Any I-100 Listeners Out There??

[Karen 4]

When I returned from grocery shopping earlier this week, I turned on the radio and NPR was on.  I listened to a snippet of the World's Woes for about 45 seconds and changed the dial, stopping when I heard the Youngbloods playing "Get Together", one of my all-time favorites. 

 

The radio station was I-100, and it was Five-o'clock Free-Play (or something like that).  After it was over, the DJ played a couple more similarly-themed songs -- all about people uniting, coming together, working together. She noted that these songs were requests from listeners, and how glad she was about that.  I was so heartened to know that there are others besides me who are sick to death of partisan bickering and gridlock!  Others who want people -- our country -- to get to a more unified, less hateful place. 

 

There's Got to be people out there who want this.  Are You one of them?  If so, how do we go about making this happen? Maybe by calling our elected representatives and telling them they Need to work together or we're not voting for them?  By being Nicer to each other?  By Stopping the US vs THEM mentality and instead Working at trying to understand our neighbors better?  By following the Golden Rule of Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You? All of the above, plus more??
 

If you're Not one of the people who subscribes to "Get Together", why not?  Do you really see things so Black and White?  Democrat and Republican -- one which is "bad" and the other "good"?  Can you explain how you feel/what you believe without blaming the other side? 
 

[Adam 373]

i am not one that generally subscribes to the whole "if you are not with us, you are against us" mentality.

sadly media and politicians discovered some time back that Americans(at least a large portion of them) are enamored with "good v. evil" or less subjectively, Black or White comparisons.

Grey areas are too difficult to explain or profit from in Meme form or sound-bite situations and frankly many AMericans or too ignorant or lazy to spend more time really trying to understand a given topic

aside from Idiocracy i would also suggest people watch the Social Dilemma as well as Don't look up( though it was bit skewed to the Left)

[Chris 2,168]

12 hours ago, Karen said:

There's Got to be people out there who want this.  Are You one of them?  If so, how do we go about making this happen? Maybe by calling our elected representatives and telling them they Need to work together or we're not voting for them?  By being Nicer to each other?  By Stopping the US vs THEM mentality and instead Working at trying to understand our neighbors better?  By following the Golden Rule of Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You? All of the above, plus more??

A lot of the problem is that the media, both social media and “news” outlets, thrive on the rancor. So they perpetuate it. And people, used to the days when it really was news, see the talking heads giving their opinions, offering wild “what if” scenarios or making snarky remarks. And after a while they’re unable to differentiate between news and entertainment, which is largely what 24 hour cable news is anymore.

Same for politicians. So long as the people are divided, they can carry on with their shenanigans unfettered. Although, there was a time I thought it was all an act and they’d go out to dinner and laugh at what they pulled off. But now  I’m not so certain. I think 21st century politics seems to have brought out the really extreme fringe candidates and things being what they are, they’re getting elected! So even if a politician speaks up and says, “Hey, this is nuts.” they’re quickly shouted down by their own party. Rather than risk that salary and all the perks, they fall into line. So to look to Albany or Washington for sanity is futile.

And frankly, a lot of the problem is ignorance. We live in a society that seems to celebrate ignorance and where topics have somehow become a part of a person’s identity. And along with that, topics of any ( and sometimes little ) importance have been boiled down to a “tastes great/less filling” mentality. People treat politics and current issues like they do football, “your team sucks”, no matter how little they know about the topic. And damnit, the guy on tv said so, and he “tells it like it is” ( which translates to: “He has the same opinion as me.” ) And in my opinion, we just came out of four years of a guy who zeroed in on this ignorance and celebrated it, manipulated it, and perpetuated it. I don’t think we can suddenly expect to change that anytime soon. It could take generations.

So what do I do? All I can do is do my best to be a good person and recognize when I fall short of that bar I’ve set for myself. I’ve learned to listen more and speak less, or more to the point, think more before speaking.

Im perfectly capable of having a conversation with someone about a topic we disagree on. Because let’s be honest, a disagreement about, say, immigration isn’t an indictment of ME. So why take offense or act as though it is when someone disagrees?

A while back I had a conversation with a guy who thought Donald Trump was a good president. I do not, and we discussed it at great length. We disagreed on several points, and agreed on a couple. But what we definitely agreed on was that while we didn’t see eye to eye, we each knew the other to be a friend and good person. And that’s all that mattered. And again, at the end of the day, Donald Trump is beyond insignificant in my life, so why get heated about it?

