Conversant

So I went down to se No Kings: The Sequel yesterday, mainly to take some pictures. It was your typical suburban crowd, mostly older people (I think that many of the 20-somethings went to the downtown Seattle protest, instead). It was a typical protest with a bunch of signs, and people would honk their horns in support as they drove through.

Except for this guy:

He lay on his horn as he drove through the intersection in his giant "I'm compensating for something" pickup truck (it was way too clean to be a working vehicle) and lowered his driver's side window just enough to hold his hand out and give the protestors the middle finger.

The protestors, at least the ones on the corner where I was, jeered in response. Partisan signalling from both sides.

When I talk with people on either side of the political divide, I'm struck by the degree to which they understand their own viewpoint to be apparently self-evident, and how that then justifies confusion, and sometimes anger, about what the other side is up to. But there's also a certain pride in not understanding opposing partisans, and that's something that I suspect is more corrosive than it's given credit for. Because once people are in the mode of "to understand all is to forgive all," that presupposes that they see holding a different viewpoint from themselves as something that requires forgiveness.

And as more Americans start to see one another as deliberately perverse, dialog becomes less acceptable. Because not only are people less likely to reach out to "the other side," but such outreach becomes a form of treachery to others on one's "own side."