9 thoughts on “Interviews with Sarah Palin supporters”
Scary stuff for this Obama supporter. But I admit here that if asked those same questions about political detail I wouldn’t be able answer them either. These are people who are living their lives the best they can; just like the rest of us. Perhaps they are frightened, as Eric said, feeling something has been stolen from them.
As long as this segment of our population is discounted and not taken seriously in some way, there will always be a disconnect. Taking an Us vs Them position, criticizing them… this is just not the way to go. Compassion, people, please.
While it is so easy to have a really good laugh at this video (and believe me I did) it surely begs the more serious discussion around the topic of fear and how fear polarizes both the spirit of an individual and society at large.
The people in this video certainly have their shadow selves front and centre for us all see and respond to. Faced with fear staring out at us head on, I wonder can we collectively choose more helpful and healing ways to respond? What is our responsibility among those of us who would like to think that we grapple and embrace, and most importantly learn from facing our own shadows? What can we offer to those in our communities that are so heart wrenchingly poles apart from us? How do we converse with fear? Can we converse with fear?
I try to draw on my own path of learning as I seek to find answers to these questions, as I feel strongly that our world today is inviting us to really act differently. What is this way forward? Again I can only speak for myself. I know I’ve tried really hard to run from my soul sucking demons for decades, until I could run no more and also I know that when I was in that state of pain and utter FEAR, I could not, in any way, converse with anyone in a reasonable and coherent fashion (even though I was 100% convinced I could — yep sir!!). My emotions were riding too high, were too raw and very limited for any serious healing.
What finally worked for me was being around people who gave me the permission I needed to vent and release my emotions. People who were secure within themselves gave me a safe space for my rage and pain to see the light of day. Actually it came out very much like the fears of the people in the video above and I applaud the interviewer in how he let the people speak and voice those fears (though I’m not so sure it was for altruistic reasons!) It was from comfortable and safe encounters that I began to take the required baby steps to let my own light and spirit gather healing and strength. Only then could I begin to feed and nurture my soul making my fears subside and have less chance at dictating my dysfunctional behaviours.
I have an Aunt in the southern US with whom I could never seem to converse, as her emotions around politics managed to stonewall any kind of debate between us. This upset me a lot and prompted me to explore new ways of facilitating some form of expression of difficult fears and beliefs, however far removed they were from mine. I learned through the art of certain listening techniques such as focusing and mirroring, to receive difficult emotions (they are often disguised as facts) without attempting to challenge or judge them (after looong years of applying it to myself). I stopped taking a lot of fear based statements at face value wanting more to know what prompts them to surface.
I believe if every one here could learn to be strong enough within ourselves, to acknowledge and understand our own personal fears and begin each new day with a firm commitment from our wounded places that we could allow other people’s fears to breathe in safety and an honest acknowledgment of how we are all wounded. Through compassionate means we could all be less triggered into heated reactionary “debates”, which keep us ALL spinning our wheels and going nowhere as a result.
Might not that be a real and honest starting point toward healing our sadly divided world?
We could make a decision to quit calling those among us who have a different points of view, derogatory and divisive names such as wing-nut, ignorant, dumb etc. We who grace this site know there are other ways. We who come to PlanetWaves KNOW we share a world that is being ripped apart at every turn and crying out for healing and that it is only from our shared well of humanity that we can send out some healing and light and keep it out there. Our own daily interactions with our neighbours provides us with ample opportunity to get with the program, right? Our own local communities need us to become spiritual warriors on each and every front, each and every day.
Let’s try to know it, own it and live it.
Could be the most excellent of beginnings!
(I’m going to have to go now so I apologise for the rambling and poor grammar…..;-)
Peace love and blessings galore to all.
