LETTER
December 22, 2003
Close Encounter with an Actual Bush Supporter
Hello David,Something amazing happened the other night. I met a dyed-in-the-wool George Bush supporter. Other than some wackos on my wife's side of the family I've not run into any of these people, except overhearing conversations. I was on a gig at a nice restaurant/bar in Minneapolis, and two women asked me to join them after I was done. We had a couple of drinks (not my usual hang), and the restaurant manager joined us for conversation. I don't even recall what we were talking about, but one of the women said "I love George Bush."
I couldn't believe my ears, and asked her to repeat it. She did, and I said "George Bush is a criminal." Inside of ten minutes we were screaming obscenities at each other. I tell you, David, it's scary. This woman came out of the chute telling me I should move to France if I hated the US so much, and called me a conspiracy theory nut because I was trying to tell her about the PNAC. Most of the day I spend in the company of musicians, who I've found to be mostly vehemently opposed to George Dubya, so running into one of these folks was like a sighting of Bigfoot for me. Of course I've heard their screed on talk radio, so I was not unprepared for her "logic." But I can assure you no headway was made. Just thought you might be amused.
Clay
Hey Clay,
Great letter man, sorry you had such a bad experience. In my own peculiar experience, my father is pretty much where that woman is in terms of the political spectrum. (He wouldn't be getting a sexual charge out of it like this dame who just breaks out w/ "I love .... " It makes me gag to try to write it. But other than that aspect of it, he's an 80-year-old man, and he would probably be of pretty much the same persuasion) So my whole life I've had to deal with the strange experience of encountering someone who sees all those political issues diametrically opposite to me, but to still love the guy. I quit expressing my opinions on that kind of stuff with him decades ago. You can't really approach that stuff head on with people like that because they are operating on assumptions that have been pounded into them daily by state propaganda and they really don't know that the whole mental construct that constitutes their world is a fantasy. You can't undo years of conditioning in one conversation. It's very difficult to have a constructive argument with someone whose fundamental premises are all fake. That's what we're up against.
I'm constantly looking for common grounds upon which I can approach people, because I am convinced that my father and I are not essentially, temperamentally, anthropologically that different. He's just operating under a different set of premises. Seen from his point of view, it makes sense. People like him have been veered off track for decades. It's hard to know where to begin. Most arguments don't change anyone's mind, they just churn up anger that makes people hold ever stronger to their original positions because they are so pissed off.
I know a lot of intelligent people who support George W. Bush, for a variety of reasons. But as bewildering as it is to me that they can't see through the absurd sham, I have to start from the position that they are intelligent, and probably somewhat well-meaning, at least in relation to Bush and his cronies who know very well how evil they really are. It's really challenging to find a common ground on which to introduce a concept that may begin to open their eyes to the fraud.
Good luck.