A fun side effect is that it draws fire from both people that disagree with you and people that like to “bust your onions.” The onion-busters are quick to move on when they see they can’t get you mad. They are a waste of time to argue with anyway because they are probably on your side but they like to start trouble. The other ones are worth your time. They will pull out every thing in their head trying to win an argument against you, and all you have to do is take your time and mindfully answer all their fears with facts.
Last night I had a doosey! Funny that he got put on me by an onion-buster. This fellow was a Conservative, pious Republican, who has qualms about Democrats voting the party line. His first statement to me was, “what is wrong with voting against a person because of his color? I wouldn’t do it, but I know a lot of people that would.” I smiled and looked at the ground for a second or two and said, “I don’t have anything against that, voting is a personal decision.” I paused momentarily as I watched some of the red leave his face then went on to say, “but I believe that bigotry is morally reprehensible, and it disgusts me personally.” Wow that felt good! Out of the corners of my eyes I could see stealthy eavesdroppers gathering around trying to get close enough to hear the debate but staying far enough away to not get involved. I thought I should speak louder for the rest of the conversation. I then went on to say that I had never paid attention to politics before this year, and that I literally went to Obama’s site to find reasons to make fun of him, but couldn’t and was so impressed by his policies that I joined his team.
He brought “Hussein” into a sentence and tried to make a Muslim connection and I headed back to it later. I said, “you know people named Jeff right?, but you don’t treat them any different because Jeffery Dahlmer was a mass murderer do you? So why do you want to bag on a guy with a funny name?” He thought for a moment then tried his Muslim connection argument. I said, “I’m a Catholic, but you wouldn’t try to connect me to the Ku Klux Klan would you? So why would you try to connect his fathers religion which was the normal religion of that area to him, and to terrorists?” I had him a bit speechless there and I could see his face wanting to change the argument to something he could win.
The next thing he went on to say was, “none of that matters to me anyway, I only vote on one issue, right to life.” Again I allowed him to speak his mind fully. Although it was dark outside I could see that his red face color was coming down to an ordinary complexion white skin. I don’t think he felt too comfortable after he aired his view because he took a new position near me where his back was now up against a giant hedge. He went on to call the appointing of specific Supreme Court Judges that enact his extreme views as the greatest accomplishment of the Republican Party. I told him that I don’t think it’s so easy to define laws because these issues about life are no simple standardizeable matter. Then he started to talk really crazy about nuclear bombs going off killing everybody in some specific city in our state. I said, “now how can you be pro life and talk like that?!” He became immediately embarrassed and began to swerve it back away from crazy passion to his crazy belief that the end times are near. (if I die and go to heaven, I’m going to kick the shit out of the guy that wrote Revelations) As a changeup I pulled one from the Bible; I don’t know the chapter and verse, but I know I read it in the Bible. I said to him, “scriptures have a story that says if you are lost and starving and you come upon a bird and her eggs, to take the eggs and leave the bird alone. I think the reason that is in the Bible is because God can work with a mother to make new eggs, but God can’t work with the eggs without the mother.” Then I went to women’s health issues and how my grandmother nearly died from giving birth to her last daughter that was an obvious health risk because of how the pregnancy developed low in the womb. If God is all powerful, then the soul of my Aunt would have been put in the next conception. I told him that I think both sides are wrong and it is never a simple matter and writing laws that force everybody to live under one groups opinion is not right or doable.
He talked about how Hitler could have possibly fooled all those people into following him, and I said I used to be a Republican and after meeting so many Democrats I believe these people are the least likely to have that happen, but Republicans grab slogans, don’t investigate and fall in line with their leaders. We left that topic quickly.
I began to steer the conversation to economics, and after things calmed down, he thanked me for taking the time to talk to him. I wouldn’t be so bold to think I have converted him to our side, but I may have at least put out the “angry mob torch” he was carrying. He may be more open minded. He may doubt some of the political things that he accepted as a matter of faith. All in all I believe it was time well spent.
Go and get one of these for yourself. I’ll be glad to read your post.
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