Here's something I'm sick of...

I'm sick of people categorizing moderates as wishy-washy and unable to make up their minds, especially if they're willing to compromise on certain points.

First off, political opinions do not just come in "left" and "right". There's a whole wide spectrum. For instance, when it comes to abortion: you can be avidly for legalized abortion or avidly against it, but it's just as possible to be in favor of legalized abortion generally but also in favor of trying to minimize it through some means, or you can be against abortion generally but in favor of leaving it legal under certain circumstances. That's at least four major positions, but two of them are more moderate than the others. It's a complex issue; it can have complex positions.

Also, taking a compromise position takes both empathy for people one doesn't entirely agree with and the ability to discard preconceived notions in favor of examining the various positions to try to find where opinions are either more similar than one might have originally thought, or find where complex opinions have points that people are not as fervent about. It quite often accomplishes nothing to just keep on insisting Your Way prevails over Their Way; decisions are hard to make when no one can agree. Coming up with a suggestion that's "close enough to Our Way to be satisfactory" will be more effective in many cases. Just because it can take longer doesn't make it "wishy-washy"; it just makes it careful.

And frankly, the world could use more people willing to be careful.

Misread

What it said: mythological conspiracy.
What I read: mycological conspiracy.
What I pictured: Nazi mushrooms.
What you probably just did: rolled your eyes and suppressed laughter.

Project Runway Finale: Pretty Darn Good

On the off chance there's anyone a) reading this blog, who b) hasn't seen it, have a jump tag. Oh, and warning: it's very, very wordy.

random rants

Rant ho:

PR Pre-Finale Impressions

Should I go again with the excuses I could make about why I haven't done any more episode reviews? Naah, just fill in whatever reason you like. Anyhow, cut for anyone who hasn't seen the episode yet.

And another thing...

So, the teabaggers, or tea partiers, or whatever they're calling themselves this week... basically a lot of them are objecting to our national debt going up because of "Obamacare", right?

Where the heck were all these people during the Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II years?