If that was not so sad and scary, it would be side splitting, laugh until you are breathless with tears streaming from your eyes and snot streaming from your nose funny. I’ve been told that outside our little quasi-liberal island of Atlanta, white people in Georgia are really suffering because the world no longer belongs to them. Is this how people felt back in the late 70’s when Jimmy Carter told them to turn down their thermostats and wear a sweater in the house to help conserve heating fuel? All these people see is an idiotic and very corrupt (although cute, very cute) white girl saying really stupid shit about how everybody who is different from them is bad and evil and they are swallowing it, lock, stock and barrel. And not one of them had a clue or would recognize one if they stumbled over it in the Wal-Mart parking lot after getting fired because they took too many sick days that year. Unpaid sick sick days at that. I would say what is our country coming to, but the country has always been there. And these poor folks think they actually have something that they are going to lose because a black man is President. Please!
Eric: Yeah. They all seemed like whipped puppies and a number of them had shakiness in their voices that sounded to me like a shaky faith in what they were saying, like a child who knows he’s lying but says it anyway. Say it long enough you believe the lie yourself.
More than sadness though I saw and heard fear. Both the word and body language/tone of voice.
Carly58: Yeah…until inner authority wakes up you’re just like a dog bowing to the dog who makes the most fearful impression.
Watching that sequence of interviews, I felt like I was looking at victims of domestic abuse. People who need a champion but have very little REAL sense of what a true champion looks like and behaves like. It is the lack of self-preservation I see among those people that hurts my psyche. What I mean is, it seems that they are ready to hand over their personhood to whomever will assure them that “Everything will be fine if you just let me be in charge.” IMO, a victim mentality that is lethal to the victim. Having been on the receiving end of domestic abuse, I know that only the vicitm can stop the madness. But it takes a sense of self to recognize your value. It seems that many of he interviewees don’t know/recognize their own divine self and value. So they let someone – anyone – else define it. That’s where Miss Sarah comes in. But it could be anybody; just happens to be her this time.
Just some thoughts I wanted to share. Frankly, I’ll be pleased to not see her for a while when she fades away…..
Yes, dude. Mommy, and daddy have a big-ass role. Friends, and consorts. Schools, churches, ..all the shit that produces Insanity! We’ve all been indoctrinated into the shit,..
Noone will take anything from these folk. The conclusion that LIFE IS COOL will have to roil through their own veins.. I’m just a freak who kicks it with the soul kids.
WE see life, but “lazer lady”, and “Iced tea Man”, they’re fucked.. they’ve their own concepts that have no basis in ‘Our’ reality, “exist on the streets of any major city for a while, and you’ll grasp it, or go nuts and totally not be able to function in society.”, welcome to lazer lady and iced tea man, .. nuts.
..these folk have no clue, probably never will (maybe, that’s all bullshit), We’re here to play..
..gotta play, kids!…
You wanna play? It’s only life!!! (Good fun,.. No keeps!.?)
Big smiles and hella laughs!!!
Jere
Can anyone sense the sadness?
The sense of injustice? The feeling that something has been taken away, and that they are going to get it back — in the form of a charismatic leader?
What do they think is missing, and who do they think took it away?
Oh my God!?!?! That’s fucking Insane!!! That’s hilarious shit!! (For those who are working on it: Insane=Hilarious) (It’s All funny!) (Hint: it’s all funny, fun, .. just plain groovy times, that we’ve yet to connect on.) (Of course, it’s not about succumbing to that, it’s about workin’ the shit out in a way you feel good about.) (Then playing with it all!)
Oh dude,.. If I could mind-meld with you all… the shit we’d see.. (of course, I gotta live it intentionally, and consciously.)
.. alright, .. I’ll run it.. I’ve seen it. It’s not that difficult. (In fact, it’s probably the easiest shit I’ve ever done…?!) (The flow is easy to surf, if you learn the flow, and the board.)
Maybe I’ll write, maybe I won’t.. who knows (I don’t, don’t even care!). When I feel I need to work some shit out here, or communicate in some way, I’ll write. If not.. no writing. And That, is freakin’ freedom!
I Love you cats! If you could see through my perspective… ..you’re a gorgeous bunch!
Love ya,
Jere
Thank you….proves my point of the mainstream idiot with myself included. I actually asked everyone I had contact with today a few simple political questions and got the deer stuck in headlight expression followed by a few uhhhhs and I dont knows….I also reassured who I was asking, that they are seriously not alone…..Although my usual stance would be to remain ignorant, there is a calling coming from within to wake up….and I am.
