The Shifting Political Sands

I participate in an online forum where, most members are knowledgeable of Meyers Briggs Type Inventory. The moderators and the majority of the members call themselves liberals, but are intolerant of any deviation from leftist ideology. Those people aren’t liberals.

In the politics sub-forum I routinely criticize Democrats, because I used to be one, and they abandoned me. I refuse to worship at the altar of statism for good reason, and I find the tactics of Democrats infuriating. The precedents that have been set are injurious to our society. Perjury is OK because Trump. Falsifying evidence is OK because Trump. Screaming in people’s faces, encouraging your supporters to keep political opponents out of the public space, is disgusting. I’m accused of being a Trump supporter for this. The idea that principles, hence precedents, matter, is justifiably dismissed because Trump.

I recently called out a venemous progressive who said my protestations of impartiality are a fraud, because I only criticize Democrats, therefore I am a Republican partisan. I have paid a heavy price for my obstinacy. My participation has been limited, and I suspect I’m not yet banned only because the forum has become a near-perfect echo chamber. The problem with driving out all opposition so that the only thing left is an echo chamber. That’s the first strike of the bell announcing a funeral. If there is no enemy, there’s no reason to exist.

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Bill Heath

Bill is a former opera singer, then Army intelligence officer traveling the world, assigned to diplomatic duties for a few years, went to medical school in Europe and practiced psychiatry there until family circumstances required relocation to the U.S. He then went into high-value management consulting, eventually working in or visiting more than fifty countries. At a Fortune 500 company he ran a logistics consulting practice, then an operations management consulting practice, and headed a global sector of the company's business as a VP of manufacturing before retiring. His strength is breadth, not depth. Speaking six languages doesn't hurt. He can be viewed as a guy who can't hold down a job, or an eclectic. Or maybe both.

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  1. Avatar of Erich Vieth
    Erich Vieth October 19, 2020 Reply

    Bill, I’ve had similar experiences. The two tribes are both getting so shrill – – they see each other as homogenous monoliths. When I think of self-proclaimed Democrats, I think of many types of people. When I think of self-proclaimed Republicans, I think of many types of people. Therefore, if I criticize one TYPE of Democrat (or Liberal), that does not mean that I am a Republican, but that’s what passes for “analysis” these days. That is often what happens when people see the world as a gestalt. When are not easily able to see duck/rabbits, but we often SHOULD call this as it is, wherever it exists. Instead, we call out “Duck” if it’s not a rabbit and vice versa. Is this poverty of the imagination? Is it low wattage bulbs? How can this be cured? Or maybe the answer, in these times of highly polarized social media, “Can it be cured?”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit–duck_illusion

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