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Originally Posted by Solecismic
I'd hesitate to connect Trump to praise of Putin's current actions. Trump is all about himself, yes. He has no qualms about criticizing the current administration, which frankly people on both sides do with regularity. This is an ugly quality. But he isn't pro-Russia nuking the world.
I think this is an excellent example of what I was writing about. If we persist in this hate - this desire to connect people we hate to the worst the world has ever seen - then the politicians and the otherwise irrelevant personalities in the media win. If we give them power to make us hate, then we stop questioning the loss of civility or reason.
Is that a world even worth saving? Don't mistake this for praise of Putin, but maybe that puppet in the Russia media has a point, for all the wrong reasons. It's not a world without Russia that isn't worth having. It's a world without freedom or civility that's not worth having.
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I'm all for looking at both sides and trying to come up with a balanced view. I try to see the nuance to positions & differences, and try put them in context with degree, scale, significance etc.
It's clear to me that Trump does not get that grey area. He is a narcissist, he has shown it's all about him, etc. etc. This isn't a one time blip, it's a consistent pattern.
It's okay to hate some people. It's okay to not be civil to some people. I'm all for ignoring and not interacting with them (but obviously Trump is hard to ignore with his platform). Child abusers are at the top of my list. Trump is 2-3 notches down. Die-hard Trump supporters, I don't hate other than maybe the most extremists (but will take that on case by case basis). Unlike some of the more vocal folks on this board, I think 80-20 democrats probably don't hate die-hard Trump supporters and can be civil to them.
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It's a world without freedom or civility that's not worth having.
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A little too melodramatic for me. Taken literally, I agree. But we are nowhere close to that point.