Show #289

Hello Friends of the Garden!

One of the things I’m thankful for on Thanksgiving is football! No, I’m not a fanatic follower. If anything, I’m becoming less and less interested in sports altogether. It seems that the instant access to media combined with the platform to express personal attitudes/opinions/beliefs have infiltrated the world of sport and tainted it with distractors. I’m thankful for football for the simple reason that it provides a simple, safer, more innocuous battlefield for friends and family with diametrically opposed political ideologies.

Validation is the motivator for most of these ideological differences. When two or more people are in full agreement with any topic or social issue a new truth is born. People are emboldened by numbers. When we agree with others we can stop seeking the truth because we have found the confirmation of our version of the truth. It is so important to be right but it truly has become more important to show that you’re wrong!

The security of finding likeminded people and the subsequent relief from defending your position leads to acceptance. A new truth is born! There is no longer a need to continually seek truth, fairness or equity. The allegiance of the likeminded can obviate the obvious by discounting incontrovertible facts by its origin or more precisely its originator.

Democrats are liars! Republicans are liars! Prolife supporters are liars. Prochoice supporters are liars. The network news is filled with liars. Fox news is filled with liars. CNN is liars! NRA members are liars! Gun control advocates are liars. Environmentalists are liars! Everyone is a liar! How is this possible? Why?

Worse still, after allegiances are established and entrenched, the systemic process of proving why everyone else is wrong becomes more important than why you’re right. The guise of altruism veils the ugly part of disagreement and that is pure, self interest at the cost of all others. All groups will tell you they are acting in the best interests of everyone. Try this one! In order to promote economic growth we must cut corporate taxes. Do you suppose those people that support that thinking also believe that a realistic minimum wage will support economic growth? My guess is NO!

The natural progression in this process of establishing the truth without continually testing its veracity is absolutism. Guns kill people therefore all guns are bad. Muslims commit acts of terror therefore all Muslims are bad. Democrats are economically unrealistic so all Democrats are bad. Republicans are socially unrealistic so all Republicans are bad. Fireworks cause fires so all fireworks are bad. Seems simple really, just get rid of the bad stuff and everything’s cool, like Jews or Armenians or Gypsies or “insert here your choice of detestable heritage”.

My friends and family constantly astonish me when they expose their absolutism by promulgating the notion that the world would be a better place if opposition groups could be eliminated altogether! If we could just get rid of all those stupid “insert your favorite detestable political party here”, we’d be so much better off! What is more ironic is that, regardless of education, neither side admits to being close-minded or at a minimum possibly wrong.

The trouble seems to be in the idea that we all succeed or fail by our own efforts and those alone! The more we succeed the more we insulate ourselves from maintaining sympathy. I feel like it must be a difficult task for Congress to have sympathy for American taxpayers because they lack empathy! Sympathy and empathy are commonly confused terms. Sympathy is when you feel sorrow from the circumstances a person is subject to. Empathy is when you put yourself in place of someone else and identify with the challenges they face. How can a citizen count on economic empathy from a congressperson when it takes millions to be elected?

Here’s the elephant in the room everybody! As awful as it sounds, we are going to have to pay attention and give credence to those we disagree with. We are going to have to decriminalize compromise! You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need (sounds so familiar)! How ridiculous does this sound, what’s best for everyone isn’t what’s best for me! Huh? Why is it so hard for everyone to see this? Once you believe you’re right you can stop thinking! Perfect!

Stubbornness can be a double-edged sword! Righteous indignation is a natural reaction to the recognition of a coordinated opposition. The extremism that usually follows paradoxically unravels the perceived truth. Try this one, bombing an abortion clinic to promote prolife! Or there’s, give more breaks to the rich so the poor can become rich too! Or there’s take away all guns only to killed by illegal guns or give guns to everyone only to be killed by mentally deranged citizens! It becomes impossible to know what to do!

It is time to be proud of compromise! Believe it or not, the founding fathers of our nation had to compromise on things they were diametrically opposed to. At one point our country was diametrically opposed on the issue of slavery, so much so that people needed killing to settle it! I feel safe to guess that most people in America would agree that slavery is a bad thing. This country became the great place it is because of hard work and sacrifice! Guess what? Compromise is hard work, really hard! Want to make America great again? Well, it’s not going to happen without compromise! Time to get on it!

Peace and love to you all (even the people that don’t agree with me)!

Mike