Blue Vs. Red
Me and the party people were sitting around at our friend Jan's place last night, playing board games. We dipped our big toe into the world of Pictionary after stealing/scarfing down her left over lasagna, and we found that it was pretty cold. The game dynamics of Pictionary did not suit us at all. Not one iota.
So instead, we played some Scattegories.
Early on in the night, a couple of us were talking about the election returns, when it dawned on me that not everyone in the room was a Democrat. Or as I like to say a Progressive. I like progress and moving forward. Those other people, not so much, me thinks. But this is my own unfair and personal bias.
Turns out that Jan is a Republican. She leans a little to the right, so we decided not to talk politics.
A little later, in the midst of our Scattegories gaming, I remember that there's this question I've been dying to ask Jan. She works at the consulate, and as a result has a cushy cushy apartment. I ask her, how many times do people try to bribe her, and what happens to them in general. We talk about it for a bit, and its interesting, and the conversation drifts as conversations are wont to do.
This one drifts over to Welfare fraud by Vietnamese people in America. It happens a lot. I don't know if the Vietnamese do it more than other minority ethnic groups, but I doubt that there are any groups that do it more. We talk about how funny and wrong it is, and how members of my own family engage in it also. I don't condone it, but I can't do anything to stop it either.
And here's the kicker.
At this point, Jan said, "That's the difference between Democrats and Republicans. We Republicans believe in paying our taxes."
Which is a bunch of horsecrap.
It's Jan's apartment, and I'm sure she didn't realize how sanctimonious she sounded. "I'm sorry, but Democrats believe in paying taxes too. I think you're being unfair by saying that."
I could've said more. I should've maybe said more, but I decided against it.
But I wonder, is that the popular Republican view of Dems? That we just build the Welfare system up so we don't have to pay taxes?
My opinion of Republicans is that they are either freedom lovers going so far as to taking away other people's freedom's to protect their own, or religious nut jobs going out of their way to convert people to their own specific brand of Christianity. It's not to say that I know very many of either, and most Republicans I know are reasonable people.
This is all heresy, but in this case, I cannot help but feel like Jan's opinion of me was based wholly on her perception of me as a Democrat. That I, unlike her, don't believe in paying taxes. I guess behind my innocuous exterior beats the heart of a tax evader not seen on this earth since the time of Al Capone.
Since then, I have been thinking about what I could have said, or what I should have said, if only to make sure that I don't commit the same error, and that if I encounter other people doing the same, that I make them see the error of their ways and persuade them to be a little more even handed in their application of stereotypes.
I haven't been able to come up with a good answer.
So instead, we played some Scattegories.
Early on in the night, a couple of us were talking about the election returns, when it dawned on me that not everyone in the room was a Democrat. Or as I like to say a Progressive. I like progress and moving forward. Those other people, not so much, me thinks. But this is my own unfair and personal bias.
Turns out that Jan is a Republican. She leans a little to the right, so we decided not to talk politics.
A little later, in the midst of our Scattegories gaming, I remember that there's this question I've been dying to ask Jan. She works at the consulate, and as a result has a cushy cushy apartment. I ask her, how many times do people try to bribe her, and what happens to them in general. We talk about it for a bit, and its interesting, and the conversation drifts as conversations are wont to do.
This one drifts over to Welfare fraud by Vietnamese people in America. It happens a lot. I don't know if the Vietnamese do it more than other minority ethnic groups, but I doubt that there are any groups that do it more. We talk about how funny and wrong it is, and how members of my own family engage in it also. I don't condone it, but I can't do anything to stop it either.
And here's the kicker.
At this point, Jan said, "That's the difference between Democrats and Republicans. We Republicans believe in paying our taxes."
Which is a bunch of horsecrap.
It's Jan's apartment, and I'm sure she didn't realize how sanctimonious she sounded. "I'm sorry, but Democrats believe in paying taxes too. I think you're being unfair by saying that."
I could've said more. I should've maybe said more, but I decided against it.
But I wonder, is that the popular Republican view of Dems? That we just build the Welfare system up so we don't have to pay taxes?
My opinion of Republicans is that they are either freedom lovers going so far as to taking away other people's freedom's to protect their own, or religious nut jobs going out of their way to convert people to their own specific brand of Christianity. It's not to say that I know very many of either, and most Republicans I know are reasonable people.
This is all heresy, but in this case, I cannot help but feel like Jan's opinion of me was based wholly on her perception of me as a Democrat. That I, unlike her, don't believe in paying taxes. I guess behind my innocuous exterior beats the heart of a tax evader not seen on this earth since the time of Al Capone.
Since then, I have been thinking about what I could have said, or what I should have said, if only to make sure that I don't commit the same error, and that if I encounter other people doing the same, that I make them see the error of their ways and persuade them to be a little more even handed in their application of stereotypes.
I haven't been able to come up with a good answer.