I love your sentiments and as a therapist I am encouraging my very fearful clients today to remember we have survived for thousands of years. We are innovative, creative and able to handle this. We can tolerate varied points of view and allow it to transform us into better humans. TDS is a very real and I also believe a very crafted and perpetrated syndrome by the media to stir up and divide us. It is almost impossible for those in my life with it to see that, however. It feels so "real" to them. It's gonna be a challenging time in my practice!
Already spent the entire first session I had today on this and was able to use this philosophy you are speaking to hopefully to some positive effect. It fits nicely with couples work I already do on a micro level supporting differentiation, and helping people see the only way out of the madness of the back and forth ricochet of partisan politics which seems to have won again is to promote viewpoint diversity and non partisan cooperation and one must decide to be a part of that and find a way to practice that within one’s own sphere of influence instead of giving in to thinking the world is coming to an end if our side isn’t winning. I do agree though it’s going to be a tough day for a lot of people 😟
Thank you. You summarized many of my feelings. I’ve been unchangingly anti-Trump for decades, I’ve been on the left for decades. Because I voice my distain for identity politics on the left that have been front and center the last few years, I’ve been called a Nazi and a bigot. If I say “look what we’ve been doing” I’m told to “look at what they’ve (the Rs) been doing”.
I can deal with being politically homeless, but I’d like to at least find shelter away from both extremes, especially as we deal with what comes next.
Yes, I also get the "but they're so much worse," answer. I agree on some issues they are MUCH worse, however, that's not an answer to the flabby, knee-jerk thinking many of us on the left engage in.
I have been accused of getting radicalized, by my own family members. I can't even say this to white colleagues nevermind that I am a Brown immigrant woman who grew up low income in who has actually been the victim of racialized violence. The irony.
You will be happy to discover that DJT is a centrist and the radical right and the uniparty globalist totalitarian corporatocratic right andleft together all have TDS becuse he is not an extremist or a putz for the international uberclass
I’m happier than I expected to be, despite being a lifelong Democrat. I’m relieved it wasn’t a contested election (my biggest dread). And the new Republican coalition has more viewpoint diversity than I expected.
Perhaps I’m a fool, but I listened to Joe Rogan’s conversation with JD Vance and was impressed and heartened. This isn’t 2016, this is different. And we might make it work.
I keep reminding myself that JD Vance, in spite of all the other things he's said very recently, is also the person who wrote Hillbilly Elegy. I liked that book a lot and it seems much more likely that that book reflects who he really is more than parts of the persona he's put on the last few years.
I've thought that too about Vance, but still won't trust him till I see real evidence of what, hopefully, are his internal values coming to the forefront. He seems now to be too big of a compromiser, for the expediency of making himself politically powerful. The way of all politicians? I would like Joe Rogan too, but I think he's way too comfortable with porn. Sorry for sounding like a downer. My reality glasses may be a bit to strong sometimes....
Well, no, I don't agree. You must be seeing a different side of him than I have, but you're welcome to your opinion, whatever it's based on. I suspect you may be here to troll, so I won't be taking the bait. Have a nice day.
I've seen plenty of him to know what I'm saying too. Fine, you're not trolling or baiting - I guess I have to take your word for it. But making an unequivocal statement in support of JD Vance in response to my comment didn't sit well with me for some reason. I couched my comment in terms of it being my opinion, whereas you stated your opinion as if it were fact. No matter, at this point.
But here's a question about him being a dad -- why do you think that automatically makes him more responsive to the dangers to children, i.e. do you think that's what it takes to care about children, that dads and moms are necessarily more concerned about the welfare of "other people's children" or of children in general than other people can be and often are? Because that is a popular myth. I have seen way too many dads and moms who don't care about their own children, let alone anyone else's. And yes, I think he's an opportunist, if that's the term you want to use, though not sure if he's a utilitarian.
Agree Lisa. We will all be fine. This is the greatest country in the world even with all its flaws. I have no patience for all the apocalyptic drama that will be coming from the people in my life.
