Are We Too Nice?
By Nicole Nutting
Yep, itās in our bloodāwe ābleeding heart liberalsā are famous for our caring attitude. We want life to be better for everyone and weāre not ashamed of that, although it earned us the nick-name ālibtardsā from conservatives who think weāre just dumb and weak!
Of course we arenāt dumb, but our stance might be considered wimpy by some. In 2016 we got our hats handed to us by opponents who had no qualms about lying, cheating, and fighting dirty. We played by the rules and lostāweakness, by their immoral standards.
The āResistanceā takes many forms, and we generally rely on the peaceable onesā we are doves, not hawks. Our gentle weapons are marching, boycotting, petitioning, maybe addres-sing our legislators at town hall meetings. There is another venue at our disposal though, and that is our personal interactions. Sometimes we can open other peopleās minds in a one-on-one setting.
Two weeks ago I killed a car purchase transaction right in the middle, because the chauvinistic salesman could not stop being patronizing and demeaning. Women are not OBLIGATED to tolerate that. He learned a lesson, but it cost him his commission.
I was telling that story to a nice older Black gentleman at my local store, and had to explain that the car salesmanās remarks were NOT complimentsāthey were phrased to belittle females and bolster male āsuperiorityā. He didnāt get it, so I asked if heād never been insulted. Maybe for the color of his skin?? Well, of course he had, but on those occasions he had just let it go.
Well, why would we allow this?! The concept of āturning the other cheekā is a lofty principle but, in practice, the offenders donāt learn anythingāit just gives them permission to continue their bad behavior. Unless weāre about to get beat up or shot, we wonāt make progress by simply letting it go. Rewarding hatefulness by not calling it out is the very reason it persists.
Are we afraid weāll be considered bad-mannered by someone who actually IS bad-mannered? That really is TOO nice!
