I like to focus on what people say. It is not always easy. I don't have good hearing. Sometimes, I can't tell whether Lynn said Yes or No. I have to ask her which it is. Several of my friends speak softly and rapidly. I do spend energy trying to read facial expressions and trying to throw in a clarifying question every now and then.
I find it quite natural to ask myself if I agree with statements friends make. Doing that, I have to ask myself "What is ………..?" I saw in Google News today, in the fact-checking section, that some Americans are riled up by a statement by a White House spokesman about "the liberal world order." I guess the word "liberal" is a red flag for some US citizens.
If I ask myself "What is the liberal world order?", I find that my opinion is that there isn't much of one, not enough to get riled up about. I thought, mostly because of what I heard and read of British politics, that it was convenient to consider political opinion mostly "liberal" or "conservative". I happen to have a childhood in which my family and I went to a rare sort of church. Our minister, W.W. Argow, authored a book called "What Do Religious Liberals Believe?" The church was the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore. We had a Sunday School and a Youth Group that I enjoyed. Once I gave a prepared talk to the Sunday School on the principles of belief that our church promoted.
I was about ten years old when we began attending that church. It seemed a fine place to my stepfather and my mother and it still does.
It seems to me that much of the disagreement among Americans is connected to simple competition (let's not let them win!) and simplistic labels that are too broad and vague to mean much of anything. The news today is about high gasoline prices. A reporter asked that White House spokesman how long gasoline prices will be "high". I am confident that nobody knows, since consumption can be modified dramatically.
If you are looking for a third force beyond simple competition and unclear labels, you might find blaming works. I have a problem and I didn't create it (as far as I know or am willing to admit) so it is somebody else's fault. I bet it is that guy I have never liked. In fact, I'm sure it is his fault!
