Showing posts with label David Brooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Brooks. Show all posts

Saturday, 16 December 2017

Modesty: a strategy for responding to fanaticism


David Brooks writes "that the world is too complicated to fit into one political belief system" and this makes me feel better, as I know how fruitless arguments can be.  Even though the far right movement is toxic, compassion and empathy is the only way I can connect to the lost souls of an ideology that values money and power above life - and where people are left to struggle for whatever dignity they can scratch together.

Are arguments ever won without serious reflection on both sides?




Friday, 29 September 2017

David Brooks, Abbie Hoffman & Culture

The meritocratic establishment, who overtook the Protestant values of America before the 60's ...  "created an economy that benefits itself and leaves everybody else out. It led America into war in Iraq and sent the working class off to fight it. It has developed its own brand of cultural snobbery. Its media, film and music industries make members of the working class feel invisible and disrespected." David Brooks, The Abbie Hoffman of the Right: Donald Trump, The New York Times.

How do we connect these different cultures in a way that enables people to talk to one another so we can learn how and where to move forward? How do we include all views in a way that makes sense? Does it need to make sense?

IT HURT

 Before I knew what was happening I felt pressure trying to squeeze me out move it said move come on move you have to leave you can't st...