this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2024
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If your political opinion begins with "why don't we just..." then its a bad political opinion.
If we could just, we would have already just. If you think you're the only one with the capacity to see a simple answer - newsflash, you're not a political genius. Its you who doesn't understand the complexity of the problem.
My partner lacked political engagement until his 30s for reasons so he occasionally has these hot takes. But he expresses them to me and I do feel bad because he's not coming at it from an arrogant perspective. It's ignorance, some naivete and also exasperation at a whole lot of shit things.
I have to gently explain to him why XYZ isn't that simple or black and white, or why his idea doesn't work - and the answer to that, 9 times out of 10, is 'because money/rich people/greed/lobbyists/nimbyism'.
I'm just slowly chipping away at his innocence and it feels bad.
Its great that you're helping to inform him! I have found the people who know the most about politics and global issues tend to talk less and listen more.
My responses to him are always prefaced with a big sigh. Because whatever I'm about to tell him is negative. And he often concludes with 'so how can you care about this/why do you give a shit if it's pointless' and I'm finding it harder and harder to answer that question.
Ignorance truly is bliss
Adam Savage had a bit where he pointed out there is practically zero times when to you should start a sentence with "why don't you just". My first instinct is to patiently listen & respond but I'm slowly turning into "why don't you just stop, think & rephrase that"
I've always interpreted "why don't we just X?" as a shorter way of expressing "I think I would like X. Is this a good idea? If not, why? If yes, what are the barriers to making it happen?"