Dear American Left

[baby_mouse]

Here is my opinion.

There has been a lot of talk about which part of the campaign failed, setting up imaginary boundaries between one side or another of the Democratic Party or the progressive movement and saying this one or that is the failed system and the other should have been concentrated on. Grassroots versus visible campaigning, that sort of thing.

These imaginary boundaries serve no useful purpose.

Pondering the question of whether this side or that of a campaign is most effective is like asking which blade on a pair of scissors does the cutting. To extend the metaphor, the lesson to be learned, I feel, is that the campaign tried to cut through the wrong things, and I think the main thing it didn't cut through was the sheer NASTINESS of the Republicans. Playing fair with them doesn't work.

You can't make bargains with Evil. Evil will cheat.

Following are some principles *I* try to hold, many may disagree or find them very obvious or patronising, sorry if either...:

1. THE LEFT OWES NOTHING TO THE RIGHT.

Do not allow conscience and good nature to be taken advantage of. It has been said: "Give a fool a second chance, never a third". We cannot throw energy away on people who have decided that they simply aren't going to listen. Republicans do not *deserve* your money, your attention or your support in any matter. Every courtesy you offer these mean-spirited fools is a gift, not a duty.

"Well, yes, I ordinarily do put store by 'love thy neighbour', but not in YOUR case. You're different. You're not my neighbour. You're a fuckwit."

2. UNITY IS NOT ENOUGH.

INTEGRATION is required. This is counter-intuitive as it will require lifestyle changes.

Those of you who can afford it, do you go to McDonalds? Have you yet complied a list of Republican owned businesses that you can boycott? The chances are you spend a lot more money supporting these people than you think.

Do any of us have any *excuse* for giving them money? Do we not despise the inefficiency of their convenience based economic policies? We shop at these Republican Party fund-raising organisations through ignorance and convenience. Can we, with any good conscience, PAY the Republicans to continue beating America to death with their social programme at ANY level?

We must integrate our beliefs with our lifestyles. And I'm afraid we must regard those of us who don't with some disapproval. This is going to be very difficult, but if our opinions dictate that we shouldn't really support right-wing lifestyle choices, we have no business complaining about the right wing and paying them at the same time.

3. WITS MUST BE SHARP.

Do you have a Republican colleague? Do you have Republican parents or neighbours? YOU decide when you are going to argue with them or when you are not. YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT. This means that they must be corrected, not entertained. If arguing with them when you are tired, or hungry, or not entirely clear what it is that they are actually trying to argue about, you will come across as tired or confused, and these poor, silly people will conflate this overtone with your opinions.

If they want to instigate a discussion on an issue with you, you have them at a disadvantage already because the desire is theirs, not yours. Say no. Go and research the topic as thoroughly as you wish. When you are ready, go badger them. And don't stop badgering them. If they turn down an opportunity to discuss whichever issue they have brought up, accuse them of not really being interested in the topic and playing silly, childish games. Which is, in fact, exactly what they are doing, it's not an insult, just a fact. Do not be afraid of calling a spade a spade, no doubt they have in the past come up with any number of stupid insults to throw at you. You do not owe courtesy to someone who does not show courtesy to you. It is very important to grasp this. It runs counter to the instinct of the Left, especially the Christians, but it is vital to understand that far more can be gained from courteous interaction with a courteous Republican than courteous words in response to a silly, insulting boor, which will have no effect whatsoever other than supporting you in your self-image and he in his, it will *change nothing*, certainly not the silly boor who only wants the quick fix of embarrassing you. Do not cling to a self-destructive self-image in the face of such a person. Its a lot like addiction, actually, just like the addiction of the boor to his self-image.

This is an entirely honest tactic, because we are far better informed and educated than them. We have every right to put off the idiots until a reasonable argument can be formed.

Sleep well. Eat well. Be healthy.

"Oh, I'm supposed to discuss X with you now, am I? What's in it for me?"

4. NEVER FORGET THE POWER OF ORDINARY HUMAN CONVERSATION.

I spent years and years talking to my work colleagues in an Accident and Emergency Department in Scotland about homosexuality. I was lucky, there were very few genuine homophobes, and by the time I had finished, pretty much all of the daft ideas they had about gays were gone simply through my discussing the subject with them reasonably. No amount of campaigning would have achieved that.