So Lisa, you must have read Colin Wright's last post too. His Substack is called Reality's Last Stand, and he basically endorsed guy whose grip on reality is tenuous at best. It really sent me into a bit of a spiral. There is something about heterodox spaces that twists peoples brains. Like you I feel a little more homeless right now. That said, I will be promoting the phrase "Viewpoint Diversity" immediately. Thanks for your post
I actually think it is important to break this binary idea of Republican vs. Democrat and having to choose or being "politically homeless." The politically homeless need a new politics or else we will continue to flail. I knew Trump was going to win after I heard and Ezra Klein episode describing the appeal of Trump — he lets them vicariously enjoy sticking it to the man and being unhinged and getting away with it. That is why he appeals to so many men of color. And we are a society that is primed for this due to social media and the internet. It’s the core desire we all have to erode norms that constrain our impulsive and primal selves. I heard Aziz Ansari say that Americans are either insufferable or crazy-we can say that the crazies won. The insufferable want to institute more social control. The Republicans kicked that element out of their party and embraced the crazy. The Democrats keep clinging to their norms while bending towards the insufferable--the constant celebrity endorsements backfired for this reason.
So those of us who want a new politics need to stop thinking about right vs. left or flipping back and forth. We need to be able to articulate respect for both sides of human nature without capitulating to one or the other. How can we not be insufferable and not crazy.
I think another angle to viewpoint diversity would be in how we look at people and their motivations. For example, Ezra Klein is presenting only one reason for the appeal of Trump. There are many. Aziz Ansari would be befit from expanding beyond just two categories of people. Leaving behind left vs right won't do any good if we just move to other limited and restrictive ways to understand people and their motivations. For what it's worth, I voted for Harris because I believe fewer children and adults would medicalize and gender ideology would fade out faster under her administration, but that opinion so quickly enraged people in gender critical/heterodox/politically homeless/conservative spaces I never got the opportunity to make my case.
There are many more “politically homeless” than people realize. I’m on a local school board and I’ve been demonized by both sides… currently I have been able to bring both sides briefly together to agree that we all want what is best for children and need to LISTEN & learn more from each other. This after being doxxed by the crazy right. (Im registered as an R currently only because I could not vote for Harris due to her strong censorship views) If only the Independent designation gave you better voting choices…. The fringe crazies I have personally met on BOTH sides. We have to find a way to keep their voices quiet so those of us that want to respect and learn and grow this country can do so.
You are entirely off base and i urge you to dig deeper since to appreciate what others believe you must dialogue with them not polemical judgers with an axe to grind that may happen to fit your own
I am shocked--and I am saddened for young people in this country that Trump is the new normal.
I fear what this could mean for our allies abroad.
Etcetera.
That said, I will be happy if his administration comes down hard on the gender medicine for youth, ends the schools to trans pipeline.
Viewpoint diversity, MSM has suppressed it--as we all know.
The Democratic machine has suppressed it.
When I have mentioned by concerns about "gender-affirming care" to my congressional representative (member of Progressive Coalition), I was laughed at--literally.
I'm not in New York but so sorry to hear Prop 1 passed. I knew it was leading because people didn't really understand what it was but you always hope that the electorate will eventually become informed on the issue. I'm glad California passed Prop 36 but they suffered under their previous mistake Prop 47 for 10 years before finally fixing it. Hope that New York won't take as long to course correct.
IMO Trump Derangement Syndrome is what Trumps followers have not those who oppose him. My disgust and deep hate for that dude is quite logical nothing deranged about it. He’s an awful human being and bad for the planet.
I’m angry and have lost what little faith I had in humans. I’m SUPER angry at Dems/far left liberal progressives (who I always was/am for 30+ years)for not standing up to the trans movement because I do think a lot of people turned to DT because the a big portion of the left have abandoned women and children, they caught Trans Derangement Syndrome.
It’s a dark day and IMO America is f-ckd. Maybe this is what we deserve for being such a decadent entitled society, with the belief that we can just buy a new identity, cut off body parts, become the opposite sex, not vote as a protest, waste waste waste etc.
I cried and went into a 4 year depression when DT won the 1st time, today I’m just absolutely disgusted and super angry with people.
I came out in my community in January as gender critical, and I was ostracized called a bigot by fellow progressives. I’m a sexual assault survivor but that didn’t matter to many of them, I was just seen as a hateful bigot who needed therapy. I’ve dedicated the last 25 years of my life fighting to protect the community I live in but my gender critical stance lost me “credibility”.
I of course still voted democrat across the whole ballot.
