Is it really possible to agree to disagree anymore?
Maybe that’s never been possible, but still…
I’ve been wondering that for a while now. Lately, so many of the stories that have been showing up on my newsfeed seem to have this tilt to them that makes me feel as if I have to pick a side. But most of the time, I can’t figure out how to fully endorse one side over the other because I feel as if there is so much…stuff going on in the middle!
I recently wrapped up the first season of my podcast NERD ALERT because I wanted to take some time to build up my content — and, quite frankly, producing a podcast takes a lot longer than you might have guessed! But I’ve continued to have thoughts about the topics I presented in my series, and this whole situation I’m experiencing right now might be something I’m compelled to ponder because my thoughts from some of my podcasts feel a bit unfinished.
But the last episode of NERD ALERT was called “The Unreliable Narrator,” and maybe because it’s a bit fresher in my mind, it seems to be the one I’m still puzzling out the most. However, there are also hints from my third episode, too, (“When Stories Converge”) because in that podcast, I actually have the nerve to talk about politics! And so between considering how unreliable the narrator of stories can be, and, how very often, more than two stories converge into a single narrative, I truly can’t find a way to pick a side when a polarizing topic comes along.
Because for me, there is always so much more to a story…
And, why should I pick a side when each side seems so incomplete and potentially unreliable?
Ugh.
Last night, Lou and I were watching some show on TV — we love a good procedural! If Dick Wolf ever stops developing shows about hospitals, firefighters, lawyers, or the police, Lou and I may not know what to do with ourselves! Even though the show we watched last night was not a Dick Wolf creation, it was along the same lines as one of his narratives. It had that classic “ripped from the headlines” theme to it, and what I always appreciate about these types of shows is the attempt they make to at least try to feature a tricky topic from multiple points of view. And depending on the characters and how well-developed they are, the audience gets drawn into the controversy on a more personal level, I suppose.
Anyway.
The show we watched last night was about a hospital, and one of the storylines involved a “celebrity patient” checking in for some kind of heavy-duty surgery. But the patient wasn’t famous in a fancy way — rather, he was a famous conspiracy theorist who was certain he was being poisoned for his controversial statements. [SPOILER ALERT: Turns out, he was really killing himself because he was taking some herbal virility supplements… Which added a third and maybe even a fourth controversy to the mix — but the show is only 42 minutes long because of the commercials, and so that twist pretty much skewed the two-sided “forced conclusions” of the narrative even more for me… Ugh again.]
But even though the storyline went a bit wonky on me, as I was watching all of it play out, I kept on feeling this tension in the narrative where it feels like life as I know it is constantly being organized into this “us vs. them” stance, and where it really doesn’t seem possible to “agree to disagree” with other people without jeopardizing a connection to my fellow citizens.
I was thinking deeply about all of this during my quiet time this morning because I really do believe it’s important to know what you believe and to stand up for your convictions. But I’m not sure anymore how to make a stand these days without digging my heels in and picking a side — even when any given “side” of things doesn’t totally represent the whole scope of what I believe.
Oh gosh… I feel as if I’ve only managed to pull on one thread of my thoughts, and there’s so much more that could unravel on me here! And while I’m perfectly fine with a good unraveling in my thinking, being un-done about a big topic in this culture seems to be frowned upon. I mean, when you get right down to it, a tight sweater in one bold color is a bit more “fashionable” than a loopy, breezy, multi-colored cardigan that slips on and off with a bit more ease.
Where in the heck am I going with all of this?
I don’t really know…
I guess I’m just wandering around in my thoughts today, and for me, that’s a creative headspace I love to experience. Because in my own inner narrative…
