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"...never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming rude, & shooting one another. ... When I hear another express an opinion which is not mine, I say to myself, he has a right to his opinion, as I to mine; why should I question it? His error does me no injury, and shall I become a Don Quixote, to bring all men by force of argument to one opinion? ... There are two classes of disputants most frequently to be met with among us. The first is of young students, just entered the threshold of science, with a first view of its outlines, not yet filled up with the details & modifications which a further progress would bring to their knoledge. The other consists of the ill-tempered & rude men in society, who have taken up a passion for politics. ... Consider yourself, when with them, as among the patients of Bedlam, needing medical more than moral counsel. Be a listener only, keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself the habit of silence, especially on politics. In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal."
-- Thomas Jefferson, in an excerpt from a letter to his then 16-year old grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph
This used to be one of my favorite quotes. And still is, I guess. However, over the years since I first saw it, I've increasingly had mixed feelings about it.
On a personal level, yes, absolutely, it is great advice. This is usually my preferred strategy for dealing with shitheads in my personal life. If it's in person, I just walk away, as best as I am able to do so. If it's online, I usually just block/mute and ignore forever afterward. In a one-on-one situation, either online or especially in person, it is absolutely, 100% true that "no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle." I try my level best not to "dispute the road" with the "angry bull."
However, on a much more macro level... honestly, I think this is a huge part of why the Democrats seem so utterly ineffectual politically. Like, right now, they have Joe Biden as president and they have control of both houses of Congress... yet, it still kind of feels like essentially nothing much good is getting done. I think this, at least in part, is because the Democrats are putting way too much effort into trying to not "dispute the road with such animals."
"Such animals," in this case, are the Trumpanzees, of course. Trump supporters are, obviously, "the ill-tempered & rude men in society, who have taken up a passion for politics." Trumpublicans are the ones who are like "the patients of Bedlam, needing medical more than moral counsel." Trump bootlickers are the "fiery zealots." Trump anus suckers are most definitely the ones who "are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act."
But when it comes to the fate of the country as a whole, when one entire political party is acting as the equivalent to an angry bull in the middle of the road, it does the country no good whatsoever when the other main political party is simply trying to "get by them" and to not "dispute the road" with them. No, god damn it. Their errors are most assuredly doing injury to the nation (and world) as a whole. You (and by "you," here, I mostly mean President Joe Biden and the ones leading Congress right now) absolutely must dispute the road with "such animals." You can't let them just own that road. You are not, in this scenario, just the average person whose well being (mental or otherwise) would be threatened if you tried to do something about it and as such should just "get by." No, you have to act more like the animal control officer, in this case, whose job it is get that fucking bull out of the road altogether, to force that bull to stop impeding traffic. But, the way it is now, and the way it has been for the previous half decade or more, the bull is just being allowed to rampage willy-nilly. And that is bullshit.
-- Thomas Jefferson, in an excerpt from a letter to his then 16-year old grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph
This used to be one of my favorite quotes. And still is, I guess. However, over the years since I first saw it, I've increasingly had mixed feelings about it.
On a personal level, yes, absolutely, it is great advice. This is usually my preferred strategy for dealing with shitheads in my personal life. If it's in person, I just walk away, as best as I am able to do so. If it's online, I usually just block/mute and ignore forever afterward. In a one-on-one situation, either online or especially in person, it is absolutely, 100% true that "no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle." I try my level best not to "dispute the road" with the "angry bull."
However, on a much more macro level... honestly, I think this is a huge part of why the Democrats seem so utterly ineffectual politically. Like, right now, they have Joe Biden as president and they have control of both houses of Congress... yet, it still kind of feels like essentially nothing much good is getting done. I think this, at least in part, is because the Democrats are putting way too much effort into trying to not "dispute the road with such animals."
"Such animals," in this case, are the Trumpanzees, of course. Trump supporters are, obviously, "the ill-tempered & rude men in society, who have taken up a passion for politics." Trumpublicans are the ones who are like "the patients of Bedlam, needing medical more than moral counsel." Trump bootlickers are the "fiery zealots." Trump anus suckers are most definitely the ones who "are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act."
But when it comes to the fate of the country as a whole, when one entire political party is acting as the equivalent to an angry bull in the middle of the road, it does the country no good whatsoever when the other main political party is simply trying to "get by them" and to not "dispute the road" with them. No, god damn it. Their errors are most assuredly doing injury to the nation (and world) as a whole. You (and by "you," here, I mostly mean President Joe Biden and the ones leading Congress right now) absolutely must dispute the road with "such animals." You can't let them just own that road. You are not, in this scenario, just the average person whose well being (mental or otherwise) would be threatened if you tried to do something about it and as such should just "get by." No, you have to act more like the animal control officer, in this case, whose job it is get that fucking bull out of the road altogether, to force that bull to stop impeding traffic. But, the way it is now, and the way it has been for the previous half decade or more, the bull is just being allowed to rampage willy-nilly. And that is bullshit.
