Ugh. I hate this kind of "I'm an imperfect Leftie" type of self-flagellation. The hippies learned you can put flowers in the barrel of a gun, but the bullet they shoot you with is gonna shred that flower - and your sternum - just as if the flower wasn't there at all. And then the news cycle will flip to the next thing. Republicans know this, and have weaponized it. Being soft, and considerate, and empathetic, and a listener also requires you to surrender some of your power, in the hopes the other person will do the same. If the other person is an American Republican, they won't. They'll just kill you and move on.
I get that hippies are associated with the Left? But your post is a perfect example of how nearly everything within the realm of intellectual debate in the US gets politicized (and, usually, polarized). I had no intention to make this about politics. You have to agree it's at least a bit of a stretch to go from 'what does it take to be a compassionate person' to 'Republicans will kill you and move on', right?
It's the power imbalance that comes from two sides entering into a battle without adhering to the same rules or belief system. That shows most starkly in the American Democrat/Republican divide today, but there are other examples, too. (The American Revolutionary War is another good example. The Americans fought a guerrilla campaign of stealth and firing from cover, while the British stood in neat rows in bright red jackets out in the open, like "honorable" soldiers did.) Any time you have sides with beliefs to "Do the right thing" vs "Win at any cost" there can only be one result: The first is going to emotionally win, but physically lose, and the second is going to win and drown that empty hollow feeling in the pit of their stomach with $5k/bottle champagne. Last night at the Republican National Convention, a speaker actually brought up Trump's impeachment as a win. Three speakers violated the Hatch Act, including the Secretary of State. The Attorney General has consistently made rulings and judgments that are not supported in any way by any law. And Republican policies and programs are already killing Americans today. Leaving their response to the Coronavirus aside, they have defunded women's healthcare which results in botched abortions and dead women. They have eliminated protections from the greatest environmental poisons in our air and water, which in the 1970's lead to the deaths of entire cities. They have removed medical and social protections for trans and gay people, who were killed without remorse even as recently as 1998 when Matthew Shepherd was killed. You may think it hyperbolic, but Republicans are actually at fault for more American deaths than the North Vietnamese, Koreans, Afghans, and Iraqis combined. Getting back to the article... this is one of my triggers, and I admit it; lefties are so busy canceling other lefties for not being pure enough, and meanwhile Republicans are quickly approaching a quarter million dead Americans. What POSSIBLE value does this article hold, in that reality? What world does this author live in, that they don't get the dire state of our union today, and the real-world price paid by 1,400 actually dead Americans every single day?!? There is absolutely a time to debate the finer details of policy... and this ain't it. This guy is living it up in Vichy France, and doesn't have a clue what is happening outside his bubble. Sorry. I'm a little irritated, veen. You know this has nothing to do with you... I'm just venting...