Scary stuff for this Obama supporter. But I admit here that if asked those same questions about political detail I wouldn’t be able answer them either. These are people who are living their lives the best they can; just like the rest of us. Perhaps they are frightened, as Eric said, feeling something has been stolen from them.
As long as this segment of our population is discounted and not taken seriously in some way, there will always be a disconnect. Taking an Us vs Them position, criticizing them… this is just not the way to go. Compassion, people, please.
While it is so easy to have a really good laugh at this video (and believe me I did) it surely begs the more serious discussion around the topic of fear and how fear polarizes both the spirit of an individual and society at large.
The people in this video certainly have their shadow selves front and centre for us all see and respond to. Faced with fear staring out at us head on, I wonder can we collectively choose more helpful and healing ways to respond? What is our responsibility among those of us who would like to think that we grapple and embrace, and most importantly learn from facing our own shadows? What can we offer to those in our communities that are so heart wrenchingly poles apart from us? How do we converse with fear? Can we converse with fear?
I try to draw on my own path of learning as I seek to find answers to these questions, as I feel strongly that our world today is inviting us to really act differently. What is this way forward? Again I can only speak for myself. I know I’ve tried really hard to run from my soul sucking demons for decades, until I could run no more and also I know that when I was in that state of pain and utter FEAR, I could not, in any way, converse with anyone in a reasonable and coherent fashion (even though I was 100% convinced I could — yep sir!!). My emotions were riding too high, were too raw and very limited for any serious healing.
What finally worked for me was being around people who gave me the permission I needed to vent and release my emotions. People who were secure within themselves gave me a safe space for my rage and pain to see the light of day. Actually it came out very much like the fears of the people in the video above and I applaud the interviewer in how he let the people speak and voice those fears (though I’m not so sure it was for altruistic reasons!) It was from comfortable and safe encounters that I began to take the required baby steps to let my own light and spirit gather healing and strength. Only then could I begin to feed and nurture my soul making my fears subside and have less chance at dictating my dysfunctional behaviours.
I have an Aunt in the southern US with whom I could never seem to converse, as her emotions around politics managed to stonewall any kind of debate between us. This upset me a lot and prompted me to explore new ways of facilitating some form of expression of difficult fears and beliefs, however far removed they were from mine. I learned through the art of certain listening techniques such as focusing and mirroring, to receive difficult emotions (they are often disguised as facts) without attempting to challenge or judge them (after looong years of applying it to myself). I stopped taking a lot of fear based statements at face value wanting more to know what prompts them to surface.
I believe if every one here could learn to be strong enough within ourselves, to acknowledge and understand our own personal fears and begin each new day with a firm commitment from our wounded places that we could allow other people’s fears to breathe in safety and an honest acknowledgment of how we are all wounded. Through compassionate means we could all be less triggered into heated reactionary “debates”, which keep us ALL spinning our wheels and going nowhere as a result.
Might not that be a real and honest starting point toward healing our sadly divided world?
We could make a decision to quit calling those among us who have a different points of view, derogatory and divisive names such as wing-nut, ignorant, dumb etc. We who grace this site know there are other ways. We who come to PlanetWaves KNOW we share a world that is being ripped apart at every turn and crying out for healing and that it is only from our shared well of humanity that we can send out some healing and light and keep it out there. Our own daily interactions with our neighbours provides us with ample opportunity to get with the program, right? Our own local communities need us to become spiritual warriors on each and every front, each and every day.
Let’s try to know it, own it and live it.
Could be the most excellent of beginnings!
(I’m going to have to go now so I apologise for the rambling and poor grammar…..;-)
Peace love and blessings galore to all.
If that was not so sad and scary, it would be side splitting, laugh until you are breathless with tears streaming from your eyes and snot streaming from your nose funny. I’ve been told that outside our little quasi-liberal island of Atlanta, white people in Georgia are really suffering because the world no longer belongs to them. Is this how people felt back in the late 70’s when Jimmy Carter told them to turn down their thermostats and wear a sweater in the house to help conserve heating fuel? All these people see is an idiotic and very corrupt (although cute, very cute) white girl saying really stupid shit about how everybody who is different from them is bad and evil and they are swallowing it, lock, stock and barrel. And not one of them had a clue or would recognize one if they stumbled over it in the Wal-Mart parking lot after getting fired because they took too many sick days that year. Unpaid sick sick days at that. I would say what is our country coming to, but the country has always been there. And these poor folks think they actually have something that they are going to lose because a black man is President. Please!
