In what follows, I will share some of the thoughts I’ve developed over the past year that may or may not get me cancelled. I haven’t been towing any official party line lately. I consider myself a Democrat, though.
- I really appreciate Joe Biden. This solidified for me when I watched his 9-11 speech. I think his hope to bring unity and understanding to America is great. I think he is a strong, no-nonsense leader. But I also think he has compassion where needed. I think he is exactly what we need at this moment.
- I support, however, socialized healthcare. I even told Joe Biden this. I realize he hasn’t supported anything like Medicare for All, but when I wrote to him, I made the case that we really cannot have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without healthcare for all.
- I also support forgiving student loans. The Covid relief showed us what life can be like without burdensome loan repayments. It also showed us the government can function without these repayments. I applaud Biden’s efforts on this and hope that more can be done.
- I don’t really understand trans folks, but I support them. I have read and tried to understand. I really have. But I think what’s more important than understanding is accepting. It does no one any good to drop an iron fist on people who really aren’t harming anyone. Trans people are around 1% of the population. They aren’t the big, bad problem that some fear they are. And, at any rate, even if one thought that being trans was somehow a problem, it’s more effective to be nonchalant about it rather than make a fuss.
- I generally support Ukraine, but I don’t hate Putin. I think it’s easy these days to fall into hatred and condemnation. But these things solve basically nothing. If you really want to solve a problem, you first have to acknowledge it and accept it. I fully realize there are evil people in the world. I know there are very dangerous people. But taking that fact and moving to hatred and condemnation only makes you move closer to being like those people. As Nietzsche said, “Battle not with monsters least you become a monster.” Following this, I think we also, sometimes, underestimate how we can affect people. If I rise above and lead with something other than hatred, who knows what could happen? The people who have done this have changed the world–for the better. So while I think Putin’s move to make war is wrong, I don’t hate him. Hatred gets us nowhere most of the time.
- I don’t always like the Left. I think it’s often just as bad as the Right. I see reactionary things. I see hateful things. I see “Us vs Them” things. None of this is helpful, wherever it comes from.
- I am typically cautious of “influencers.” Call me paranoid, but I don’t put it past governments to hire folks to influence the masses in one way or another, including our own government. So too, when you blindly follow anyone, you are bound to be led astray. It’s cult-ish. Better to try a variety of sources, even lesser-known ones, and use your critical thinking, introspection, gut, and judgement as best you can. We live in a time of massive misinformation, and awry social movements. It’s better, in these times, to develop your logic, reasoning and ability to evaluate evidence than play Follow the Leader.
- I believe Cancel Culture is just blind virtue signaling. I think people have a sense about that which they are “suppose to” object to. I think it’s all a farce, but it can have great impact on people’s lives, which can suck.
- I know I’m supposed to hate Elon Musk, but I don’t. As previously stated, I typically think hatred gets us nowhere. In my case, when it comes to Musk, I have simply been openly curious. It’s true, I don’t really like what he’s done with Twitter. And I think his thinking is flawed sometimes. But I’ve only come to those conclusions after being genuinely curious about him. I never want to stop wondering about people, even those I disagree with.
