Democrats are Demons

We sprout horns when confronted with too much conservatism. We pull pitchforks out of our who-who and jam them through peoples spokes. I read that a few days ago and am sure that the person who wrote it, while barely able to type a coherent sentence, honestly believed the statement. Maybe not the part about the horns or the pitchforks, but the demon part? You betcha - demons one and all. I have also read that since we tend toward the liberal side of things, we are also, apparently, grouped under the banner of "libtard" which suggests that the user of that term does not think well of people with disabilities either, choosing to combine "liberal" with the highly derogatory "retard." Such is the state of public discourse these days - such thoughts, which normally lie below the surface, spring forth during major election cycles. I am sure you are familiar with the mud-slinging and outright hate-talk that takes place on social media. The almost instantaneous spread of negativity, and the anonymous attack and counter is a phenomenon unique to our times.

You can always spot such people from a mile off - they are never attempting to convince others that their way of thinking is better, they simply express their hatred, or contempt, of people with a different opinion. The world is obliviously black and white to such people , there is no debate - friend or foe, the only opposition is the enemy. Sound like a dictatorship? Darn right it does. Opposition is not allowed in their world.

Opposition, meaning a group of people who hold a different opinion about some matter than yourself, or your group. Opposition, contrary viewpoints, are important to personal growth and intellectual development. Without the opposing view there is only stagnation. Growth is as stunted as if you had smoked two packs of smokes a day, only it is a mental stagnation, rather than a physical one. The thing about much of today's social media is its homogeneity, express an opinion on a blog, a website, in a Facebook group, and chances are you will be preaching to the choir, as the saying goes. The audience for any particular group tends to be inclusive. The unfortunate part of that is that, as a result, there is no one to convince. You are here because you know that this blog is, normally, about bicycling. A motor-dependent fool (yes, name calling) who sees no use to a two-wheeled, physically active lifestyle, would only pay a visit by mistake. And thus, I know, as I have known for a long time, that I am convincing no one.

Anyway, there have been times that I have been particularly disgusted at the actions of a driver with whom my path has crossed. Sometimes that disgust has resulted in name-calling, but I have always attempted to keep the level head and not group all drivers under the same banner. On the off chance that some of the "opposition" may visit here, I try to focus on the positive aspects of the cycling lifestyle. There is always the temptation to see "them" as the "enemy" and to treat them as such. However, once you resort to name-calling, denigrating others because they happen to hold a different opinion, you consign whatever argument you have been attempting to make, to the heap of irrelevance. All those other-opinion-holders realize "oh, here we go" and you have lost the argument, you have failed in your mission to change opinion. All the people who believe that bikes do not belong, all the people who do not see the slime oozing from every pore of the "orange-skinned one" are the opposition waiting to be convinced, for someone to prove that they are wrong. It can be done, but not when "we" call "them" all idiots and fools.

So, Mom, I will not disown you because you refuse to vote for anyone not from that elephant party, all you Republican conservative types who pop in here now and again, all the friends I have known from the other, right, side of the divide, never fear, I value your friendship for the other perspective you provide. I promise not to call you a conservashite, except behind your back (sarcasm). I hope you will give me the same benefit, there is enough division in the world already. [Sigh] politics, who needs it, lets go for a ride; none of that matters on a bike, we are all just riders. Riders one and all.