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I said yesterday that I couldn't understand how a good, decent and compassionate person could support the Tories.
I was wrong. Or to put it another way, my lack of understanding is my problem, not anyone else's.
This was crystallised for me last night when I picked up Stephen King's Danse Macabre, which I'd just unearthed from behind a pile of lumber and other books, and started to re-read. Almost immediately I came across this (paraphrased: the book is upstairs): "[Invasion of the Body Snatchers] could be seen as an anti-McCarthyite film, but director Don Siegel's politics could hardly be described as leftish."
That, right there, is why liberals don't make any headway in reaching understanding with conservatives. That shows an arrogance and a complacency that appals me. How dare we assume that in order to condemn blacklists and witch hunts you have to be a liberal. I am quite certain that many on the right in America were just as unhappy with McCarthy and his tactics as any on the left. You do not have to be liberal to have a conscience. You do not have to be liberal to be good, decent and compassionate.
I don't know what if any political message the film was trying to convey, but I know that my failure to understand is a sign that you also do not have to be conservative to be blinkered, narrow-minded and prejudiced. And I needed to make it clear that I understand this, and I will try harder to stay out of these mental ruts. My feelings on this government and its predecessors remain unchanged, but that is a different matter from passing judgment on those who saw it (and may still see it) as the only alternative to more of the same mistakes from the other lot.
And now back to the ongoing kerfuffle.
I was wrong. Or to put it another way, my lack of understanding is my problem, not anyone else's.
This was crystallised for me last night when I picked up Stephen King's Danse Macabre, which I'd just unearthed from behind a pile of lumber and other books, and started to re-read. Almost immediately I came across this (paraphrased: the book is upstairs): "[Invasion of the Body Snatchers] could be seen as an anti-McCarthyite film, but director Don Siegel's politics could hardly be described as leftish."
That, right there, is why liberals don't make any headway in reaching understanding with conservatives. That shows an arrogance and a complacency that appals me. How dare we assume that in order to condemn blacklists and witch hunts you have to be a liberal. I am quite certain that many on the right in America were just as unhappy with McCarthy and his tactics as any on the left. You do not have to be liberal to have a conscience. You do not have to be liberal to be good, decent and compassionate.
I don't know what if any political message the film was trying to convey, but I know that my failure to understand is a sign that you also do not have to be conservative to be blinkered, narrow-minded and prejudiced. And I needed to make it clear that I understand this, and I will try harder to stay out of these mental ruts. My feelings on this government and its predecessors remain unchanged, but that is a different matter from passing judgment on those who saw it (and may still see it) as the only alternative to more of the same mistakes from the other lot.
And now back to the ongoing kerfuffle.