Excellent commentary from a Mr.

Excellent commentary from a Mr. X.
A resident of the Upper West Side, he's a little fed up with
intolerance of his political views from people who would claim to be
the most tolerant of all.

You know me. If you don't, you've seen me...eating dinner
in a midtown restaurant or walking up Broadway on a Saturday morning or
sitting at the playground in the park as my child climbs the monkey
bars. I take the subway to work every morning like thousands of other
New Yorkers. I shop at Fairway and Zabar's. Maybe you've even been
sweating on the next treadmill at the gym. I look like a hundred other
guys around my age. I dress like them, too. And if you saw me, you
would never guess my secret.
I am not gay. That is certainly no reason to hide. I am not a person of
color. That prejudice should have been erased from our national
consciousness decades ago. I don't carry any disease microbes that I am
aware of. I don't even smoke.
But the information that I will now transmit has caused people to shout
at me, brought dinner parties to an abrupt end on less then polite
terms. It has even ended long friendships.
Here it is. I will just say it. I am a Republican.
It's not just that I am a Republican - it's more that I am a Republican
who lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It's the life-style and
location I have chosen for myself that doesn't seem to fit the
political viewpoints I believe.

Go read the whole thing. I find Mr. X to be extremely brave. He does
what I wouldn't do---he keeps talking to who ld different political
views from him. If the subject of politics is raised when I attend a
party here, I either keep quiet, leave, or find a way to change the
subject. I know from past experience that here in the Twin
Cities---especially since 2000---that I'm a. in the minority and that
b. a lot of people will react viscerally to what they perceive as my
"stupidity" for being a conservative. In other words, just like Mr. X,
I've been shouted down because someone got upset by something the
husband or I have said. It's just not worth it. Is it hard to hold my
tongue? You bet your sweet bippy it is. Particularly when you want to
do nothing else than shut the person down. What I find to be the most
insulting, however, is the shocked condescension I receive from people
when they find out that I'm a conservative for the first time. Their
eyes go wide. Their jaws drop and the inference I draw during and after
the dramatics is that they're so shocked and dismayed that someone they thought was so intelligent could possibly be so stupid
simultaneously. From some of the reactions I've received in the past,
you would have thought they would have been more tolerant if I'd
announced that, instead of being a Republican, I was a crack whore.
That would be a better alternative for them. But I'm polite. I don't
discuss politics and I keep my mouth shut when the topic is raised.
There's no chance for an honest discussion of the topics, so I
generally don't bother. Itstill grates on the nerves though. Case in
point: there is a man in Mr. H's work life that we run into on a
regular basis whenever we go for coffee in Mr. H's neighborhood. Mr. H.
has his own issues with this particular gentleman because he generally
makes Mr. H.'s life a living nightmare with his sloppy work habits.
But, he's further up the food chain than Mr. H. so I'm nice to him,
even though, in the past, he's made political comments along the lines
of Bush=Hitler, and "thank God for the New York Times.
They're the only ones who are doing any honest reporting," that have
made it very hard to hold my tongue. But I do it for Mr. H. I know he
does it for me as well, so turnabout is fair play, but man do I ever
have a hard time. But yet this guy thinks I'm a liberal because I never
say anything. It's like living as a spy at times. Some people don't
know where my true allegiance lies, nor do they bother to ask, because
they're so busy assuming that if I'm a reasonable individual, I'm a
democrat. I can only imagine what he would think if I "came out." I'd
probably get an earful. So, I feel for Mr. X. I've walked more than a
mile in his shoes. I can understand about wanting to defend your
position. Yet there is a point where you just have to be quiet. It's
not worth the angst in the meantime. It's really not. There are other
things to talk about other than politics.

Posted by Kathy at September 1, 2004 01:50 PM | TrackBack