6/28/25-A Diatribe

I haven't posted here in a little while.  The reason for my silence is not that I didn't have things to say, but that I am not sure how to say them.

I think I have eluded to this in the past, but over the past month I  find myself very frustrated in the state of the world and how people relate to one another.  And it really bothers me.

I am a pretty opinionated person and I like to debate things.  I am always up for a discussion of people's opinions or current events.  My love of debate is one of the things Cindy hates about me more than anything else (and I'm sure there are a lot of things she hates about me).

The reason I like to debate is not to change peoples opinions or to have them change mine, but I really like to understand other points of view and why people feel the way they do.

The problem today is those types of debates are not allowed.  No one wants to hear how other people feel unless they feel the same as them.  It's just an echo chamber of confirmation bias.

Take politics, it doesn't matter what side of the aisle you are on, people gravitate to news sources that will tell the story with a lean to their chosen position.  No one seems to want to hear from the opposing viewpoint.

The news itself has become a overblown editorial page.  Back in the day (here I am sounding like an old guy), reporters would report a story focusing on the facts and allow the viewer (or reader) to formulate their own opinion.  But today the newsperson seems to feel their opinion is part of the news and always interjects it into their story.

If you made it this far into this post I'm proud of you for putting up with my little diatribe, and hopefully I won't lose you.  Because I consider you a friend no matter what your leanings are politically or socially.  And I respect your feelings.

But here I go.  I am a middle-aged white male.  I feel it is important to protect life from conception to natural death.  I support the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East and its actions to protect itself from enemies that have the stated goal to try to exterminate Jews from the it face of the Earth.  I love the United States and think it is important to protect itself by enforcing just laws.

I could go on but I'm sure I have already upset many of you.  Believe me when I say that was not my goal in this post.  What I actually would love is for this post to encourage healthy discussion.  As I said I really want to understand why people believe the things they do.  And the only way to do that is to talk.  We have more ways than ever to have healthy conversations with message apps or Facebook comments.

I miss the days when we could just agree to disagree.  Friendship was based on finding commonalities in activity or interest.  And if friends had issues that could not be agreed on it was ok.  It was ok to make light of those differences of opinion and even joke about them.  The important thing was the mutual respect people had and enjoying their time together.

I think this has gone on long enough.  I do consider you all friends and hope the feeling is mutual.  I just needed to get this off my chest to get back to more lighthearted and (hopefully) positive posts in the future.