Fallen

That last post was an eye-opening experience. Such enthusiastic, numerous and well-considered comments required a thoughtful response, which explains why you haven't gotten one for so long. I am a very slow thinker, especially when distracted by a combination of knitting, relatives and food. Come to think of it, you could leave out the relatives. Also the knitting.

Now that I've had time to think... Maryse is entirely correct that we lefties have gotten very tired of being called unpatriotic, immoral, amoral, anti-religion, pro-terrorist, and dumb (only an idiot would believe all that evolution and global-warming nonsense). A year or two ago I started reading a couple of very-far-right blogs, looking for common ground, figuring that there must be some. I soon discovered that, on the usual topics of discussion anyway, there was none to be had, unless I would cop to being all of the above and more besides. My best attempts at rational argument fell on deaf ears. My self-evident fact was their dangerous fantasy, and vice versa.

I stopped commenting, but kept reading, I wasn't sure why. Occasionally I would hear a faint clash of cognitive dissonance, and I would hope that light had finally begun to dawn on Marblehead, but no.

Only when I read Lorinda's comment did I realize (speaking of Marblehead) that I was using these blogs to validate my belief that these people had lost their grip on reality, that they were essentially different from me and there was no point in my trying to talk to them. Despite their vaunted Christianity, I was sure, I was better than they were. No matter what the issue, I could guarantee that I was right, and they were wrong. I became convinced, to paraphrase my favorite comic songwriters, that lefties were moral, and lefties were good, and clever, and modest, and misunderstood.

I was, in a word, proud.

How did I slip from confidence in my opinions to arrogant dismissal of people who disagreed with me? It probably had something to do with not actually knowing many conservatives in real life, and something to do with starting at the very opposite end of the spectrum. I had the right idea when I tried to find common ground, I think, but I should have begun with something simpler and built from there. Something that we could all enjoy together while making the world a warmer place, so that our differences wouldn't matter so much while we got to know each other. Something like... knitting.

Pull up a chair, my friends. Welcome to my trying-harder-to-be-humble blog. Not that I'm changing my opinions, mind you, but I'm having a go at changing my attitude, at broadening my horizons, at not self-selecting out of reading any blog that might teach me something, keeping in mind at all times: I could be wrong. Meanwhile, let's knit.

At this point I hear liberals and conservatives alike (all who are still awake) joining in chorus: Who won, already?? Oh, right. (squeezes eyes shut, sticks hand in hat) And the winner is...

Norma!

So, Norma, what kind of yarn do you want?