And now, some words of wisdom from Andrew WK

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Mary Katharine Ham

August 7, 2014

 

Yes, he wears a perpetually stained shirt and his profession is partying. And, he drops serious political, spiritual, and philosophical knowledge in the Village Voice. Responding with advice for a man who claims his father is a “65-year-old super right-wing conservative” intent on ruining the world, Andrew offers this (emphasis mine):

 

 

Dear Son of A Right-Winger,

 

Go back and read the opening sentences of your letter. Read them again. Then read the rest of your letter. Then read it again. Try to find a single instance where you referred to your dad as a human being, a person, or a man. There isn’t one. You’ve reduced your father — the person who created you — to a set of beliefs and political views and how it relates to you. And you don’t consider your dad a person of his own standing — he’s just “your dad.” You’ve also reduced yourself to a set of opposing views, and reduced your relationship with him to a fight between the two. The humanity has been reduced to nothingness and all that’s left in its place is an argument that can never really be won. And even if one side did win, it probably wouldn’t satisfy the deeper desire to be in a state of inflamed passionate conflict.

 

The world isn’t being destroyed by democrats or republicans, red or blue, liberal or conservative, religious or atheist — the world is being destroyed by one side believing the other side is destroying the world. The world is being hurt and damaged by one group of people believing they’re truly better people than the others who think differently. The world officially ends when we let our beliefs conquer love. We must not let this happen…

 

When we truly believe that some people are monsters, that they fundamentally are less human than we are, and that they deserve to have less than we do, we ourselves become the monsters…

Many of you will likely disagree with Andrew WK and my lauding of his philosophy, but I loathe the idea of a world where my every relationship and every decision is governed by adherence to my political ideology....................................(Snip)

 

 

AMEN!

[Cyber_Liberty]

I saw this the other day, and I read the original letter from the bratty little reader. MKH should have posted it. This is how the nice young man thinks:

 

Hi Andrew,

 

I'm writing because I just can't deal with my father anymore. He's a 65-year-old super right-wing conservative who has basically turned into a total a**hole intent on ruining our relationship and our planet with his politics. I'm more or less a liberal democrat with very progressive values and I know that people like my dad are going to destroy us all. I don't have any good times with him anymore. All we do is argue. When I try to spend time with him without talking politics or discussing any current events, there's still an underlying tension that makes it really uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong, I love him no matter what, but how do I explain to him that his politics are turning him into a monster, destroying the environment, and pushing away the people who care about him?

 

Thanks for your help,
Son of A Right-Winger

This is the mentality of people we're supposed to be reaching out to with love. Let's just say they can make it pretty tough some times.

[Valin]

@Cyber_Liberty

 

 

Hi Andrew,

 

I'm writing because I just can't deal with my father anymore.

 

 

I had a Flight Chief in Korea, one of the things he often said was "Life is full of disappointments. This is one of them. Deal With It! You don't get along with your father because you're a spoiled little twerp[/b] you and he don't agree on politics. Tough!

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

You know as I get older my patience for this kind 'OH No One Understands Me! Life Is Just So Hard' is starting to wear thin.

[Cyber_Liberty]

@Valin, the spoiled little so-and-so sounds like he just walked out of an English 101 class....

[Valin]

@Valin, the spoiled little so-and-so sounds like he just walked out of an English 101 class....

 

And your point?

[Cyber_Liberty]

Universities are where good kids go to rot. The usual.

[Draggingtree]

I saw this the other day, and I read the original letter from the bratty little reader. MKH should have posted it. This is how the nice young man thinks:

 

Hi Andrew,

 

I'm writing because I just can't deal with my father anymore. He's a 65-year-old super right-wing conservative who has basically turned into a total a**hole intent on ruining our relationship and our planet with his politics. I'm more or less a liberal democrat with very progressive values and I know that people like my dad are going to destroy us all. I don't have any good times with him anymore. All we do is argue. When I try to spend time with him without talking politics or discussing any current events, there's still an underlying tension that makes it really uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong, I love him no matter what, but how do I explain to him that his politics are turning him into a monster, destroying the environment, and pushing away the people who care about him?

 

Thanks for your help,

Son of A Right-Winger

This is the mentality of people we're supposed to be reaching out to with love. Let's just say they can make it pretty tough some times.