This can be extended to any subject. Politics is about the real world, don't be afraid to broach a political subject with a friend that you haven't before. Bring it up in all innocence, there's a feeling in some friendships that politics isn't discussed, this is unnecessary. There is a stigma attached to political discussion, that it will lead to confrontation and make the friendship uncomfortable, and so in some friendships it is ignored. In such friendships, the onus is on YOU to keep political conversation as comfortable as possible, if nothing else, you'll be finding out a lot more about what the other side thinks while they spout their ludicrous mental delusions, and I have been surprised on many occasions at the peculiar flavour of whatever it is that motivates them to adhere to their peculiar beliefs. Many times it has provided me with insights on how to free them from their destructive beliefs.

"So, why do you believe Y? Is it because..."

Of course, if they catch you out by bursting out suddenly with something that's just rude, shrug.

"Well, I guess you're just a rude bastard, then." Smile. "No point making conversation with you. Silly me." It doesn't matter what they say after that. Any attempt at rudeness should be just sneered at and ridiculed for the nonsense it is.

5. SINGLEMINDEDNESS IS CLOSE TO MADNESS

Most Republican cognition is based on a kind of single-mindedness that distorts their view of reality into a mesh of "poles" to which their thoughts tend, they re-hash the same old themes again and again. It's not uncommon for their arguments to jump from topic to topic without ceasing in one sentence in which one "pole" after another rears its ugly head. This grasshoppering isn't difficult to argue with so long as YOU stay on the subject and finish your side. "Yes, yes, very interesting, but lets get back to..." Patience. Their beliefs are not centred on looking at the world as a system of relationships, they do not observe the *relations between things*. Perhaps that's just the way their heads are wired. It's not a disastrous strategy for thinking about the world, either, so long as you are the Western civilised democracies' equivalent of a caveman next to a mound of food and all you want to do is survive, but if you're trying to use your brain in this way to build a good, decent society that works, you're onto a loser. Villages can kind of fit this model. Continents can't, really.

"So, are you proud to be parochial and backwards? Have you ever been proud of any POSITIVE things in yourself?"

"So, do you sacrifice chickens to your SUV? Or does it prefer virgins? Virgins, I bet. You're a bit weird, aren't you?"

6. DON'T LOCK STEP WITH THEM

Don't let them control you.

If their arguments are supposed to make you angry, be calm. If they are clearly a nutcase, ignore them. If they try to categorise you or attach strange overtones to your belief system, look at yourself, are they right? If so, admit it, better still, know why and point out why it's a good thing, not a bad thing (which, invariably, it will be). If not, (of course they aren't! They almost never are), say so.

"No, I'm nothing like that. Why did you think that?"

7. THEY ARE WEIRD, WEIRD FREAKS

They are WEIRD. Totally WEIRD. The vast majority of the world believes the Republican party to be a bizarre, twisted mutant. They are NOT the majority, they can only convince themselves of that through willful ignorance. There is nothing normal or decent about them.

NEVER PASS UP AN OPPORTUNITY TO POINT THIS OUT. You are doing them a favour. Who knows, if it happens often enough, maybe some normal social behaviour will start to bud and flower within them and they might even start thinking about other people.

Think back to the people in your life who have told you DEEPLY insulting TRUE things about yourself (You're lucky if you have none). YOU are now in the position of being informed and sorted enough to pay the same courtesy to your Republican associates. Tell them the truth. Point out to them the weird, embarrassing freakishness of their backward opinions.

They deserve it.

8. ONCE YOU HAVE WASHED YOUR HANDS OF A RIGHT WING FRIEND, LET THAT BE AN END TO IT

Don't speak to them again. You are not required to form friendships with certain kinds of people. There are millions and millions of perfectly ordinary, polite people all over the country who will gladly enjoy your company and goodwill. Why waste time on a fuckwit that spends your goodwill on a quick fix of 'sneer at the leftie'?

Dump them. If they phone, hang up on them. If they write, bin the letter. If they owe you money, within reason, write it off and start again.

DON'T feel guilty. DO NOT feel guilty. *YOU* CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS. Not them.

Nobody on this planet has the right to demand to be your friend.

[DireStrike]

1. Very good post.

Echoes many of the things I've been thinking. Nominated.