That leads me to your next point:

13 hours ago, Karen said:

If you're Not one of the people who subscribes to "Get Together", why not?  Do you really see things so Black and White?  Democrat and Republican -- one which is "bad" and the other "good"?  Can you explain how you feel/what you believe without blaming the other side? 

I’m willing to have the hard conversations with others and be respectful of another opinion. I’ll listen to what they have to say, but has to be a two way road. Otherwise you’re just preaching to me and that’s when I will completely shut you out. Not that it’s happened often in my day to day life, but it has happened. And if someone is an asshole, that’s it, we’re done. Not because we disagree, but because of their conduct towards me.

Is everything black and white? Oh HELL no it’s not, and that’s perhaps the #1 thing people should remember. There have been countless times I’ve held a belief only to have someone offer their viewpoint and make me see it wasn’t so black and white. There’s many topics that, while I think “x” I can still see and sometimes entertain the notion that perhaps “y” is correct instead or as well. Left/Right, Democrat/Republican… only a Sith deals in absolutes 😉

Thats not to say I’m not entrenched in some of my beliefs. An example would be gun control. I’m regulated up to here when it comes to say, owning and/or carrying a handgun. And to some degree, the regulations are sensible to me. Also, I get it, some people don’t like guns. Then don’t own one! But also, don’t tell me I can’t own one as well, especially with each school shooting, and especially without entertaining the notion that perhaps the gun wasn’t the issue, but this country’s abysmal treatment of mental health is.

But I digress.

I guess that’s, believe it or not, a Readers Digest answer to your question and I probably missed a few points. Thankfully we have lots of bandwidth here to break it down further if you like. After all, that’s what this site is for!

Awesome post and question @Karen keep’em coming!
 

 

[MsKreed 1,185]

1 hour ago, Chris said:

Is everything black and white? Oh HELL no it’s not, and that’s perhaps the #1 thing people should remember. There have been countless times I’ve held a belief only to have someone offer their viewpoint and make me see it wasn’t so black and white. There’s many topics that, while I think “x” I can still see and sometimes entertain the notion that perhaps “y” is correct instead or as well. Left/Right, Democrat/Republican… only a Sith deals in absolutes 😉

This right here is one of the biggest problems I see also....the tendency toward all-or-nothing “absolutes”. The prison of two ideas has become too commonplace, if you ask me.

People make hyperbolic sweeping binary statements, then perceive anyone pointing out variables as "the enemy".

When President Trump made sweeping generalizations about illegal border crossings: “They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.”.....Anyone questioning the “absolutism” was attacked by Trump supporters as welcoming drug traffickers and gang bangers.

(although he did make a lame “qualifier” that some  might be good people) 

Likewise, when the President repeatedly says “there is no excuse for anyone to be unvaccinated”....it leaves little room for anyone to point out that there are exceptions, without being attacked as an “anti-vaxxer” or “science denier”.

I remember when that type of black/white mentality was reserved for buffoonish cartoon villains:

Spoiler

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by MsKreed

[Hal 341]

In my short 68 tears on this “ big blue marble “ i have witnessed many things , most were good then there were things i would not wish anyone to see or participate in . 
To the point I have ( as most of us have ) watched a Country of friendly good natured people turn to a divided mass of freaking buffoons that can’t have a civil discussion or even agree to disagree! As the others have stated if we can’t be civil in or after a heated conversation then in my mind we won’t be having any discussions at all and that has been my way for the past few years . I was recently refereed to as being crass and had this been anyone else than who they were we would not be communicating any further but in the spirit of our friendship we talked it out and dropped it there … left it behind , which is as it should be universally!
I learned a few years ago while my mother was slipping away from dementia that i needed to tell her what she needed to hear , for her own good , not what she wanted to hear and i believe that is where the “crass” word was referenced , as for my own sanity i find it a useful mantra and preface this when others ask my advice or opinion .  
I have also learned over the years how to admit when I am wrong on any given subject and will except it as a learning experience but my opinion is another thing altogether … that is my gift from God to be a free thinking person as it is with all humans , but this does not mean we can’t respect each others opinion thereby respecting the other person themselves ! 
😂 LOL , am i still on topic here ? Yes ? Okay , wrap up time ! 
Too many factors for a person of few words to bring into play but yes , politics, the internet ( with all its good sides ) folks believing they are entitled to be assholes and hiding behind the First Amendment , and the very people that are elected and sworn to protect the Constitution and our way of life playing one against the other . There is the problem in my opinion , right or wrong or just plain ass not making sense , there it is .