The events of the day have happened before many times in history. This tribalism of choosing sides and shooting (hopefully only) words back and forth hoping to inflict damage on the opposing side of an issue is nothing new. It never ends well. As the passion increases so does the danger of becoming radical in one’s actions. Looking specifically at politics, although lima beans would work just as well, we see mostly liberals and conservatives duking it out on nightly television looking to gain support for their positions. It is interesting, at least for me, to see which side is struggling for an intelligent response to the question. In terms of my personal politics I’m closer to the middle than to either one or the other. I’m in that 20% that both liberals and conservatives fight for to win an election. I’m in the 20% that really piss off both sides. We have about 40% of the population that is solid in the liberal camp and about 40% that is solid in the conservative camp. The amazing thing for me is how entrenched or maybe another good description is narrow minded people in either 40% camp can be. I watch them struggle, almost with pain in their face, looking for words to support their entrenched position. Any one person can be liberal, conservative, or radical it just depends on the subject.
I think that if you hold your position when struggling to find words to support your position on any issue, including lima beans, you can no longer think of yourself as open minded. Once you find yourself clinging chauvenly to an issue the next step is radicalization. The desire to force your will on others because your way is the only way that should be available to other “idiots”, “fools”, “stupid people”, “morons”, “rednecks”, “reprobates”, “deplorables”, is your “line in the sand”. Once you cross it and justify unlawful or harmful acts because others just don’t understand how important your take on the issue is, you are no longer narrow-minded. You’re worse.
I hate lima beans so I don’t buy them at the grocery store. Until I wrote this article I didn’t think about poisoning lima bean fields, or shooting lima bean farmers, or harassing people with lima beans in their shopping carts. I’m sure that you would think that the issues of the day are way more important than lima beans. Are they? How do you know if you are so deep in your narrow little trench that you have to grope for words to either support your position or talk over other opinions?