“Being
Polite” versus “Being Nice”; what is the difference for a debater?
I
would like to add my two cents to the debate about “party unity”, “censorship”,
“Facebook rude posts”, etc.
1. People
keep confusing “being polite” with “being nice”.
“Being polite” means – no any physical encounter, no offensive words, no name calling, etc., and REQUIRED by the law.
“Being polite” means – no any physical encounter, no offensive words, no name calling, etc., and REQUIRED by the law.
“Being
nice” means – “do not tell me what might upset me”. And there is NO law which
requires people to be nice.
An
imaginary conversation.
"You
should not tell me this".
"Why?"
"Because
it makes me feel sad".
"And?"
"You
should not tell me this"!
"Why?!"
"Because
it makes me feel sad"!!
"Do
I call you names?"
"No but ..."
"Do I say something degrading?"
"No but I don't feel uplifting"
"We need to be polite and discuss matter which may affect our life. Why should I care all the time about how you feel? Why should You care all the time about how I feel?
"Because ... ... you need to be nice!"
"Why?"
"Because! ... I'm leaving! You are impossible!"
"No but ..."
"Do I say something degrading?"
"No but I don't feel uplifting"
"We need to be polite and discuss matter which may affect our life. Why should I care all the time about how you feel? Why should You care all the time about how I feel?
"Because ... ... you need to be nice!"
"Why?"
"Because! ... I'm leaving! You are impossible!"
If
someone gets so easily upset, that one just should not go even close to
politics (or management, or any professional field, really: for more follow to http://www.gomars.xyz/op.html#stag).
2.
The more debates take place the better. Censoring posts on the ground “I
disagree with it”, or “this makes me feel bad” only leads to pushing people out
of THIS place of the debate, but not out of the debate.
People
will not stop thinking what they are thinking, but will find other venues to express it (for example, by voting for
Trump).
In
the long run, that is exactly what we need these days – we (democrats,
progressives) need to get separated ("give each other a space"), give
time to different groups to get a better, clearer understanding who wants what
and who is who, and what they really want. Then those different factions,
groups, "cliques", would be able to find a common ground.
To
the advocates of censorship "because it cuts fake news" - (a) if you
cannot see which news is fake, you should not go into politics; (b) if you are afraid
people would be influenced by fake news you should offer your counter-opinion;
(c) make sure that for you "fake news" is not just something "I
don't like it".
3.
At some point, everyone will need to make a decision: am I BY the movement,
or IN the movement (does not depend on what movement)?
BY
the movement means – providing types of support – verbal, monetary, etc.
IN
the movement means – allocating a certain amount of time on various political
actions. Among those actions, #1 is education themselves on the laws governing
social changes.
For better
or worse, Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital” became the theoretical foundation of the
following social revolutions (many!).
For
a "progressivist", the theoretical foundation is “Saving Capitalism”
by Robert B. Reich.
Read,
think, discuss, plan, act.
Or,
offer another book!
Your
(and mine, many of us) tweets and Facebook posts do NOT represent a solid
logical theoretical foundation for the actions needed to do "Our
Revolution".
Let
us be clear – without deep understanding of the true reasons for the country
getting to the current social, political, economic state, the fate of any
movement (all movements) will be the same as the fate of the “Occupy
Wall-Street” - gradual decline and dissolving.
4.
Bernie Sanders said “It wasn't that Donald Trump won the election, it was
that the Democratic Party lost the election”
BTW:
he said it five month after the election day; I said the same right after
it (https://teachologyforall.blogspot.com/2017/04/clinton.html),
but the difference is – no one cares what I say, Bernie’s every word gets
scrutinized from right and left.
After
Sanders said it, there is no turning back. Now everyone inside and outside of
the Dem Party has to express his or her position toward the statement: agree,
disagree, not sure, or ignore (acting like he has never said it).Arguing
about the meaning of this statement is just useless.
This
type of a statement cannot be logically proved or disapproved; it is
a belief-based statement - like "aliens, a.k.a. ETs exist". One
can say that the universe is so vast, and there are signs of aliens visiting
the Earth, so they exists. Or one can say there are no facts (bodies,
machinery) proving the alien existence, hence they don't.
5.
Politics needs knowledge and logic; political actions need time, effort,
and SLOGANS!
6. An ice cube in a freezer remains an ice cube as long as it remains in
a working freezer. What will happen if one cuts the power cord, or just opens
the door and keeps it opened for a long time? Ice turns into water (hopefully,
no one has doubts about this). This is just an example of how external
conditions, a.k.a. environment, affects properties of a system. It works for any
system and any environment.
Four
words:
globalization,
computerization,
robotization,
world-wide-web-ization
describe
the drastic change in the social and economical environment of all
countries in the world.
That
is why all countries now are "melting".
What
will they turn into?
(a).
no one really knows
(b).
everyone has a chance to push it in a direction one likes - and eventually the
melting social and political structures will take the new stable form.
What
form?
No
one really knows.
Can
be ANYTHING (democracy, fascism, you name it).
7.
Confusion between "polite" and "nice" is not confined by
politics, one can see it in science, in business, basically everywhere where
people talk. In politics it is called "political correctness", in other
spheres it may be called "rudeness", or "cynicism".
Unfortunately, this confusion presents a huge obstacle to forging an effective
collaboration.
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