I have a friend who’s a liberal. He’s also and atheist. We get along just fine and enjoy each others company and get together frequently. We enjoy political “discussions” just like we have here. It’s funny, sometimes I find myself bending a little but he is 50 ton monolith when it comes to his opinions.

His arguments, political and otherwise, quickly turn condescending and dismissive. When I point to a potential flaw in his perception, he exhibits an uncanny ability the morph the subject. He does his best to keep the changes subtle but when I attempt to bring him back to the original conversation, he slithers off in another direction.

Well things got out of hand the other night. While watching a news story, he started viciously mocking some so-called religious event. I called him on it, “Hey, why don’t you just let them have their beliefs?” “Because they’re so wrong!” he said. He was most upset at ABC for what he considered “promoting religious views”.

I told him he hasn’t had the same life experiences that cause some people to believe in God. Not everyone who believes in something beyond the visible world has been indoctrinated into a religious framework. That set off an eruption of indignation. How dare you make assumptions about “my” experiences. Well dude, you plainly demonstrated your shortcomings in the empathy department, I‘d say that‘s indicative of your “experience“.

That set off another round and a shouting match and fingers in the face. I tried to remain calm but that didn‘t last long. I did manage to keep my shouting below his level but I must admit I was fully engaged. So much so, I thought about punching him in the face, a couple of times. I haven’t felt that way in decades. Only discipline and age prevented it. That and friendship.

Things are back to normal now. It’s “all good” but unfortunately for me I look at him in a different light. Future “contests” will be more carefully chosen so as not to bring out the side of this guy I truly don’t like. It’s not a whole “side”, just a portion but it’s the part of him that would stab Santa in the eye if he became real.

Now you may be wondering why I’m taking jabs at a guy who’s not here to defend himself. And it may appear that I’m trying to lump all Liberals into the same group of personality traits. That is true but a post by Robert frequently bounces around my noggin. It was about the social and psychological differences between Conservatives and Liberals. My recollection is that it was pretty fair and accurate. We’re different. So is it life experience, environment, or upbringing to causes us to choose sides?

I’m starting to believe we’re somehow hardwired. The likeliness of an OS upgrade may be contingent on hardware compatibility.