Thanks Lisa for being you, being the courageous outspoken badass chick you are. To all the others as well that continue to stand up to the madness we’ve been living in. I encourage everyone to continue standing up and speaking out. Stay strong stay courageous cause it’s gonna be a really f-ing shitshow.
What a great comment! Did you read my mind... ? 🙃I've said "catastrophe" elsewhere about Trump winning, but "f-ing shitshow" is much more colorful. Best wishes and hang in there! (also love your selection of emojis!)
Thanks for this, Lisa. Lots of wisdom in your words. This particularly resonated with me: “The viewpoint diversity movement, the heterodox space, has seemed increasingly like a Republican space, which has been isolating and depressing for me. It has seemed less like a space to engage with ideas than one to dismantle wokeness at any cost.”
“Dismantle wokeness at any cost”: yes, I have struggled with this. Is it paying too high a price to support someone like Trump in order to disrupt the identitarian policies of the Democrats?
Maybe it’s a price worth paying to get Title IX back to what it’s supposed to do. I don’t know.
But there would have been a high price to pay had Harris won. We would be dealing with the continuance of policies similar to NY’s Proposition 1. That’s a high price too!
Understood. Just to clarify, it’s the whole of that sentence from Lisa that resonated with me so strongly: “It has seemed less like a space to engage with ideas than one to dismantle wokeness at any cost.” What I have been seeing, particularly as pre-election tension racheted up, was yet another sort of devolution down to with us or against us, and another round of name-calling with it. I do hope, as we go forward from here, that we can get back to engaging with ideas.
Well, I haven't seen such name calling myself, but maybe the heterodox folks I pay attention to are different ones.
Yes, we're all struggling to navigate this. I'm trying not to go reactionary (!) but I'm also trying not to split so many hairs that I lose sight of the need to be in coalition with people I might not have thought about allying to in the past.
Thank you Lisa you always make me feel less isolated and I agree that consuming viewpoint diversity is holding me steady this time around including anti polarization efforts of organizations like Braver Angels
Here’s what I wrote last night to center myself when I saw DT was going to win
I accept that enough people may have voted against Dem party for Republican candidate to win but not that DT is their preferred leader, he was just a hired gun to get the job done
Plus it seems like many came out to vote against perceived extremism on one side or the other rather than for their candidate so that oddly gives me some comfort that we are not so divided
This is going to be my way of reframing the outcome in order not to fall into a state of despair or depression like your liberal neighbors in NYC
Thanks so much for your work and keep on writing ✍️
I am a left-wing Australian who, from 2018 onwards, went from bien pensant acquiescence in progressive gender orthodoxy to being receptive to gender-critical perspectives under the impact of some of the absurdities that the orthodoxy had spawned, and in particular the authoritarian nastiness of some of those enforcing the orthodoxy in progressive spaces. A number of my friends and comrades have traveled a broadly similar path over this period.
I have not pivoted my entire political perspective and alignment as a consequence, but I have a couple of friends (one of whom was, in his youth, a president of Australia's national student union) who have done such a pivot and were cheering for a Trump victory. I can therefore completely believe Lisa's account of LGB, feminist and liberal friends pivoting in this way. I could, if I wished, laboriously explain why I have not pivoted and will not do so, but I think it would be more productive to attempt to get at least some of those who acquiesce in the orthodoxy to appreciate how and why its absurdities, and the authoritarian nastiness of its enforcers, has helped to drive a critical mass of people away from the progressive side.
Well said, and these are the conversations I would most like to have, too. Very, very hard to find an opening. The cognitive dissonance is so great on this that it is really difficult to break through. As one example, I would like liberal/left friends to have even a moment’s hesitation before pronouncing the girls on the Roanoke swim team, who attended and spoke at a Trump rally, unreconstructed bigots, and try and see that maybe, just maybe, those girls have a valid concern the Ds failed to address. Going forward, I am going to look for those opportunities. BTW, Lisa has a nice piece on the Boston Globe on this, in the event you may not have seen it: https://archive.is/o6W8o.
Yes! Thanks too for the link to Lisa's article, will be reading it right away. Lisa's essay and the comments to it here have lifted my spirits more than I imagined. May actually get some long neglected household chores done today (or maybe tomorrow... 😉)
I'd been telling myself that preemptively acknowledging that Trump was going to win would shield me from the gut punch of seeing it on my screen in red and blue. (It did not.) And today my family and friends are all moaning and wailing and blaming the racist, fascist Trump voters (who they can't bear to share a country with anymore) and I'm pissing them off by suggesting that they start blaming the Democrats for this mess. It's not going over well, but I just can't bear the self righteousness anymore. How do they not see that neither party are the good guys!
