Mrs. Bear and I were talking the other afternoon. I love my wife very much and think she's one of the most outgoing and kind people I've ever met but she *detests* Donald Trump. We literally never fight unless politics come up. It has reached the point that we generally just won't talk about it because it gets heated.
Her father is from Queens in NYC. Her grandmother just left Brooklyn for Florida a couple years ago. She still has multiple family members in the NYC area. I lived in in NYC for almost a decade. So when the topic of the recent crime surge there came up I asked if she thought the police should be defunded. She said no. So I took a jump and asked "Where is talk of defunding coming from? Because it isn't coming from the right." At this point, I was either going to pull off one of the most daring bombing runs deep in enemy territory I've ever done or I was going down quickly in a ball of flames.
She explained that most Democrats don't want the police defunded. It was a fringe idea. I said she was 100% right. At this point, she's clearly bewildered where I'm going with this. "Did he just say I was right?" you can almost hear her thinking. I calmly pull up a tweet from Arram Sabeti. Arram is a computer programmer and he works with a natural language processing algorithm called GPT-3 which is one of the more advanced text-generating neural networks. Aaram is a liberal and he refused to do an interview about GPT-3 with the New York Times because the New York Times is essentially hot garbage anymore. Using a chart of word usage frequency in NYT articles he absolutely skewers them. In one of the smoothest kill shots I've ever seen he calmly exhales "Racism wasn't a new problem in 2014 but their stock being down was." Read the thread if you have time. It's worth it and a solid reminder that good liberals are still out there.
I then brought up Ariana Pekary. You see, Ms. Pekary is another liberal that has woke up. More importantly, she seems like a genuine journalist. In her statement explaining why she is leaving the second highest rated show at MSNBC she calls the media "a cancer" multiple times. A cancer that stokes division. A cancer that risks human lives. And why is that? Because the corporate media stokes outrage and fringe ideas because that is what gets clicked or gets viewers. She notes that viewers are not there to be informed but to be comforted.
I calmly shift gears and bring up Portland. I believe we've had almost 70 nights of straight rioting so I ask if she knows this and she says yes. I'm happy and even a little surprised because the media doesn't make much of that story. I'm starting to go into beastmode now so I say "Those aren't BLM protesters. Those are insurrectionists that deeply hate the United States." If that doesn't blow up in my face I'm going to just floor that gas pedel.
Her face doesn't do the "Goddamnit why did I marry this fucktard?" look and now I'm really starting to feel my oats. "The left is racist. Do you know that they are changing the constitution of California so that racial quotas can exist? Make discrimination great again, amirite?" And I only say it because they 100% legit are. They want to remove text "which says that the state cannot discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to persons on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin". I mean - can you even fucking imagine how hard an old school liberal's head would explode if they could see that now? It would be like goddamn Scanners. "We fought and fought against racist pieces of shit for a more just and equitable world only to have new liberals repeal our hard work!" These racist pieces of shit. Fuck them. Fuck them so fucking hard.
At this point, I'm like Luke when dead Obi-Wan tells him to use the force and he turns off his targetting computer. I'm just going to fucking go for broke. "Democrats are committing or threatening to commit human rights violations", I say as I pivot to pointing out that Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcitti will turn off your water and electricity if you have a "large party or gathering". That's right. He will deny you water and power and simply because he thinks he is entitled to do it. I mention how New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio skipped the permit process for painting "Black Lives Matter" on the street in huge letters outside Trump tower but when Blue Lives Matter requested to do the same the permit was denied. "One rule of law for thee, and another for me" I say.
It's time to stop raining bombs so I shift gears again. "The right is the big tent now." I explain that all my favorite YouTubers are liberals that don't fit in with the Democratic party anymore. Liberals like Karlyn Borysenko, Tim Pool, and Dave Rubin. The right is a big open world where we debate policy and love free speech. And we don't all agree on everything but at least we can engage in meaningful ways and it doesn't end with a mindless spectacle of cancel culture.
I said we have to stand up to the fascist, racist, free-speech hating left. I said you don't need to love Donald Trump but you should hate what the left is becoming because it's evil. And for the first time in a long time there was no anger at the end of the discussion - and I don't think she thinks it's as bad as I do but she's awake now. For the first time, I think she understood where I've been coming from. Will she ever vote for Trump? Will I ever get her to the gun range? I highly doubt it. But I don't need her to. I just need her to see how the left is being hijacked by extremist thought that's evil. And today - that finally happened. Don't be pushy. Don't talk about it if they don't want to. But if someone is open and truly willing to have a discussion - do it! You never know who's mind you might change.