ThatDamnedPanda
Posts: 6060
Joined: 1/26/2009 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: MmeGigs quote:
How much interest someone takes in the political issues of the day in and of itself says a lot about who they are, doesn't it? I don't think that this in and of itself says much that's of any real importance. Someone who takes an interest in the issues of the day isn't more trustworthy, generous, open-minded, caring, or basically decent than someone who only listens to the news by accident. No, but they have in common with me something very important, something that a woman who doesn't take any interest in the world around her does not have. I'm not talking about whether they're decent human beings or not, whether they're caring or compassionate people - I tend to assume that most human beings in this world are, on a fundamental level. I'm talking about whether our values systems are similar enough that we'd be compatible in a relationship. Someone who has no interest in what's happening in the world she inhabits is not someone I'd find very stimulating on enough levels to marry her. quote:
ORIGINAL: MmeGigs Being a person who is interested in the issues of the day, I do wish that more folks paid attention to what's going on. However, I'd rather spend my time with someone who doesn't pay attention and doesn't care than with someone who is engaged to the point where they've lost the ability to understand that there can be good, principled folks on both sides of any issue. Interesting closing line there. If anyone else said it, I'd take it as a shot, but since I remember you as having more class than that I'll assume you didn't mean it that way. But I think it says a lot about the two different directions from which we're approaching this. You seem to want to frame it primarily in terms of "good people vs. bad people." I haven't studied every post in the thread, so maybe a few other people are doing the same, but my impression of the overall tone of the discussion is that most of us are talking in terms of compatible values systems vs. incompatible values systems. Certainly on some extreme ends of the discussion, there are certain values that are so abhorrent that each of us would find someone holding those values to be repugnant, but I don't think it serves any purpose for anyone to take the discussion down that kind of a dead end. Personally, I've got a lot of friends who have very different views than my own. My landlord and his wife are Rush Limbaugh, George Bush republicans, with a freakin' George Bush calendar on their refrigerator. Which I find... appalling, I suppose you'd say. But they're two of the nicest, most decent human beings I know. We have fascinating discussions about politics, and we in fact the husband is one of the few people I know with whom I actually enjoy discussing politics. They're terrific people, but then again I'm not married to either of them. At least half of my friends are republicans, and I like to think they're damned good people. Or they wouldn't be my friends. But as you may have noticed a few weeks ago when we were all camping, I don't happen to be married to any of them, either. And I never will be. Not because they're bad people, but because if I'm sharing my life with someone, it's critically important to me that we also share certain core values. And I've never met a neocon who shares those values with me. I don't think its possible for people who support certain policies to share my core values. Ergo, people who support such policies are people with whom I may be friends - even very good friends - but we're not sleeping together. It's not a personal judgment, it's a simple question of personal compatibility.
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Panda, panda, burning bright In the forest of the night What immortal hand or eye Made you all black and white and roly-poly like that?
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