I ❤️ you Lisa and right there with you on this (even though I voted for Trump and support him now)... but... The English Teacher??? Sorry, I have to strongly disagree on that one 😆 ...the powderpuff episode? 🤯 so CRINGE
Honestly, if you haven't seen "Only Murders In the Building", do yourself a favor! You've earned a few belly laughs from snarky, warm hearted, good old fashioned humor! ❤️
It's been very hard to hold on to thinking of myself as someone to the left politically, mostly because of the trans insanity but also race and DEI stuff. Some of that is because "if we were so wrong about that, maybe we're wrong about everything else."
But it's also seeing those things as in some respects the logical conclusions of "left" ideology and policies, in general. Like, a lot of stuff I just don't think "our side" really thought through the consequences of what we were pushing for, what we believed so intensely. At least, I know I sure didn't.
Finally, there's a humility I have now b/c of how wrong I was (and frankly how sanctimonious I was) that maybe we need conservatives, at least in equal parts to balance out our perspectives and policies.
As for specific issues, hard not to go full-on R when it comes to the trans stuff, especially where children and young people are concerned. Because Ds have just doubled-down. (If it matters, I am a middle-aged lesbian, and what this has done to the LGB community and proto-LGB kids, as I think Andre Sullivan calls them, has been devastating to me.)
I love your sentiments and as a therapist I am encouraging my very fearful clients today to remember we have survived for thousands of years. We are innovative, creative and able to handle this. We can tolerate varied points of view and allow it to transform us into better humans. TDS is a very real and I also believe a very crafted and perpetrated syndrome by the media to stir up and divide us. It is almost impossible for those in my life with it to see that, however. It feels so "real" to them. It's gonna be a challenging time in my practice!
Love this.
Already spent the entire first session I had today on this and was able to use this philosophy you are speaking to hopefully to some positive effect. It fits nicely with couples work I already do on a micro level supporting differentiation, and helping people see the only way out of the madness of the back and forth ricochet of partisan politics which seems to have won again is to promote viewpoint diversity and non partisan cooperation and one must decide to be a part of that and find a way to practice that within one’s own sphere of influence instead of giving in to thinking the world is coming to an end if our side isn’t winning. I do agree though it’s going to be a tough day for a lot of people 😟
Thank you. You summarized many of my feelings. I’ve been unchangingly anti-Trump for decades, I’ve been on the left for decades. Because I voice my distain for identity politics on the left that have been front and center the last few years, I’ve been called a Nazi and a bigot. If I say “look what we’ve been doing” I’m told to “look at what they’ve (the Rs) been doing”.
I can deal with being politically homeless, but I’d like to at least find shelter away from both extremes, especially as we deal with what comes next.
Yes, I also get the "but they're so much worse," answer. I agree on some issues they are MUCH worse, however, that's not an answer to the flabby, knee-jerk thinking many of us on the left engage in.
I have been accused of getting radicalized, by my own family members. I can't even say this to white colleagues nevermind that I am a Brown immigrant woman who grew up low income in who has actually been the victim of racialized violence. The irony.
You will be happy to discover that DJT is a centrist and the radical right and the uniparty globalist totalitarian corporatocratic right andleft together all have TDS becuse he is not an extremist or a putz for the international uberclass
Trump is an authoritarian. He has no ideology, only an addiction to power.
I’m happier than I expected to be, despite being a lifelong Democrat. I’m relieved it wasn’t a contested election (my biggest dread). And the new Republican coalition has more viewpoint diversity than I expected.
Perhaps I’m a fool, but I listened to Joe Rogan’s conversation with JD Vance and was impressed and heartened. This isn’t 2016, this is different. And we might make it work.
I keep reminding myself that JD Vance, in spite of all the other things he's said very recently, is also the person who wrote Hillbilly Elegy. I liked that book a lot and it seems much more likely that that book reflects who he really is more than parts of the persona he's put on the last few years.
