2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Supporters - Please read my post [View all]DebJ
(7,699 posts)something I was grappling with. So, I don't agree with 23 that you are just beating your head against a wall. Change takes place ONE person at a time... and then THAT one can change one (or more) etc.... Count me as one. And no doubt, at least a lurker or two. You can't always judge your impact by the responses that you receive.
That's how I helped our town to vote for Obama. One person at a time.
When I moved up here to Pennsyltuckey to live in my hubby's town, and the 2004 election cycle began, I invited all of his (now our)
friends to a party to watch the debates (a Democratic one, first). I asked each of the six or so if they were D or R. Several said they didn't know. I said, "Are you registered to vote?" They said yes. I said "So how did you register, D or R?" Most didn't know. All I knew was that I was talking to a roomful of TEACHERS for goodness sakes, and there was no way they could REALLY be "R". Flash forward to 2008. Each of them was stoutly and proudly and loudly proclaimed as a Democrat. Each made hundreds of phone calls and several knocked on doors for Obama. We won our town. One person at a time.
Here is the incident in my life that your words helped to clarify for me: one of my two best friends is an AA Muslim teacher. Her Mom was in town for the visit, and the two of them dropped by our home one evening for a little visit. The TV began to show the incident where the AA woman was pulled over for 'not using her signal when changing lanes'. Now, my hubby and I were mentally in a position where we logically discussed many of the details of the incident (and of course we both had concluded that police officer needed to lose his job immediately at the very least). My friend's mother (same age as me, almost 60) was having NONE of it, none of the other things we mentioned. She just blew up, over and over again. The intensity of her emotions is what, well, woke me the f up. Now, I had preceded my comment by saying "Now of course I am not black and so I am responding differently", and she said several times, "Yes, you are NOT black so you have no idea." The intensity of her emotion just blew me away, and it was something I needed to see. It is one thing to 'understand', to use logic, about how someone else (in this case, someone who is AA and I am not) feels. It is quite a different (and much better) thing to see that exploding emotion, and to keep seeing it, until you not only 'understand', but you FEEL it, too. And yet, I was left, overall, just feeling, well, how to put into words? My brain just kept thinking about it, and saying "Wow", but I was still struggling to synthesize what my emotions felt/empathized with, and what my logical 'understanding' part of my brain 'felt'. Bravenak, your words pulled those two parts of my brain together, made a synthesis. PERHAPS that would have happened in my head over time as I continued to think and ponder it, but I can't say that it would have. But I do know that somehow your words put all those pieces together for me.
And as for your advice, I think it is fantastic. It is nothing more than I did when campaigning for Kerry, for whom I had honestly only lukewarm support myself. I just didn't broach certain topics when campaigning....either topics I myself wasn't comfortable with, or topics that whomever I was speaking to was clearly on the opposite side. So instead, I spoke to them about things they WOULD support, because I wanted above all for a D to win........and God knows for Bush to lose, lose, lose, lose. UGH I hated the results of that election. I just couldn't believe what happened..........
It seems to me that a general synopsis of the people who are disputing what you have said, and indeed who seem to be angry or offended, is that they are doing what Democrats have always done... and because of that, lost.... taking the M.O. of trying to win by using logic and issues. And yet, don't we all clearly know by now, that it is EMOTION that wins an electorate? That is precisely why the R's have won: they use emotion.... in their case, fear, and anger, and hatred that they artificially create and feed ... and guess what? It WORKS. Because we are human, and as humans, we are as much, if not more, emotion than logic in so very, very, many ways. (Isn't this partly what that book "What's the Matter with Kansas?" was about....something rings a bell here about that book....)
I myself was one of those 'logical' people. And actually, what that comes down to is a great deal of hubris, and that adds up to stupidity. Sort of like thinking or implying 'gee, if you were smart enough, you'd just look at the facts and ACT and FEEL as I do'. And that's a really, really, stupid M.O. And it loses elections for the D's all the time.
My goodness, if I was just a logic machine, I wouldn't be married to my husband, LOL, because logically, that wouldn't make a darn bit of sense for many reasons. But I am, and plan on continuing in this foolishness. And yet, people look at me with their jaws agape all the time, and more than once in my life, they have felt compelled to comment on how my brain seems to work like a computer, full of a zillion different odd ball facts about all kinds of things, and those things just pop out of my mouth, purely logically, all the time (and far too often, with no 'political' or polite editing). But in addition to this logical predilection, I am also deeply and vocally and visibly passionate about many things. Like my husband. And my country. And getting both the Dems in power, and getting the Republicans OUT OUT OUT. And I am able to put both pieces of my human self together, logic and heart, facts and empathy, and use that to Bernie's advantage.
I just cannot thank you enough, bravenak. Thank you so very, very much.