Or maybe it should be mongoose and cobra: here's a liberal who can't believe her best friend is a Republican. It's a somewhat encouraging story, but what strikes me as most significant about it is that this should be considered a big deal. Not that I'm surprised that it is; the comments on the piece are mostly the usual venom and obscenity, at least as far as I read, and dispelled any hopeful illusion that might have been forming in my mind. I could say a lot more about this, but I think I'll wait till Sunday.
Cat and Dog Become Friends
10 responses to “Cat and Dog Become Friends”
-
While I have friends on both sides of the ideological divide, I must say that this Republican woman’s behavior strikes me as odd; wearing a Tea Party shirt to her liberal friend’s birthday party? Buying her a NR subscription? She is really pushing it, isn’t she? Generally, one tones it down if one knows it is perceived as offensive….
-
Maybe it’s just me, but I think the woman who wrote this piece is a moron. I realize that to many on the ideological left conservatives are the equivalent of the living dead, but still. To make that much of a ruckus about it? One of those two needs to grow up, and it isn’t the conservative woman.
-
I know what you mean, Rob, but I would say rather that it’s weird that she’s not a moron. I mean, she’s obviously intelligent etc. But she attaches such moral significance to her political views that she’s truly disturbed on some level by this friendship.
The t-shirt didn’t strike me as especially strange, Daniel–I know a lot of people of very strong political views who are pretty in-your-face with it. The NR subscription is a little strange, but then they are best friends. But I wonder if the Republican realizes just how deeply freaked out the writer is by conservatism in general. The friend is obviously pretty vigorous, to say the least, where politics is concerned, but she may not have the level of seriousness that the writer does–I mean, to the point of horror that someone can believe otherwise and still be decent. I also wonder if this piece has affected their friendship. -
I just re-read that piece for the first time since posting it. I had forgotten about the Republican friend’s children’s names. Definitely a bit over-the-top.
-
I do not find the gift of a magazine subscription peculiar. (She should have made it a subscription to Commentary or The New Criterion, however). I used to read a variety of publications of that sort. There is nothing that prevents the author from sending her Republican friend a gift subscription to the New York Review of Books. Syntopical reading is a good thing. It is just that people with multiple children seldom find the time for it.
What is odd about this tale is that the author and her friend seem to inhabit a social circle in which people are quite invested in their political views, whereas in the country at large 3/4 of the populace pays little or no attention to public affairs. In particular, her friend is allowing quite a bit of leakage from the world of politics into areas of mundane life where it is … odoriferous (the bust of Ronald Reagan, for instance). -
“What is odd about this tale is that the author and her friend seem to inhabit a social circle in which people are quite invested in their political views….”
Hmm, I don’t find that especially odd. I seem to run into this fairly often. Though I’m sure it’s true that 3/4 of the population doesn’t give politics a great deal of thought, I seem to run into the 1/4 a lot. Though my perception is probably skewed by spending too much time on the internet, where, naturally, the more opinionated are more motivated to preach. -
I would like to categorically deny that my children are name Liberty, Honor and Victory.
AMDG -
I did think it might be you until I read that she lives in Beverly Hills & is Jewish.
-
“I know what you mean, Rob, but I would say rather that it’s weird that she’s not a moron. I mean, she’s obviously intelligent etc. But she attaches such moral significance to her political views that she’s truly disturbed on some level by this friendship.”
Yeah, my ‘moron’ tag was OTT. Still, it just seems so strange to me to think that someone was so disturbed by this that she’d actually write an article about it. Very weird. -
I was thinking more along the lines of “not stupid but crazy.” Which is not meant to be taken too seriously, but it is definitely strange, and in a significant way. It’s not a political difference to her, more like fraternizing with the enemy.
Light On Dark Water 
Leave a reply to Janet Cancel reply