I went in to get my teeth cleaned this morning, and my hygienist told me a story.
She was cleaning some lawyer’s teeth, and one of the dentists was in the next booth over, talking about politics from a conservative point of view. The lawyer was incensed. He asked, “Who is that? I don’t ever want him working on me.”
A few things come to mind here.
First, how would the lawyer feel if people declined his legal services because they didn’t agree with his politics? Wouldn’t the lawyer insist that he was able to represent his clients — guilty or innocent, conservative or liberal, young or old, etc. — irrespective of his political beliefs? And if a lawyer can claim such a thing, can’t a dentist claim it with even greater justice? After all, the law is political. Teeth are not.
Second, how did we get to such a place? How did so many people become so intolerant?
Generally speaking, when I go to someone to get a service, my concern is that they’re good at what they do — that the mechanic is a good mechanic, the dentist is a good dentist, and the tailor is a good tailor. I don’t care what they believe about the Green New Deal.
I don’t know the political views of my dermatologist, and I don’t care. I suppose there are limits to that. If I knew he was a Nazi, I might decline to give him my business.
Is that why we’re in this crazy place? People have been hurling around wild accusations based on the slightest departure from orthodoxy. (“You’re literally Hitler!”)
Do people actually believe that nonsense?
I’m pretty sure my dentist voted for Trump at least last time. IDK. Honestly, I don’t want to talk about it.
Was at my granddaughter’s 3rd birthday last Saturday and talking to the other grandpa and some young woman. We were saying that when we were in university, virtually no one talked about politics. I think I heard some friends saying they were voting for Reagan in 84, but that’s about as deep as it got. I don’t even remember if I voted or not. School was 550 miles from my home and I doubt I registered at school or mail voted. I literally cannot remember–probably means I didn’t vote any way at all.
I’ll vote this year for president, but my vote will mean nothing because I live in Oklahoma. Red as it gets.
But, Larry and I said we didn’t talk about politics in our free time. It wasn’t discussed in classes. I think we followed the axiom not to talk about religion or politics. Now it is ridiculous. I’ve started hiding people for 30 days on my FB feed if they post anything political. Show me pictures of your grandkids, or your vacation, or your home project that you’ve finished. I’m still on twitter, and that cesspool is a good forum for politics. But, otherwise, I don’t want to see it. And the people that do politics on Linkedin? What are they even thinking?