what I have been trying to say to you about forming opinions.
Me: You cannot have an opinion or feeling about nothing.
Me: You need a fact to have an opinion on or feeling about.
Me: I think you should be seeking out facts to have opinions about.
Me: That is all.
Me: Does that make sense?
*Note: she did not answer that, instead she sent me a portion of the conversation she was having with Ben at the same time*
Her: Ben. Want to know the difference between our views????
Her: I honestly have it. The end of our convo. Right here:
Ben: I'm listening.
Her: "YOU and I have different views cause YOU care about helping everyone else that can't help themselves...while IIII am too busy with my own life to worry about anyone else's."
*back to us*
Me: ...
Me: Ok then, you still didn't answer my last question.
Her: I'm done, I'll talk to you later.
*signed off*
I'm horrified. I don't think it needs any further comment.
posted by K Bayles @ 7:25 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:07 AM,
Ellen B. said…
I read this post yesterday and when for whatever reason I woke up at 3 A.M. what came to my mind was that this issue goes way back before Republicans and Democrats. Luke 10:25 - 37 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher, he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" What is written in the Law? he replied. How do you read it? He answered:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus replied with the parable of the "Good Samaritan".
The question isn't am I a Republican or a Democrat. The question should be am I a good neighbor? Who is my neighbor? There are Republicans that are "good neighbors" and there are democrats that are "good neighbors" but neither party is equipped to do the job we followers of Jesus are supposed to be doing.
This really is quite convicting for me...what the heck am I doing for my neighbor????
love, mom
P.S. Which greek word with meaning does the original text have for "live" in the do this and you will live verse??
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