Ancestors

Written by Teri Kanefield on 2024-11-30 at 22:42

Hi, Mastodon Peeps,

I have my blog post ready.

Last month, I talked about a philosophical journey for perspective on today’s politics.

Plato is always a good place to start.

I’ll also talk about TV lawyers and the spirit of liberty because . . . it follows.

An election happened since my last blog post, so I’ll have a bit about that as well. I also included a section on what to expect moving forward.

https://terikanefield.com/chapter-1/

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Written by MeredithW on 2024-12-01 at 00:43

@Teri_Kanefield I've always had a dislike of philosophy, so congratulations on not only getting me to read it but also find it interesting and worth thinking about (at least the part of it that you're discussing)!

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Toot

Written by MeredithW on 2024-12-01 at 01:08

@Teri_Kanefield In addition to the media disruption, there's a problem that's been with us for decades - the insistence on only voting for someone you agree with completely ("purity"). I see this more strongly on the left than the right, and have since Humphrey lost to Nixon when I was a kid. People I know on the right say "s/he's worse, so I'll vote against them", whereas ones on the left say "I refuse to vote for the lesser of 2 evils", thus allowing the greater evil to win.

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Descendants

Written by MeredithW on 2024-12-01 at 01:30

@Teri_Kanefield Do you (or Socrates) have any ideas how to persuade those who insist on purity? How do we get these purists to understand that the "lesser of two evils" is still better than the greater evil?

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Written by Mark Whybird on 2024-12-01 at 22:00

@meredithw @Teri_Kanefield I read somewhere on Mastodon once that choosing a political leader is less like getting a door-to-door taxi and more like catching a bus: you need to accept that no bus takes you from where you are to the exact right place, and instead catch one that takes you to a place where you can either catch another bus to get you closer still, or walk there under your own steam. I found it a useful analogy, FWIW.

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Written by Teri Kanefield on 2024-12-01 at 22:32

@whybird @meredithw

The purity people "my way or the highway" have always been a problem. They were the problem in 2000. A colleague voted for Nader because she had to 'vote her conscience.'

When people tried to tell her otherwise, she said, "I'm in California so it didn't matter," but still.

"My way or the highway" is authoritarian. It's a refusal to compromise. "Give me everything I want or I will sink the ship."

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Written by MeredithW on 2024-12-01 at 23:08

@Teri_Kanefield @whybird I remember the purity people back in 1968, when Humphrey (who'd been a decent Congressman and by all accounts was a decent person) lost to Nixon largely due to purity people who refused to vote for "the lesser of two evils". I was in 6th grade and even back then I knew it was specious reasoning.

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Written by Teri Kanefield on 2024-12-02 at 00:00

@meredithw @whybird

Or "there is no difference between the parties because neither party gives me what I want."

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