What is your self image?

Every now and then there is an introspective posting from someone who has gone through an identity check and looks back at the process and why they have left familiar grounds. Shrinkwrapped asks Who are They? in looking at a dialog between Fausta at the Bad Hair Blog and Barbara O’Brien at Mahablog.

I would submit to Barbara that even if you disagree with some or all of those positions, you claim to believe in the people’s right to rule themselves. Perhaps you should begin to listen to those of us who used to be in your tribe and submit to the will of the people rather than constructing a fantasy world in which George W. Bush is a dictator, civil liberties have been stripped away, and we are mere moments away from a fascist theocracy. If all these allegations are true, show us some evidence that is more reasoned than invective. I am mindful of the fact that no one who blogs about political subjects will lose readers by calling their opponents names, but we all have to share this country, this planet, and all agree there are significant dangers out there (though we often disagree on just what they are).

It would be a relief, and would certainly foster communciation, if each side would stop the name-calling, and I would like to invite (challenge?) Barbara to do so.

It is a matter of integrity. Can you accept who you are? Do you separate reality from fantasy? Can you separate opinions from facts? Are evidence and rational logic your tools or do you use the ad hominem and conspiracy? Do you allow others to have differing opinions without judgment or condemnation or intolerance or bigotry?

What many are noticing is that there are patterns in these behaviors that correlate to political position and ideology. These patterns are being put on the table and inspected and dissected and set out for any rational person to see. Such exposure causes dissonance which is expressed by even more irrational behavior, defensiveness, and, occasionally, insight and growth. Let us hope the insight and growth become most predominant so we can all gain in our ability to work together.