Last night I had to choose between heading down to Brooklyn to see Sam Reider and the Human Hand in Brooklyn or staying home. I have not seen them often which puts a premium on going but I was tired and I have a lot of other things planned and just couldn’t get myself to go out. It’s one of those rare cases where I am not sure I made the right choice. It forces my hand, I’m going out tonight to see Sam’s Silver City Bound bandmate, Justin Poindexter with Our Band. The other half is Justin’s wife Sasha Papernik. I’ve never seen them as Our Band.
Instead I stayed home. The prime advantage of that is saving money and making dinner. I had pan-grilled chicken breast and gnocchi. It’s not good when gnocchi is he highlight of my day.
We read all the time about how partisan political discourse have become. We choose sides and then which side we are on determines our position on issues rather than our position determining our side. This research is sound enough that I can’t deny it. That’s been affecting my writing. Why try to persuade people when they can’t be persuaded?
I heard a podcast, or perhaps read somewhere, a piece on how climate deniers have an advantage in debate. Science is filled with nuance and probabilities. A good scientist will not say, “This storm was caused by climate change.” She’ll say, “climate change makes storms like this more likely. Being honest about uncertainties is an integral part of science. Climate deniers don’t work under the same ethos. They tell a simple narrative and don’t demand that their readers and listeners deal with uncertainties.
I know from teaching how much many people hate to think. Many students want to learn one way to solve a problem, not multiple ways, that require them to figure out which is most appropriate for the problem at hand. People want things simple.
I see the same thing among progressives. Many think that vehemence is more important than details. They want to hear, “Bankers are bad people!” not deal with the policies that will help prevent future financial disasters. They care more about the emotions that the details of policy.
It seems like we can’t affect meaningful change. In disputes all they try to do is turn out the base, not win over converts and it’s easy to think that’s all we’ll ever be able to do. This is the antithesis of how I feel comfortable. I want to achieve change and stay democratic. I don’t want the rule of whoever can shout the loudest, whoever can trigger irrational responses from hate and fear.
When I get depressed about this I should remember same-sex marriage. The majority of Americans changed their minds about this very quickly. It went from outlandish notion to not just the law of the land, but a law most people favor, in a few decades. I don’t know how we did it, but I know we need to do it more often. People are partisan but they are capable of being persuaded. Sure a substantial minority still feels that same-sex marriage is an anathema but it’s for the most part not just accepted, it’s just part of life.
If we can do it with such a hot-button issue as same-sex marriage, why not climate change? Why not universal health care? Even though I don’t know how to achieve it, even if we don’t know how to achievement, the knowledge is out there. I shouldn’t give up. Neither should you.
We can make appeals to both our hearts and our minds. On nuts and bolts issues, like the economy, realize that details matter, they are where the action is. We can recognize that admitting uncertainty is a good thing. We can accept that there is more than one way of achieving a goal, and the goal is more important than it being done he way we became emotionally attached to.
So now I can go back to proselytizing I can go back to asking questions and trying to get you to think about them. I can go back to blogging about issues and not feeling that it’s pointless. To be honest, it’s what I did today.
This isn’t that long so I’m going to add an coda that has nothing to do with what I’ve written so far. I discovered something new on Amazon Music, the My Soundtrack station. I’m not quite sure what it does. It might just pick tracks from my music, or it might also be recommending music to me. Whatever it is, it gives me a huge variety. It moves between genres but there’s flow. It favors one genre then another. There’s a few clunkers, like spoken word intros to live tracks, but for the most part does a great job. Here’s what was played since I started writing this. It’s a nice cross-section of my musical taste. I’m going to post this now and then. This is in reverse order they were played.
- Beethoven String Quartet #15 In A Minor, Op 132, third movement – Emerson String Quartet
- Tabhair dom do Lamh – Chris Thile and Brad Mehidau
- The Jazz Man Speaks (Maple Leaf Rag) – Jon Baptiste and Stay Human
- Tour of Duty (Live) – Jason Isbell
- No Ordinary Blue – John Prine
- Angel City – Rhiannon Giddens
- Pangaea – I’m With Her
- Uncommon Ritual – Mike Marshall, Edgar Meyer, and Bela Fleck
- Crepescule with Nellie – Thelonius Monk Quartet & John Coltrane
- The Way it Will Be – Gillian Welch
- Quasheba Quasheba – Our Native Daughters feat. Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla Macalla & Allison Russell
- The Jewel of June – The Milk Carton Kids
- Hello Friend – Bela Fleck & Abagail Washburn
- I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight – Richard Thompson
I see that some of these aren’t on my music. They are recommendations. Seems like an excellent way of expanding my tastes. Yesterday there was far more jazz. There was no rock today, that’s not always true. Let’s see what else Amazon thinks I like.
Wise Madness 