Bryan Caskey brings this to my attention as being “right in your wheelhouse of looking past partisan politics and seeing people as people,” and I very much appreciate it.
Sorry, Miss Manners, but this easily qualifies as the best thing I have ever read in a newspaper advice column. No contest.
It starts with a letter from a young man who describes himself as “ more or less a liberal democrat with very progressive values,” who “just can’t deal with my father anymore” because “He’s a 65-year-old super right-wing conservative who has basically turned into a total asshole intent on ruining our relationship and our planet with his politics.”
Right off, you want to give this kid a slap upside the head. Or I do. Figuratively speaking, anyway. But Andrew W.K. (born Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier) does something much, much better, and along the way gently makes me feel guilty for wanting to slap anyone upside the head, even figuratively. He begins:
Andrew W.K.
Go back and read the opening sentences of your letter. Read them again. Then read the rest of your letter. Then read it again. Try to find a single instance where you referred to your dad as a human being, a person, or a man. There isn’t one. You’ve reduced your father — the person who created you — to a set of beliefs and political views and how it relates to you. And you don’t consider your dad a person of his own standing — he’s just “your dad.” You’ve also reduced yourself to a set of opposing views, and reduced your relationship with him to a fight between the two. The humanity has been reduced to nothingness and all that’s left in its place is an argument that can never really be won. And even if one side did win, it probably wouldn’t satisfy the deeper desire to be in a state of inflamed passionate conflict.
The world isn’t being destroyed by democrats or republicans, red or blue, liberal or conservative, religious or atheist — the world is being destroyed by one side believing the other side is destroying the world. The world is being hurt and damaged by one group of people believing they’re truly better people than the others who think differently. The world officially ends when we let our beliefs conquer love. We must not let this happen….
But you should just go ahead and read the whole thing. It’s amazing. It runs the gamut of things that ought to be said again and again with fierce conviction, from the UnParty view of politics to a theology of Love.
Who is this sage, Andrew W.K.? Well, Wikipedia describes him this way:
Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier (born May 9, 1979), better known by his stagenameAndrew W.K., is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, entertainer,motivational speaker, and music producer. He was the host of the television seriesDestroy Build Destroy. As a musician, he is known for his singles “Party Hard” and “We Want Fun“.
Apparently, on the side, he also dabbles in wisdom. And at least in this case, does so better than anyone I’ve read recently…
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Says the guy who spares no opportunity to denigrate libertarians.
Everyone should take this advice to heart, including me.
A very good spot to leave it at the end of this week.
As a great philosopher once said: “Be excellent to each other”
As Bill and Ted (and Wayne and Garth) AND Andrew W. K. would say, party on…
I love conservatives, tea partiers and even libertarians. But they’re still destroying the world. 🙂
Ok that isn’t within the spirit of the post. So let me point out how refreshing it was to have a talk radio show on 100.1 FM who was advocating for fact-based discussion of political issues without all the vitriol. It was so much better than hosts who generally just want to hear themselves talk and callers who only want their own opinions validated. Sadly the show was only a 1 week filler between the Jonathan and Kelly show and Sean Hannity. But it was just a breath of fresh air to hear such an open=minded wide range of opinions that were respectively but critically address. Brad’s blog here comes pretty close to that ideal but we all get a bit carried away at times. But for the most part folks do stay focused on facts and not so much on talking points.
I like smart- common sense conservative talk shows. Sean Hannity doesn’t fit that bill.
He – like the folks on MSNBC- get paid to drum up anger, and resentment.
“We have met the enemy and he is us”
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