Say what, Russell Simmons?

Here he is on The PuffHo:

As progressives, one of the things it means is that we are open-minded. One of the things we stand for is a lack of rigidness. We have always led with compassion, while conservatives lead with values and safety. But if we don't listen then we are no better than they are.

So what Russell Simmons wants is for progressives to listen to the conservatives, because he has pigeon-holed both rather neatly, if arbitrarily, into well-defined compartments. But just because progressives are compassionate, it does not mean that conservatives also have to be something, much less someone leading with values or safety. That is exercising false equivalence.


So again I ask: Why?

"You have two ears and one mouth for a reason." You don't have to agree with them, you just have to listen.

OK, I get the idiom, but I still do not get why I have to listen? Just because they are talking, or because I may be wrong, and they may be right? The latter almost makes sense, except, if I think I am right, and that they are not, listening to the same arguments from them is not going to get me to change my mind, is it?  I actually have to heed them.  That is, I need to do what they are asking me.


Sorry, but I have more integrity and self-respect to not do so. Besides I cannot see myself pigeon-holed into being a progressive or a conservative.


Unless of course, they can show me that they are right, not just claim it. Every time I have listened to them, I haven't learned anything new, and discover newer and repeated falsehoods. They don't bother to explain, and I am turning deaf to lofty proclamations.


At some point it is a matter of pragmatism that you seek your answers elsewhere. But OK, every hour he spends listening to a member of the KKK, I'll spend listening to a FOX "News" wingnut of his choice.  In fact, I'll say that I already do better, since I already do tune into FOX "News" occasionally so that I can confirm that I am not missing anything. I am not saying that FOX "News" is just as racist or even racist like the KKK, but that FOX "News" does not have to be listened just to hear "the other side".  That is precisely their ploy, they accuse everyone else of bias and media and implore people to listen to them, appealing to open-mindedness. Inherent in that is the accusation that people who disdain FOX "News" are not open-minded.

Russell Simmons fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker. There does not have to be another side.