When debate is not worth the effort...

[pfitz59]

"....... there are instances in which it is unsound to engage with another whose values are so antithetical to one’s own that the collision is bound to shatter one’s sanity rather than build common ground."

https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/10/06/bertrand-russell-oswald-mosley/?fbclid=IwAR0zfTjYNW9FZYb5I9i4KGKw5EFMd90VIBFKB7nx94A7KWor-iwDFdKhirY

[niyad]

1. Thank you. A fascinating website.

[scarletwoman]

2. Longer excerpt:

In January of 1962, Russell received a series of letters from an unlikely correspondent — Sir Oswald Mosley, who had founded the British Union of Fascists thirty years earlier. Mosley was inviting — or, rather, provoking — Russell to engage in a debate, in which he could persuade the moral philosopher of the merits of fascism.

-snip-

Shortly before his 90th birthday, Russell writes:

Dear Sir Oswald,

Thank you for your letter and for your enclosures. I have given some thought to our recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide on how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien and, in fact, repellent to one’s own. It is not that I take exception to the general points made by you but that every ounce of my energy has been devoted to an active opposition to cruel bigotry, compulsive violence, and the sadistic persecution which has characterised the philosophy and practice of fascism.

I feel obliged to say that the emotional universes we inhabit are so distinct, and in deepest ways opposed, that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from association between us.

I should like you to understand the intensity of this conviction on my part. It is not out of any attempt to be rude that I say this but because of all that I value in human experience and human achievement.

Yours sincerely,

Bertrand Russell

[bamagal62]

3. I've lost friends over the past 4 years

Due to this. I was just done. It was unsound to engage any longer. No regrets. I tried for years. But, I just gave up. I had other people to give my energy to. It was no longer worth the effort. And it was tiring.

[summer_in_TX]

4. The ever-growing partisan divide has been a source of grief to me.

My Sunday school class could tell you that I've had our class pray for healing and reconciliation the last 30 years, more or less.

Trump voters don't deserve forgiveness in many cases. So many showed toxic hatred towards liberals so long, and made up horrific slurs of Barack and Michele. Nevertheless I cannot shake the idea that somehow the work of reconciliation must be done.

I've begun attending some Braver Angels town hall debates. They structure events so there's no chance of blasting one another. The point is NOT to change on another's minds, just to develop an understanding. It's a unique and fascinating process. The one I attended the other day surprised me: many who expressed agreed with mine on the topic were Reds, while a number of the Blues there expressed opposite opinion. There were elements in many of the points people made that were fascinating and gave me as food for thought.

There's a great divide that requires repair of the breach. Why do I think it should even be done? First, we live in the same country and their behavior affects us, often very negatively. Second, the division makes us nearly ungovernable as a people. Third, leaving it unaddressed is likely to lead America to a new civil war, the kind we saw on January 6 – and it could overthrow this noble experiment in self-governance.

We ignore it at our peril. Piling fuel on the fire will make the conflagration great enough to burn us all. It won't be easy but it has to be done. If Bernard Russell were here today I'd try to convince him that the approach he wanted to take would be exactly the wrong one for those wanting to one day live in a society with neighbors who once again can agree to disagree, without it being a matter of contempt on either side, but one of friendly tolerance.