In this article Ron Currie Jr. explores his relationship with a cousin that has a very different worldview from his own. His cousin Ben is a far right leaning individual that some would possibly label as an extremist, while Ron is a liberal that lives in Portland, a city he describes as “a town so liberal they charge a fee on plastic shopping bags.” Ron and Ben both grew up together in Central Maine, where they both shared hobbies that others would consider a bit geeky, but then a divide came in their life. Ron became a journalist while Ben joined the military. They set out on completely different paths from this point and developed ideas completely separate from one another. In the end they are able to get along and likely learn a lot from one another, but there is a problem.
Ron brings up a problem that has become all too prevalent in our current day and age, and that’s bad communication. Ron brings up that he and Ben could have “courteous conversations about our disagreements, something we’re routinely told is impossible these days.” The last part of that statement makes me uncertain about how much I can agree with Ron’s opinions in the rest of the article. Throughout the article he’s a bit biased, leaning towards a fear of leaving his comfort zone while having no qualms about stating his opinions towards those he feels are lesser than him. The people Ron feels are lesser than him are typical gun owning, right wing, Americans. Otherwise known as people just like the rest of us.
I do partially agree with Ron’s idea that we have forgotten how to get along, but Ron is kind of a problem in all of this. While Ben sticks up for his beliefs Ron seems to have an innate conviction that his ideas are superior to those that are held by those opposite him. Ron and a lot of the public has forgotten that in the end, we are all people. In our own lives, our beliefs tend to be backed by the things that are important to us in our own lives and other strong opinions we hold. These notions are formed because we think they are good and correct. How hard is it to imagine that a person who appears to be a polar opposite of yourself went through a very similar process when creating their own opinions?
In relation to Digging in the Trash, this article covers how people are judged or looked at differently based on what they do an dhow they act in society
I think, based on reading your blog post, your article’s “big ideas” are that people can have differing opinions and beliefs yet still get along? If that assumption is correct, I would guess that our articles are not very related; my article being “Strangers on a plane: Getting over my fear of flying”. You can draw some similarities from my article’s “big picture”: don’t make judge a book by it’s cover. Yours is somewhat similar in that you shouldn’t automatically assume that just because someone has different beliefs than you that they are not worth talking to. In my story, Kate Haas makes the assumption that the woman sitting next to her on the plane is unworthy of conversation because she seems to be a “celebrity gossip” type, yet in the end it is revealed that the woman is a brave firefighter who comforts Kate throughout the flight.