@PriceRip
After he said he didn't understand what Professor West said, so it must be stupid, I couldn't watch anymore.

#3

          I got as far as 1:54 / 5:49 ...

@Shahryar
As you say, so many are stuck unimaginatively in the duopoly paradigm, unable to break free of that mindset.

Distressing when you encounter musician friends, or any artists for that matter, who hold pedestrian political views/stances.

One guy comes to mind. Friend whose grandparents were so committed to communism that they left Russia to live in Cuba. He's a really bright dude, quick-witted, reads a lot, progressive-minded. But he was all about the LOTE. Man, I'm so glad I've stayed away from FB for years now but especially during this horrible epoch. Think I would have held too many grievances toward way too many friends if I had been there to hear the one dimensional mind-numbing, panicked, fear-mongering that characterized this election more than any before it.

Would be a good essay for many of us to lament the strain on and disappointment with relationships that happens when one is a true progressive, Leftist, radical, whatever.

#3

meanwhile I'm recovering from a Facebook spat. The sequence went like this:

T: Elizabeth Warren, whoo!
A: US isn't ready for a woman President
T: Hillary was crushing in the polls until Comey
Me: She took the popular by what was expected but lost because she ignored PA, WI, OH
A: How could the Dems win in the future? Trump won by 80
Me: They'd have to get 40 more, not 80
T: Why'd you guys come in here and bicker and rain on my post? You're insufferable!
Me: Ok....add "please don't discuss" to your posts

I was a bit upset since this is a musician friend of mine. Thankfully he sent me a message and we discussed it and everything's ok. He was miffed at the other guy for being negative about the Dems chances in the future. (I didn't mention that I don't care...although I agreed Trump is a nightmare).

But anyway, my point here is that there are lots of people who see things differently than I/we do. People that I like embrace the slightly better seeming options. I'm still contemplating Jill Stein's fairly dismal showing, not so much because of her, but because so few people around the country were willing to take a look and to make a bold statement.

What I mean is, even among my left-ish friends I'm way out on the left. In the general public, if you get a representative sample of 200 people you'll get 80 who are fed up or not paying attention and won't vote, another 115 who'll vote R or D, 3 who'll vote Libertarian and 2 of us. That, to me, is bizarre. And among my friends it'll be maybe 2 of 20 instead of 2 of 200. And one of those will be shaharazade! And I'm the other!

An exercise I like to do is something from high school debates. Take the other side and argue for it. Listen, it's an exercise! So if we're so much in the minority, why is that? Is it because everyone else is wrong and stupid and scared? Well....maybe. Or maybe they just have a different way of looking at the world and so it makes sense in their minds to prefer people we hate. (Hillary, for example)

Maybe we think we should clean the stable and those "liberals" believe it would take Hercules to do that and he's not available so we'll have to endure the stink rather than have the real $#^%&storm land on us.

Why such a large segment of the population would have that sort of mindset is baffling, really.