That’s a difficult one. The only way to rationalise it is when people say “in 2016, I had a choice between Clinton and Trump, and I picked Trump” or the same in 2020.
But, fundamentally, what makes good people vote for bad politicians? It is relevant everywhere.
It is that they dislike something else more and convince themselves that black is white to overcome it. In this case it was liberals and immigrants and socialists who were vilified by the villain in sheep’s clothing.
Nice to see that you are acquainted with John Pavlovitz too, I find his approach to religion enlightening and fresh. Also a very good writer that I follow. Thanks for passing this on~!
The sad part about this narrative is that the author does not allow for himself to be wrong.
The last line of “Either you were lying then or you’re wrong now.” pushes all blame for his own errors in judgment—gleaned from who knows where?—onto someone else and does not accept blame for his own bad choices.
No, those adults that raised him, may have raised him well. But, somewhere along the way, he made his own choices. Shifted his own priorities and aligned them with bad advice and ideals, and now challenges the adults that raised him and say they are bad.
Not fair.
I don’t think he’s saying the way he thinks now is bad. I think he’s regretting the fact that he was taught differently to begin with and had to learn how to align his actions to the true intent of his religion. I think he takes full responsibility for former bigoted beliefs he now knows were wrong.
It’s clear that he doesn’t think his thoughts are bad.
And just because he has aligned his current belief systems with new ones does not necessitate that the ones he was taught were bigoted.
I think that you need to read more of Pavlovitz writing to understand the real man. He is one of the last persons to point his finger at others. We need more motivational speakers like him today. Read it again and this time do not limit your thinking to disambiguate his words. The decision is always yours, and remember that “when a child we think as a child”, but as grow up, hopefully we learn from more experience, either good or bad, not just parrot what we think others want to hear, even when it is saying something about a love one.
Do not assume about me, or how I have applied my life’s understanding and ability to comprehend, to what I have read.
Not all children “think like children”. As is often the case, childish or child-like thoughts are all too quickly dismissed by adults because it is the adult who—through their education and gain of information—has limited their scope on a subject.
And regardless of what Pavlovitz might be in other writings, this one has a message (intentional or not) about blame. The only way to know otherwise (and I use ‘know’ referring to all doubt gone) is to talk to him directly and ask. Otherwise, it’s just supposition.
It could be said (just like anything else), and it was always a possibility.
I hope your house is still intact, or that you run out of stones soon.
Good luck to you in your endeavors.
Well said — I had a conversation the other day in which a friend said that she couldn’t understand why something happened the way it did — when I responded that it was because of Trump’s guidance, the response was to turn it around and say it was Fauci’s fault — People definitely have differing viewpoints!
This is perfect! I’m planning on reblogging when I’m sober tomorrow!
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That’s a difficult one. The only way to rationalise it is when people say “in 2016, I had a choice between Clinton and Trump, and I picked Trump” or the same in 2020.
But, fundamentally, what makes good people vote for bad politicians? It is relevant everywhere.
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It is that they dislike something else more and convince themselves that black is white to overcome it. In this case it was liberals and immigrants and socialists who were vilified by the villain in sheep’s clothing.
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They convince themsaelves that one of the options is worse than the other, for sure. But all that says is that they have different priorities.
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Mystifying
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Nice to see that you are acquainted with John Pavlovitz too, I find his approach to religion enlightening and fresh. Also a very good writer that I follow. Thanks for passing this on~!
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Yes… newly aware of him, Sam. Luckily, I have good friends who make sure I see all the best of political commentary.
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The sad part about this narrative is that the author does not allow for himself to be wrong.
The last line of “Either you were lying then or you’re wrong now.” pushes all blame for his own errors in judgment—gleaned from who knows where?—onto someone else and does not accept blame for his own bad choices.
No, those adults that raised him, may have raised him well. But, somewhere along the way, he made his own choices. Shifted his own priorities and aligned them with bad advice and ideals, and now challenges the adults that raised him and say they are bad.
Not fair.
LikeLike
I don’t think he’s saying the way he thinks now is bad. I think he’s regretting the fact that he was taught differently to begin with and had to learn how to align his actions to the true intent of his religion. I think he takes full responsibility for former bigoted beliefs he now knows were wrong.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s clear that he doesn’t think his thoughts are bad.
And just because he has aligned his current belief systems with new ones does not necessitate that the ones he was taught were bigoted.
LikeLike
I think that you need to read more of Pavlovitz writing to understand the real man. He is one of the last persons to point his finger at others. We need more motivational speakers like him today. Read it again and this time do not limit your thinking to disambiguate his words. The decision is always yours, and remember that “when a child we think as a child”, but as grow up, hopefully we learn from more experience, either good or bad, not just parrot what we think others want to hear, even when it is saying something about a love one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Do not assume about me, or how I have applied my life’s understanding and ability to comprehend, to what I have read.
Not all children “think like children”. As is often the case, childish or child-like thoughts are all too quickly dismissed by adults because it is the adult who—through their education and gain of information—has limited their scope on a subject.
And regardless of what Pavlovitz might be in other writings, this one has a message (intentional or not) about blame. The only way to know otherwise (and I use ‘know’ referring to all doubt gone) is to talk to him directly and ask. Otherwise, it’s just supposition.
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“The sad part about this narrative is that the author does not allow for himself to be wrong.”
I think the same could be said of your sad comment.
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It could be said (just like anything else), and it was always a possibility.
I hope your house is still intact, or that you run out of stones soon.
Good luck to you in your endeavors.
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Well said — I had a conversation the other day in which a friend said that she couldn’t understand why something happened the way it did — when I responded that it was because of Trump’s guidance, the response was to turn it around and say it was Fauci’s fault — People definitely have differing viewpoints!
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And it is getting harder and harder to be around those who differ so widely from your own view of things.
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Yes — I had hoped that a Biden victory might help with that, but it looks like it will take more time!
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A very good post. Thank you for sharing.
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