The Other Side: Traveling Tree Hugging Liberal wants to meet you
When I got out of college I went to work for the NRA. And within a year this dude came to work there who became my best friend. It pretty much started as a dare between us when one said “I will go out drinking every night you do.” About 35 days later we were both on the verge of liver failure and decided to take a night off. From there out we were best friends, and I got adopted by this clique of people he knew in DC. It turned out that basically his entire HS from Cortland, New York had moved to the DC area. It definitely was not a monolithic group. Everyone liked to party, but just all over the place politically.
Anyway, through them I met a bunch of other Cortlanders (and still refer to Cortland as my favorite hometown I never lived in.) One of them was this dude named Boise Thomas. Or maybe Thomas Boise. I don’t know, because dude changed his name every few weeks. At one point he was going by some Indian Guru name. Anyway, the first time I got to meet him was on leave from Afghanistan when the whole group decided we should go to Vegas.
Now, Boise had sent some weird ass emails. I still remember one he sent about Planet X, this undiscovered planet that you couldn’t see that would spell our eventual doom. (Not really clear on how it worked.) He was obviously a very well meaning guy, but about as far from the combat mentality as you could get, and that’s where I was when I met him.
Anyway, I was slightly nervous to meet Tom because he was so different from me. He came in wearing these like bright pink Crocs, and some sort of very bright clothes. But hey, dude was a struggling actor in Hollywood, of course he’s going to be odd. The thing was, he walked up, said hello, shook my hand, and thanked me for my service. It was kind of weird, just totally unexpected. I realized I had totally stereotyped this guy, and it was wrong.
So I’ve followed Tom on Facebook and on TV. For a while he was on some green living show on HGTV, and then he did some crazy thing going cross country with some dudes and a hot chick on a bus. Not in 18 million years would I have watched it, but Tom was awesome if you knew the guy, so I watched every episode. We couldn’t be different in any possible aspect of life, but I’m actually fascinated by his life for that very reason.
Anyway, to the point of this. Tom has a buddy out in LA who is a budding video guy. And this was what Tom sent me to see what this guy was doing:
Now, I’m not usually one for meeting new people, but I totally get where he’s coming from. Hell, I followed the Grateful Dead around in college, so I get the allure of seeing what is behind the other guys curtain. Kind of reminds me of meeting Army Sergeant and finding out that not all the IVAW were crazed lunatics. I still hated what they stood for, what they did etc, but I actually REALLY liked Army Sergeant. She was sweet, she was nice, and she got along great with all of us who had basically been kind of mean to her.
So anyway, I think Joe, the guy in this video may stop by and visit my wife and I. Maybe take him to our church group, or to meet other veterans or something. But he needs other GOP to meet along the way. And if we have a lot of anything around here, it’s probably conservatives.
Anyway, he’s posting daily dispatches, like this one yesterday:
So, if you are at all interested in meeting the other side, trying to convince them we aren’t all unhinged lunatics, send Joe an email: joe@theothersidedocumentary.com
(There’s a certain collector of guns in Kansas that I would LOVE for Joe to stop and visit with. Also, Tim in Maine I think would be an awesome interview.)
Category: Politics
I noticed you left me out of the mix. I wonder why??? 🙂
Shame on me, you would be an awesome interview too. I forgot you were up there for some reason. I was thinking of who I knew in Kansas City to Indy range, but he may be headed up North a bit.
I was giving you crap, brother, I’m not that interesting of a person, although the rest of the group up here is a little out in left field…………
Im not that far from kc, id be willing to make a few hour drive
I would help you out, but I moved away from the Indy area in June. I highly doubt that he would want to come up all the way to North Pole.
Okay. If Beth says it’s okay.
I honestly think it would be awesome John. You are perhaps the most interesting cat I know.
I doubt I meet the interesting criteria, but if he can find me, hell–if I can find me, I’m game for a chat.
Well, first of all, he should find people in every state, including Alaska and Hawaii.
And he should just pick GOPers, either. He should also talk to independents, like me. The latest survey shows that voters are swinging toward that and away from party affiliations.
On the other hand, winter will be a-comin’ in before too long, so that means if he gets here before spring (we had snow this past April, I have pictures), we might have to sit on my front steps in a snowstorm.
Just lete me know you’re coming. I’ll leave the light on for you, Joe.
Crap, didn’t proofread.
‘should just pick GOPers’ is wrong,
i/s/t/b ‘should not just pick GOPers’.
I knew exactly what you meant!
If he gets to Ohio I’ll speak with him.
isn’t the GOP that OTHER group of pols we want to put up against the wall?
Too bad he ain’t cruising through central Arizona (Jerome, Clarkdale, Sedona), I’d entertain the idea of a beer and a chat with the guy.
TSO,
Well, if he doesn’t mind crashing on my couch, he’s more than welcome to drop by and spend a couple days.
My dislike for leftists is centered on the rabid ones who can’t be civil in their discourse, and are unable to accept that there’s another side to the coin, so to speak.
I’ve got quite a number of friends/associates who are left of center, but we get along because we (most of the time) leave the politics out of the conversation.
So, yeah. I’m game. The only rule I have is that he doesn’t have to like the Patriots, but he damned well can’t be cheering for the JEST. 🙂
I don’t understand any of this. I watched part of the video. It got me seasick. I was waiting for that guy from Boston to say, “Hey, and you…GFY!” But that didn’t happen. I remain confused. That’s okay, though. I don’t have to understand everything here.
Not all of us in Massachusetts are liberals, some of us are more libertarian than conservative and some of us are just bat shit crazy…
I’d like to think I’m somewhere between independent/right of center and bat shit crazy but YMMV…I’m sure not a faith based religious rightist, but I sure don’t fit the tree hugger New Englander either.
Let me know when the actual film comes out, it could be interesting.
Two things:
1) Spell correct is weird. It turned my name into “Gargling Wanderer”, and my email into “hunter twosome”.
2) If he comes to Hillsdale, I wouldn’t mind listening to what he has to say.
Both sound like ghey porn screen names!
Take your middle name. Pair it with the road, court, lane, or street you live on–unless it’s a numbered street. If it is, pair your middle name with the last non-numbered street you lived on. The result, in nearly all instances, is a porn-star sounding name.
Wait! I think that was a soap-opera name. Porn. Soap opera. I guess it doesn’t matter–unless you’re an actor or actress who thought you were signing up for a soap opera role, I guess.
First dog: Major
First street you lived on: Brenner
Major Brenner …
Cortland is a great place…to be from, I went to SUNY Cortland in the 80’s, lovely place
Top, my best friends dad was the head of SUNY-C’s security. Another buddy’s dad was a Poli Sci professor or Int Relations professor there.
Thanks, TSO. I really think this stuff is important – that fundamentally good people finding that the other side is made up of fundamentally good people can go a long way. Maybe eventually we’ll be able to find compromises on the important stuff that everyone can live with.
Hey, a girl can dream, right?