Eric: Yeah. They all seemed like whipped puppies and a number of them had shakiness in their voices that sounded to me like a shaky faith in what they were saying, like a child who knows he’s lying but says it anyway. Say it long enough you believe the lie yourself.
More than sadness though I saw and heard fear. Both the word and body language/tone of voice.
Carly58: Yeah…until inner authority wakes up you’re just like a dog bowing to the dog who makes the most fearful impression.
Watching that sequence of interviews, I felt like I was looking at victims of domestic abuse. People who need a champion but have very little REAL sense of what a true champion looks like and behaves like. It is the lack of self-preservation I see among those people that hurts my psyche. What I mean is, it seems that they are ready to hand over their personhood to whomever will assure them that “Everything will be fine if you just let me be in charge.” IMO, a victim mentality that is lethal to the victim. Having been on the receiving end of domestic abuse, I know that only the vicitm can stop the madness. But it takes a sense of self to recognize your value. It seems that many of he interviewees don’t know/recognize their own divine self and value. So they let someone – anyone – else define it. That’s where Miss Sarah comes in. But it could be anybody; just happens to be her this time.
Just some thoughts I wanted to share. Frankly, I’ll be pleased to not see her for a while when she fades away…..
Yes, dude. Mommy, and daddy have a big-ass role. Friends, and consorts. Schools, churches, ..all the shit that produces Insanity! We’ve all been indoctrinated into the shit,..
Noone will take anything from these folk. The conclusion that LIFE IS COOL will have to roil through their own veins.. I’m just a freak who kicks it with the soul kids.
WE see life, but “lazer lady”, and “Iced tea Man”, they’re fucked.. they’ve their own concepts that have no basis in ‘Our’ reality, “exist on the streets of any major city for a while, and you’ll grasp it, or go nuts and totally not be able to function in society.”, welcome to lazer lady and iced tea man, .. nuts.
..these folk have no clue, probably never will (maybe, that’s all bullshit), We’re here to play..
..gotta play, kids!…
You wanna play? It’s only life!!! (Good fun,.. No keeps!.?)
Big smiles and hella laughs!!!
Jere
Can anyone sense the sadness?
The sense of injustice? The feeling that something has been taken away, and that they are going to get it back — in the form of a charismatic leader?
What do they think is missing, and who do they think took it away?
Oh my God!?!?! That’s fucking Insane!!! That’s hilarious shit!! (For those who are working on it: Insane=Hilarious) (It’s All funny!) (Hint: it’s all funny, fun, .. just plain groovy times, that we’ve yet to connect on.) (Of course, it’s not about succumbing to that, it’s about workin’ the shit out in a way you feel good about.) (Then playing with it all!)
Oh dude,.. If I could mind-meld with you all… the shit we’d see.. (of course, I gotta live it intentionally, and consciously.)
.. alright, .. I’ll run it.. I’ve seen it. It’s not that difficult. (In fact, it’s probably the easiest shit I’ve ever done…?!) (The flow is easy to surf, if you learn the flow, and the board.)
Maybe I’ll write, maybe I won’t.. who knows (I don’t, don’t even care!). When I feel I need to work some shit out here, or communicate in some way, I’ll write. If not.. no writing. And That, is freakin’ freedom!
I Love you cats! If you could see through my perspective… ..you’re a gorgeous bunch!
Love ya,
Jere
Thank you….proves my point of the mainstream idiot with myself included. I actually asked everyone I had contact with today a few simple political questions and got the deer stuck in headlight expression followed by a few uhhhhs and I dont knows….I also reassured who I was asking, that they are seriously not alone…..Although my usual stance would be to remain ignorant, there is a calling coming from within to wake up….and I am.