Letter to Mark Malinowski
"To my conservative friends: Why do you hate me? Now, don't give me that crap about how we're friends and we respect each other and all that stuff. If you support people who foment hatred for liberals (and you know who I'm talking about) then you you hate me just as they do. Simple as that. Oh, and to my liberal friends, when you paint with the same broad strokes against conservatives, you are no different. Why is it that now if you disagree with me, you must be the enemy? The hatemongers (on both sides) keep spewing forth their vitriol, and we all keep getting spun up, and nothing gets done. There is no consensus, no compromise, and room for discussion. When my side does something, it's OK, but when your side does the same thing, it's wrong. Have we seen any of that lately? I don't believe all conservatives are racist misogynists anymore than all liberals are spoiled weaklings. But until we stop listening to these mouthpieces (who, by the way, can say anything they want with impunity) we won't be listening to each other." Mark Malinowski, FB, 4/3/2017
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Hi Mark, I feel the way you do. I think I'm a disgruntled classic Democrat. My break began in the mid 90s when I joined the Baltimore arts forum, Artmobile. The arts aspect was great, but there was so much hate from the liberal side. It only took a short time before I realized that the image of artists being tolerant and seeking the “truth” was a myth, not that there aren’t genuinely “progressive” types around, it’s just that the hypocrites were so aggressive in their denunciation of others.
Growing up in a family of bigots and seeing the personal destruction it causes, when I encounter hate, I often encourage people to understand that they are displaying the same characteristics as those they despise. I think in psychological terms, this has to do with defense mechanisms, especially projection.
It’s a terribly difficult thing though. Orwell wrote it takes a committed moral effort for a person to challenge their assumptions. If it were easy, there’d be no need for psychologists.
I have all sorts of friends, liberal and conservatives, and most aren’t bigots.
For the past six years I’ve lived in Middle River, and yes, there are jerks, but for the most part the people here are tolerant.
I see a lot of snobs in the jazz community. It’s one thing to criticize Trump, but often there are pronouncements that “All Republicans” are this way or that, always accompanied by the adjective “stupid,” which is a load of b.s. What they are doing is spreading hate and ignorance.
Shortly after the election, a prominent vocalist I know (white) posted on Facebook that those who voted for Trump were “stupid white people.” I know blacks who voted for Trump. Are they stupid too? I told her that her comment was blatantly racist, but she couldn’t see it, saying that “they needed to be educated.” And that there is the problem. As Orwell pointed out, systems of political thought where everyone is expected to act and think the same way are not democratic in nature, but totalitarian.
That is what 1984 is about.
g.f.s, FB, 4/3/2017
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Hi Mark, I feel the way you do. I think I'm a disgruntled classic Democrat. My break began in the mid 90s when I joined the Baltimore arts forum, Artmobile. The arts aspect was great, but there was so much hate from the liberal side. It only took a short time before I realized that the image of artists being tolerant and seeking the “truth” was a myth, not that there aren’t genuinely “progressive” types around, it’s just that the hypocrites were so aggressive in their denunciation of others.
Growing up in a family of bigots and seeing the personal destruction it causes, when I encounter hate, I often encourage people to understand that they are displaying the same characteristics as those they despise. I think in psychological terms, this has to do with defense mechanisms, especially projection.
It’s a terribly difficult thing though. Orwell wrote it takes a committed moral effort for a person to challenge their assumptions. If it were easy, there’d be no need for psychologists.
I have all sorts of friends, liberal and conservatives, and most aren’t bigots.
For the past six years I’ve lived in Middle River, and yes, there are jerks, but for the most part the people here are tolerant.
I see a lot of snobs in the jazz community. It’s one thing to criticize Trump, but often there are pronouncements that “All Republicans” are this way or that, always accompanied by the adjective “stupid,” which is a load of b.s. What they are doing is spreading hate and ignorance.
Shortly after the election, a prominent vocalist I know (white) posted on Facebook that those who voted for Trump were “stupid white people.” I know blacks who voted for Trump. Are they stupid too? I told her that her comment was blatantly racist, but she couldn’t see it, saying that “they needed to be educated.” And that there is the problem. As Orwell pointed out, systems of political thought where everyone is expected to act and think the same way are not democratic in nature, but totalitarian.
That is what 1984 is about.
g.f.s, FB, 4/3/2017