Well, “Codytalks” has been fun to reconnect and mostly argue with old friends (and of course new friends). It is nice to see that I still frequently disagree with the same friends I always argued with in the past….and still largely agree with the friends I used to largely agree with. While blogpost responses are not always the best avenue to facilitate discussion, I think that there have been some good ones here. One nice thing about “Codytalks” is that it is not simply an echo chamber, but offers diverse viewpoints.
I have also learned that once you take political labels out of contentious issues, there are large areas of agreement between people with disparate political viewpoints. To paraphrase some past discussions: If you take out Al Gore, “drill baby drill” chants and don’t debate whether climate change is actually occurring, we all largely agree that we should invest heavily in sustainable energy. Take out views regarding the wisdom of the stimulus package or the Obama Administration, but focus on the actual “cash for clunkers” program and we can all agree it is mixed bag. Take political posturing out of it, and we can largely agree that pursuing a health insurance coverage mandate, coupled with reforming the insurance industry, are worthwhile reforms worth pursuing. Once you ignore feminism, old boys clubs and political correctness, we can largely agree that regulating sufficiently public places is not as insidious as regulating private homes. We all want to encourage a day’s work and treat it with dignity and respect. We all agree that varying degrees of personal responsibility are necessary in today’s society, and that we shouldn’t always rely on government to solve our problems.
On one particular issue, I have been pleasantly surprised to see that the master of “Codytalks” has mellowed out considerably, and that is gay civil rights. The arguments he has made are much different then what I recall in 1992. I think that this is a good thing, reflective of the changing national and societal mood on those issues, the evolution of changing world view as one gets older, and (hopefully) indicative of where we as a nation are headed.
That is not to say that there aren’t wide swaths of disagreement, nor will we all agree 100% on things (e.g., guns). It simply means that there is a lot more middle ground and areas of common agreement between regular folks than the headlines would lead you to believe. The disputes that are out there on the news are largely on the margins and are politically (not substantively) charged. Yet those disputes seem to dominate modern political discourse.
But most of all, I have learned that Cody is disciplined, and if you call out “Extreme Cody”, he will respond by dropping some serious pounds.
Oh…and I learned that I am Right and you are most certainly Wrong (unless of course you agree with me).
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