Sunday, September 16, 2007
It takes two to tango.
Settle down, some of you unsettled folks. There's no need to be angry. We just look at things differently. There doesn't have to be controversy between us. We don't have to put on a show for an audience. The comments section is supposed to be a place for a reasonably friendly dialogue. Between the two of us. You're entitled to your opinion. And I'm entitled to mine. Of course, we don't always see eye to eye on various issues. I have no anger, no animosity toward you. Even in disagreement. I'm not always giving you the answers you want to hear. Because you are asking the wrong questions. I understand where you are coming from. But you don't quite understand where I am coming from. And you won't understand until you settle down. Put your anger on the back-burner. Or better yet, rid yourself of the anger. Open your mind to new ways of thinking. You've come into this dialogue with too many preconceived ideas and notions. With less than an open mind. That's all right. But to have a successful dialogue, you have to learn to listen, too. Not just talk. I'm listening to you, and I'm telling you I don't agree with you, and why I disagree. Now give me the courtesy of trying to understand that. Maybe I'm wrong about some things. And maybe I'm right about some things. The same applies to you. Let's both concede that we're both right to some degree, and both wrong to some degree. When a dialogue fails, both sides are to blame. At least to some degree. I'm willing to continue the dialogue. But if you aren't, so be it. It takes two to tango. --Jim
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9 comments:
Open-mindedness is considered a virtue, and true open-mindedness is.
The claim to be open-minded is frequently used by people who wish to sound virtuous, and simultaneously make their opponent sound intolerant, while defending or promoting their ideas and beliefs.
This appeal to be 'open-minded' is a fallacious one. Its message is simply: be credulous
Being open-minded about something is a willingness to consider that it may be true: it also means considering the possibility that it may be false. A truly open-minded person's mind is open to both possibilities.
Disagreeing with a person's position or argument after considering it does not make one closed-minded.
Thanks for your comments. I can buy both of your premises. --Jim Broede
It has been my experience (as a therapist) that wife beaters are those who most often use the term "It takes two to tango." It's a cop out. We all know that one person can make another person's life a living hell. One person can push buttons. One person can kill another. It doesn't take TWO at all.
I notice that this blog is no longer a source of interest and there are very few comments. I'm not at all surprised. People only watch a train wreck for so long and then they get back to their life. They moved on.
Good for them. Your negative trollish posts no longer get to them.
I believe your "Larry the Cable Guy" impersonation is what really blew it.
Dear anonymous therapist:
As we all know, there are good therapists and bad therapists and some that fall somewhere inbetween. Good therapists generally don't try to analyze someone from afar. Because it's often very imprecise guesswork. You've already jumped to a wrong conclusion in surmising that I'm Larry the Cable Guy. Ain't so. I can assure you of that. I use only my name. I'm proud of it. Another thing, good therapists usually identify themselves. They don't remain anonymous. I'm beginning to think that you are a bad therapist. Very bad. But then, I'm no therapist. Just an all-around good guy. A nice guy. --Jim Broede
Folks:
I want you to know that there are currently 10 entries for the comments section in limbo. I'm pondering whether to publish or reject 'em. For various reasons. Mostly because they are downright nasty and stupid. And they are likely to be rejected. But a few are sort of borderline, and they may still make it into the published comment section. I may even decdie to run one or two of the bad ones to give examples of what I think shouldn't pass muster. And then maybe delete them in a day or two. You folks have to remember that I operate and live by high standards. No guttersniping. No foul language. remember, this is not a x-rated blog. We're at least PG-13. Keep it clean. And reasonably reverent. --Jim Broede
P.S. And thank you, folks, for plugging in. We're averaging about 1,000 hits a week. We've just started our 6th week, and I think we may pass the 6,000-hit later today. If we start to get fewer hits but a better class of people, I won't complain about that. I want to make this a respectable first-class blog. Visited by respectable people. If you ain't respectable, please stay away.
Broede's Broodings said...
"Folks:
I want you to know that there are currently 10 entries for the comments section in limbo. I'm pondering whether to publish or reject 'em...."
Jim,
If any of those are mine, please don't bother "approving" them. I am really no longer interested in contributing. It takes way too long to have our responses posted and you deleted your own post, for some reason, making my response to it irrelevant. I did not see anything wrong with the posts you "rejected", either. This is too restrictive for me. I may peek in now and then but, I doubt it.
MAEBEE
p.s. I am also tired of typing those silly little letters in, twice, each time I post. I have others check, and I have entered them correctly.
Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.
Some men use no other means to acquire respect than by insisting on it; and it sometimes answers their purpose, as it does a highwayman's in regard to money.
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