I've thought that too about Vance, but still won't trust him till I see real evidence of what, hopefully, are his internal values coming to the forefront. He seems now to be too big of a compromiser, for the expediency of making himself politically powerful. The way of all politicians? I would like Joe Rogan too, but I think he's way too comfortable with porn. Sorry for sounding like a downer. My reality glasses may be a bit to strong sometimes....
I'm in your camp.
Vance is the real deal. He is a dad now and he is responsive to the myriad of dangers tochildren but he is not an opportunist nor a utilitarian
Well, no, I don't agree. You must be seeing a different side of him than I have, but you're welcome to your opinion, whatever it's based on. I suspect you may be here to troll, so I won't be taking the bait. Have a nice day.
Of course I am not here to "troll" . And i am not "baiting" you. Geh Perhaps I am seeing MORE of him indeed
I've seen plenty of him to know what I'm saying too. Fine, you're not trolling or baiting - I guess I have to take your word for it. But making an unequivocal statement in support of JD Vance in response to my comment didn't sit well with me for some reason. I couched my comment in terms of it being my opinion, whereas you stated your opinion as if it were fact. No matter, at this point.
But here's a question about him being a dad -- why do you think that automatically makes him more responsive to the dangers to children, i.e. do you think that's what it takes to care about children, that dads and moms are necessarily more concerned about the welfare of "other people's children" or of children in general than other people can be and often are? Because that is a popular myth. I have seen way too many dads and moms who don't care about their own children, let alone anyone else's. And yes, I think he's an opportunist, if that's the term you want to use, though not sure if he's a utilitarian.
People keep telling me I should listen to that podcast so I will queue it up now.
Yes, I'd be interested in your take!
Agree Lisa. We will all be fine. This is the greatest country in the world even with all its flaws. I have no patience for all the apocalyptic drama that will be coming from the people in my life.
So well put.
So Lisa, you must have read Colin Wright's last post too. His Substack is called Reality's Last Stand, and he basically endorsed guy whose grip on reality is tenuous at best. It really sent me into a bit of a spiral. There is something about heterodox spaces that twists peoples brains. Like you I feel a little more homeless right now. That said, I will be promoting the phrase "Viewpoint Diversity" immediately. Thanks for your post
I actually think it is important to break this binary idea of Republican vs. Democrat and having to choose or being "politically homeless." The politically homeless need a new politics or else we will continue to flail. I knew Trump was going to win after I heard and Ezra Klein episode describing the appeal of Trump — he lets them vicariously enjoy sticking it to the man and being unhinged and getting away with it. That is why he appeals to so many men of color. And we are a society that is primed for this due to social media and the internet. It’s the core desire we all have to erode norms that constrain our impulsive and primal selves. I heard Aziz Ansari say that Americans are either insufferable or crazy-we can say that the crazies won. The insufferable want to institute more social control. The Republicans kicked that element out of their party and embraced the crazy. The Democrats keep clinging to their norms while bending towards the insufferable--the constant celebrity endorsements backfired for this reason.
So those of us who want a new politics need to stop thinking about right vs. left or flipping back and forth. We need to be able to articulate respect for both sides of human nature without capitulating to one or the other. How can we not be insufferable and not crazy.
Oh yeah, I agree. Left versus right doesn't work anymore. I want a new politics, too!
I think another angle to viewpoint diversity would be in how we look at people and their motivations. For example, Ezra Klein is presenting only one reason for the appeal of Trump. There are many. Aziz Ansari would be befit from expanding beyond just two categories of people. Leaving behind left vs right won't do any good if we just move to other limited and restrictive ways to understand people and their motivations. For what it's worth, I voted for Harris because I believe fewer children and adults would medicalize and gender ideology would fade out faster under her administration, but that opinion so quickly enraged people in gender critical/heterodox/politically homeless/conservative spaces I never got the opportunity to make my case.
There are many more “politically homeless” than people realize. I’m on a local school board and I’ve been demonized by both sides… currently I have been able to bring both sides briefly together to agree that we all want what is best for children and need to LISTEN & learn more from each other. This after being doxxed by the crazy right. (Im registered as an R currently only because I could not vote for Harris due to her strong censorship views) If only the Independent designation gave you better voting choices…. The fringe crazies I have personally met on BOTH sides. We have to find a way to keep their voices quiet so those of us that want to respect and learn and grow this country can do so.
You are entirely off base and i urge you to dig deeper since to appreciate what others believe you must dialogue with them not polemical judgers with an axe to grind that may happen to fit your own
I am shocked--and I am saddened for young people in this country that Trump is the new normal.
