[Neurons] 2016 Neurons #56 -- Are the Protesters Crybabies?

Mon Dec 5 00:45:03 EST 2016

From: L. Michael Hall

2016 "Neurons" Meta Reflections - #56

December 5, 2016

ARE THE PROTESTERS CRYBABIES?

That's what many on the right are saying.  That's what they are calling
those who are protesting the election of Donald Trump.  Now because
protesting an election has never before happened after any election in the
United States, many of those who felt that they lost the election back on
Nov. 8 have taken to the street to protest.  Sometimes it has gotten out of
hand and been more than a protest, it has become a riot with people
destroying property, damaging cars, assaulting the police, burning stores,
etc.  But that was a small group.

Many just protested and did so crying and even wailing that Clinton lost.
So those on the right began calling them names and mocking them-
"crybabies," "cupcakes," etc.  Videos of people crying have been played on
television and social media.  They were also quick to recommend solutions:
"grow up," "get over it," "suck it up," and so on.  But it is not only those
on the right of the political spectrum, even those on the left have been
consoling them- giving some of them hot chocolate and cookies, bringing in
puppies to comfort them, giving them a "safe space," etc.

But are they crybabies?  Could there be some other explanation?  What other
explanations could there be for people in a democracy having so much
"emotional distress" that they can't go to work, can't go to class, and need
comfort?  Here's one.  What if they are not just crybabies who didn't get
their way.  What if they are liberal fundamentalists who are actually
hatefully intolerant of those who contradict them?

After all, that's what being a "fundamentalist" refers to.  When you are a
fundamentalist about anything, it is "your way or the highway."  What you
believe is not just a belief, it is "the truth."  It is the final word about
what is true and real and anyone who can't see that is stupid or evil.  A
fundamentalist is a person who confuses map and territory.  They confuse
what they mentally map in their head with what is real.  Then they reason
that anyone who disagrees is just plain wrong and need to be straightened
out, eliminated, or stigmatized.  Anyone who disagrees must not be capable
of rational thought or must be an evil person.  They do not tolerate
differences.  And why would they?  They are right.  They have the truth.
They are in the know and the others are not.

That's why they are so intolerant.  That's why they forbid those who differ
to have an equal voice.  They will shout down a speaker who dares to stand
up and express a different point of view.  We have seen a lot of this in the
past few years on College Campuses.  They proclaim that they are liberal and
loving, but it is a limited tolerance and love, only to those who agree with
them.

I'm not only targeting the left-wing fundamentalists, this is equally true
of right-wing fundamentalists, religious fundamentalists, and anyone who
confuses their reasoning, thinking, believing, concluding, etc. with "the
truth."  When you believe you are fundamentally right about something, a
strange temptation arises.  You start to scorn and disdain anyone who
disagrees with you.  That's because the more you know you are right, that
you have the truth, the more a divergent view threatens "the truth," and of
course, you cannot have that.  That must be stopped!  It was that kind of
thinking that created the European wars, the Crusades, the Nazis, Radical
Islam, etc.  It continues to this day as the fuel for terrorists of all
brands and creeds.

Now given this possibility, I hope that the protesters are just crybabies.
That would be a much smaller problem and one easier to solve.  I hope it's a
case that they were fooled by the liberal media who set them up for the
disappointment, who never seriously thought Trump had a chance in hell of
winning and who gave him billions of dollars of free publicity-even though
it was overwhelmingly negative.   I hope it is the case that they were the
unsuspecting victims of assuming that Hillary was the inevitable candidate
that they never gave any consideration to the other side's perspective.

Interesting enough a few networks have actually come out and apologized for
their biased and one-sided coverage.  That's good.  Maybe instead of being
agents for a party, they will return to actual journalism and begin
reporting in a more fair and balanced way.  That would be good although it
is unlikely given that 90% of reporters identify themselves as politically
liberal (which in the US means tending toward the socialistic side of
things).

What's the solution for getting beyond the fundamentalistic mind-set of
assuming that you are the possessor of truth and have a right to be rigid
and intolerant?  Several things:

.              Recognize that all of your thoughts are but mental maps and
never the reality.  Whatever you understand about anything is a human
understanding and subject to all of the cognitive distortions and cognitive
biases that plague all humans.  Absolutism, black-and-white thinking,
over-generalizing-the thinking patterns of children.

.              Recognize that you could be wrong.  Not only could you, you
are.  I am. We all are wrong on a daily basis about things.  We forget
things.  We misconstrue things, we mis-perceive, we mis-hear- the list of
things that our human fallibility touches goes on and on.  For years when
someone knocked on my door and said that they have some "truth" to share
with me, and "could we come in for a few minutes?"  I always say, "Yes,
sure, upon one condition."  "What is that?" they would ask.  "If you could
be wrong, please come on it."  In all of the years, not one person could
cross the threshold!  Once one said, "That's not fair, I have the truth and
cannot be wrong."  So I responded, "Then sorry, but I'm not prepared to talk
to an infallible person today, only to fallible humans who could be wrong."

.              Humbly explore each other's views with respect.  Intolerance
kills learning.  The intolerant are saying, "There's nothing I could learn
from you."  How sad.  Let's adopt the attitude that "I can learn something
from everyone.  No matter how extreme the other's view, there's things I can
learn."

.              Cut out all of the insults.  This includes name-calling,
mind-reading, judging, etc.  None of that helps.  It makes authentic
conversation less and less likely.

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

               Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

               Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net

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