Open Thread

On relationships again,

I’ll always remember when as a student, I did a rotation with a wise Family Practitioner.
There was a case of a battered woman who was in a relationship and came in with bruising.

My first thought was to tell the attending to call the police and inform them that this woman was in danger and to get the thug boyfriend/husband arrested.

After hearing me out, the attending said this to my surprise; ” you cannot change their relationship from outside, you can offer counseling and support but you cannot force a change on this woman.”

The reasoning was this: through time and experience, it is understood that there are many relationships in which a co-dependency exists. A forcable move from someone outside the relationship might force the person deeper into the throes of the predicament or set off even more consequences. In short, if the will is not there for her to change, it is a fool’s errand to impose it.
The human mind is complex and fascinating.

I didn’t post political so nothing worth reading anyway, lech.

Benson, I agree about Boehmer. After I got over his odd penchant for blubbering, I realized that the guy is a quite skilled politician and able to find points of compromise.

bottom line:
The country seems to be mired in a hand-wringing phase of political correctness where those with the strength of conviction to change things effectively are often systematically held down and castigated for offering up that most rare of things in politics: an original idea.

This goes on along the left and right sides of the political spectrum. My opinion though, is that the left is all too willing to allow ideas which are known to be proven failures, proceed without concern for the damage they do to the effective management of this country.

First example:
The idea that a capitalist society can be run on collectivist principles.

I think one can be for partisanship and judgment and compromise. None of these are good in absolute (except, perhaps, good judgment) and all are best when balanced and exercised in good faith. Not inconsistent to think partisanship is a good part of our system while also calling out those we think are engaged in partisanship excessively (or, in some cases, insufficiently) or in bad faith. That, of course, is part of partisanship as well.