I fear what this could mean for our allies abroad.
Etcetera.
That said, I will be happy if his administration comes down hard on the gender medicine for youth, ends the schools to trans pipeline.
Viewpoint diversity, MSM has suppressed it--as we all know.
The Democratic machine has suppressed it.
When I have mentioned by concerns about "gender-affirming care" to my congressional representative (member of Progressive Coalition), I was laughed at--literally.
I'm not in New York but so sorry to hear Prop 1 passed. I knew it was leading because people didn't really understand what it was but you always hope that the electorate will eventually become informed on the issue. I'm glad California passed Prop 36 but they suffered under their previous mistake Prop 47 for 10 years before finally fixing it. Hope that New York won't take as long to course correct.
IMO Trump Derangement Syndrome is what Trumps followers have not those who oppose him. My disgust and deep hate for that dude is quite logical nothing deranged about it. He’s an awful human being and bad for the planet.
I’m angry and have lost what little faith I had in humans. I’m SUPER angry at Dems/far left liberal progressives (who I always was/am for 30+ years)for not standing up to the trans movement because I do think a lot of people turned to DT because the a big portion of the left have abandoned women and children, they caught Trans Derangement Syndrome.
It’s a dark day and IMO America is f-ckd. Maybe this is what we deserve for being such a decadent entitled society, with the belief that we can just buy a new identity, cut off body parts, become the opposite sex, not vote as a protest, waste waste waste etc.
I cried and went into a 4 year depression when DT won the 1st time, today I’m just absolutely disgusted and super angry with people.
I came out in my community in January as gender critical, and I was ostracized called a bigot by fellow progressives. I’m a sexual assault survivor but that didn’t matter to many of them, I was just seen as a hateful bigot who needed therapy. I’ve dedicated the last 25 years of my life fighting to protect the community I live in but my gender critical stance lost me “credibility”.
I of course still voted democrat across the whole ballot.
Thanks Lisa for being you, being the courageous outspoken badass chick you are. To all the others as well that continue to stand up to the madness we’ve been living in. I encourage everyone to continue standing up and speaking out. Stay strong stay courageous cause it’s gonna be a really f-ing shitshow.
🤠🐶💪🏼🤯🤬😱✊🏼🇺🇸🌏🌎🌍
I initially too thought TDS was meant for Trump supporters but apparently not - it goes all the way back to the Bush administration. https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/politics/trump-derangement-syndrome/index.html
What a great comment! Did you read my mind... ? 🙃I've said "catastrophe" elsewhere about Trump winning, but "f-ing shitshow" is much more colorful. Best wishes and hang in there! (also love your selection of emojis!)
Thanks for this, Lisa. Lots of wisdom in your words. This particularly resonated with me: “The viewpoint diversity movement, the heterodox space, has seemed increasingly like a Republican space, which has been isolating and depressing for me. It has seemed less like a space to engage with ideas than one to dismantle wokeness at any cost.”
“Dismantle wokeness at any cost”: yes, I have struggled with this. Is it paying too high a price to support someone like Trump in order to disrupt the identitarian policies of the Democrats?
Maybe it’s a price worth paying to get Title IX back to what it’s supposed to do. I don’t know.
But there would have been a high price to pay had Harris won. We would be dealing with the continuance of policies similar to NY’s Proposition 1. That’s a high price too!
Understood. Just to clarify, it’s the whole of that sentence from Lisa that resonated with me so strongly: “It has seemed less like a space to engage with ideas than one to dismantle wokeness at any cost.” What I have been seeing, particularly as pre-election tension racheted up, was yet another sort of devolution down to with us or against us, and another round of name-calling with it. I do hope, as we go forward from here, that we can get back to engaging with ideas.
Well, I haven't seen such name calling myself, but maybe the heterodox folks I pay attention to are different ones.
Yes, we're all struggling to navigate this. I'm trying not to go reactionary (!) but I'm also trying not to split so many hairs that I lose sight of the need to be in coalition with people I might not have thought about allying to in the past.
You don’t sound the least bit reactionary to me, and I agree with you 💯 on how hard this is to navigate!
Nice piece by Lisa in the Boston Globe: https://archive.is/o6W8o
Thank you for sharing this! Spread it far and wide!
