Red vs. Blue

Recently I've seen a couple of websites whose attitudes were basically "fuck you conservatives, we're leaving you to your own 'devices' and not having anything the fuck to do with you anymore, may you all die in some gun- or tractor-related mishap," or something to that effect. They're written with a focused anger that I couldn't hold myself for more than a few minutes, which is seriously impressive, not to mention witty and entertaining as hell. But I wonder if that's the right attitude or not.

Should we be working to woo the republicans over to our side, or just saying "screw it" and not having anything to do with them anymore?

Here's the thing about changing someone's mind: You can't do it. They have to make that decision themselves, though you can help them reach it.

There's a samurai proverb about offering people criticism. You can't just come up to someone you don't know and say, "you're stupid. Stop being all stupid like that, Stupid." It'll just piss them off. What you have to do is make friends with them, get to know them closely, and then after quite a bit of time, once they trust you and value your opinion, you have to say, "listen, I've been meaning to talk to you about your stupidity ... could you try to .. not be stupid anymore?" They'll take it much more seriously. Plus maybe they'll divulge to you the origin of or reason for their stupidity, which will help you to understand it and fight it more effectively. If they tell you, "no, I can't stop being stupid, because when I was little I used to play this game called 'see how hard I can hit myself in the head with this hammer,'" now you have a far more effective tool for combatting future generations of stupidity. Now you can stop the problem before it starts! I'm not suggesting the banning of hammers, I'm saying you can start a Hammer Awareness Movement or something.

George Lakoff (note about the link - don't order the book from that site, as apparently they don't actually send it) would agree, I think the solution is to attempt to coax people toward our way of thinking, as opposed to just flipping them off and retreating to our beloved cities.

ALTHOUGH!!

This is all assuming Bush won because Americans are stupid, and not hateful. Hate can't be fought with logic. If Hate is the case, then yeah, fuck'em all.