PODCAST — They won't leave.
- William Tell
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
So, how ya gonna deal with them?
It's The Wiliam Tell Show. I call myself William Tell; you can call me Bill.
Thank you for welcoming me into your world; it feels so good to be welcome.
But then, this episode asks how we deal with those who perhaps aren't welcome.
Many people live by an us/them mentality. They divide humanity, which is something I'm unwilling to do. They think in terms of conservatives vs. liberals, Republicans vs. Democrats, and so on. I mean to avoid using those labels.
Whoever “they” are, one might best begin by accepting that — THEY ARE. They exist. That fact is part of What Is. And no matter how much animosity, how much hostility, one may feel toward them, they aren't going to go away.
For example, the political divisions that exist in this country go back centuries. Same groups. Same divisions. Hundreds of years.
And the circumstances that impel people to belong to one group or the other also go back hundreds of years, are the same now as they always have been, and aren't likely to change or go away, either. The articles I will link to here suggest that some of these differences have roots in physiology, in brain structure. And some are related to things one would hardly ever imagine. For example, in one case, research subjects were exposed to the smell of vomit and, of all things, responded by being more strongly in Biblical inerrancy.
Animosity towards them, no matter how strongly one feels it, is futile. It cannot make them go away. Nor can it change their minds. A different approach may bear better fruit.
Why not seek to PERSUADE them?
On the political front, this could be exceptionally advantageous. After all, “they” account for nearly half the population. If, if this nation continues to be goverened by majority rule, one will continue to need a majority to bring about whatever policy or action one may desire. It can only help, to get some people from the other side, to come on to your side, too.
The first need, here, is to accept them and respect them. And accept and respect certain facts about them. No matter how absurd their ideas and convictions may seem to you, the fact is, What Is is, that they actually do hold those beliefs and convictions. Honestly and sincerely, as best they can understand them.
Thus, ridiculing or insulting their beliefs, or them, will get you nowhere. I certainly have no reason to listen to anyone who insults or ridicules me. And getting them to listen is a sine qua non for everything else.
I have, on my website, a little manual, Free Speech Handbook, all about how to treat them with respect and give them reason to listen. I will link to a number of other related blog posts and articles.
Today's music is "Ev'ry Kinda People," by Robert Palmer.
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