Thank you Lisa you always make me feel less isolated and I agree that consuming viewpoint diversity is holding me steady this time around including anti polarization efforts of organizations like Braver Angels
Here’s what I wrote last night to center myself when I saw DT was going to win
I accept that enough people may have voted against Dem party for Republican candidate to win but not that DT is their preferred leader, he was just a hired gun to get the job done
Plus it seems like many came out to vote against perceived extremism on one side or the other rather than for their candidate so that oddly gives me some comfort that we are not so divided
This is going to be my way of reframing the outcome in order not to fall into a state of despair or depression like your liberal neighbors in NYC
Thanks so much for your work and keep on writing ✍️
I am a left-wing Australian who, from 2018 onwards, went from bien pensant acquiescence in progressive gender orthodoxy to being receptive to gender-critical perspectives under the impact of some of the absurdities that the orthodoxy had spawned, and in particular the authoritarian nastiness of some of those enforcing the orthodoxy in progressive spaces. A number of my friends and comrades have traveled a broadly similar path over this period.
I have not pivoted my entire political perspective and alignment as a consequence, but I have a couple of friends (one of whom was, in his youth, a president of Australia's national student union) who have done such a pivot and were cheering for a Trump victory. I can therefore completely believe Lisa's account of LGB, feminist and liberal friends pivoting in this way. I could, if I wished, laboriously explain why I have not pivoted and will not do so, but I think it would be more productive to attempt to get at least some of those who acquiesce in the orthodoxy to appreciate how and why its absurdities, and the authoritarian nastiness of its enforcers, has helped to drive a critical mass of people away from the progressive side.
Well said, and these are the conversations I would most like to have, too. Very, very hard to find an opening. The cognitive dissonance is so great on this that it is really difficult to break through. As one example, I would like liberal/left friends to have even a moment’s hesitation before pronouncing the girls on the Roanoke swim team, who attended and spoke at a Trump rally, unreconstructed bigots, and try and see that maybe, just maybe, those girls have a valid concern the Ds failed to address. Going forward, I am going to look for those opportunities. BTW, Lisa has a nice piece on the Boston Globe on this, in the event you may not have seen it: https://archive.is/o6W8o.
Yes! Thanks too for the link to Lisa's article, will be reading it right away. Lisa's essay and the comments to it here have lifted my spirits more than I imagined. May actually get some long neglected household chores done today (or maybe tomorrow... 😉)
💕💕💕
I'd been telling myself that preemptively acknowledging that Trump was going to win would shield me from the gut punch of seeing it on my screen in red and blue. (It did not.) And today my family and friends are all moaning and wailing and blaming the racist, fascist Trump voters (who they can't bear to share a country with anymore) and I'm pissing them off by suggesting that they start blaming the Democrats for this mess. It's not going over well, but I just can't bear the self righteousness anymore. How do they not see that neither party are the good guys!
Yeah I tried the preemptive acknowledgment too but it didn’t work.
I ❤️ you Lisa and right there with you on this (even though I voted for Trump and support him now)... but... The English Teacher??? Sorry, I have to strongly disagree on that one 😆 ...the powderpuff episode? 🤯 so CRINGE
I accept this diversity of viewpoint! I don't know. I'm a sucker for a certain kind of happy-ish TV.
Honestly, if you haven't seen "Only Murders In the Building", do yourself a favor! You've earned a few belly laughs from snarky, warm hearted, good old fashioned humor! ❤️
It's been very hard to hold on to thinking of myself as someone to the left politically, mostly because of the trans insanity but also race and DEI stuff. Some of that is because "if we were so wrong about that, maybe we're wrong about everything else."
But it's also seeing those things as in some respects the logical conclusions of "left" ideology and policies, in general. Like, a lot of stuff I just don't think "our side" really thought through the consequences of what we were pushing for, what we believed so intensely. At least, I know I sure didn't.
Finally, there's a humility I have now b/c of how wrong I was (and frankly how sanctimonious I was) that maybe we need conservatives, at least in equal parts to balance out our perspectives and policies.
As for specific issues, hard not to go full-on R when it comes to the trans stuff, especially where children and young people are concerned. Because Ds have just doubled-down. (If it matters, I am a middle-aged lesbian, and what this has done to the LGB community and proto-LGB kids, as I think Andre Sullivan calls them, has been devastating to me.)