Critical Listening
I have two thoughts that while right now in my head feel different, but I know they aren’t. I know that some of us are afraid of that word ‘critical’. Stay with me for a minute.
You’ve heard, listen to understand or listen to respond right?
Search Assist:
“Listening to respond means focusing on what you want to say next while the other person is speaking, which can lead to misunderstandings. In contrast, listening to understand involves fully engaging with the speaker’s message, seeking to comprehend their feelings and perspective without planning your response.”
One, too often we just read the headline and not the entire article or thesis. I actually read a study a while back that indicated that about 70+% of people do only read the headline.
Two, we listen to what we want to hear, one line, one reference or a sentence and form our opinion of that when we have missed the context or entire thesis. Or we don’t form our own opinion we take the opinion of another. Much easier, less work to do that.
And here we are. You’re wrong, I’m right. I’m right, you’re wrong. Right wing. Left wing. Radical…
Manipulation. I can say lots of things and make them sound a certain way to some, but others will hear the exact opposite.
Bias. A few years ago I asked a question about bias. If you listen with bias can you hear truth? Can you? I don’t think so. Do you know and understand your biases? Again, too much work, so no.
Let me start with this controversial example. I don’t believe 99.9% of what the current president of the US says. Others believe and live by every word he says. I did a search a while back. Something like who lied more, Biden or current occupant of the Oval? Result, Biden 2 or 300, *him 30,000+. (note: *him, *he, and current occupant is current president.)
One most recent example. *He says that Portland is burning. IT IS NOT. I sat here last weekend and watched video after video after video of friends out and about in Portland and guess what. *He. Is. Lying. The current Governor and Mayor of Portland, both voted in by the voters have told him that there is no issue and to NOT order National Guard. He did, we sued. The Governor and Mayor, both Democrats.
My dearest friend lives blocks from the one ICE facility that has protestors out front just about every day. All 5-10 of them during the day and more at other times. At NO time has there been fire. An officer did aggressively knock someone to the ground a few weeks ago. Don’t know why, saw that video. Yes, in 2020 there was a block or two during the Protests for the murder of George Floyd where things got a bit tense and there were fires and building break in’s … AFTER the fed came to town and stirred the pot. Whom ever these people are that he knows who have left Portland because it’s so bad are most likely … well … never mind. Why, because he knows NO ONE who left. Sure some have left.
Let’s see if we can find a survey or study as to why. Quick couple of minutes with a search, taxes, affordable house and while maybe moving out of Portland, not going far. Suburbs or WA where there’s no income tax. But they’ll still come to OR to shop, no sales tax. And many of them work in OR. So. I moved out of Portland because I was fully remote and could. I’ve wanted to live near water all my life, I found a place at the coast. Times like now, the last few weeks I wish I were still in Portland so I could share images and videos and tell that a**hole and those who believe *him to F – off.
I’ve made a few comments about name-calling. Yes, that is an issue. It’s childish, absurdly ridiculous and unpresidential. But what else does *he say and in what context is *his name-calling? Or someone else, is the context or what they say a cover for name-calling and tell you something else? Do they not say, Low IQ, horrible person, very bad person, stupid, not very smart, to try to stay above the fray of a juvenile delinquent?
I’m not going to include who said these. They can easily be referenced in a search. Here are a few quotes that I say are name-calling without the name-calling.
- If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.
- If you’re a WNBA, pot-smoking, Black lesbian, do you get treated better than a United States marine? (I’ll add and the military who have had spouses deported or the Vet who live on the street, homeless?)
- Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more. (Do us all a favor and google ‘crime stats’)
- If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?
- If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks, we would have been called racists. Now they’re coming out and they’re saying it for us … You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously. (I’d say check their education, but I know what some of you will say)
- I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. (Some hill to die on huh?)
- America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever. We should be unafraid to do that.
- The American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white.
“They love it when America becomes less white.” Ah, the browning of America. It can’t happen soon enough for me. THEN only then maybe Black and Brown people will have the needed numbers to get the full and equal representation they should have. What comes to my mind reading those statements together is racism.
I’ve recruited students and employees. All while it was either EOE or DEI. I did hear of at least one story of a student whose father was going to write a very large check or did to the school for tuition. The kid, who was not white did not have the skills or what was needed for acceptance. That kid did not matriculate. While a corporate recruiter I looked for qualifications and I believe that I can say, that everyone that was hired for a job that I was working on was qualified for that job. No one got a job because they were a certain race. I also, unless it was actually required, didn’t look at education.
QUALIFICATIONS! Doing this since 1991 and seeing the current box of unqualified rocks running the country has me PISSED!
This administration is racist and anyone who still supports *him, is completely aligned with the lies, rhetoric and policies is also racist. Full stop. There I said it.
Oh, you didn’t like me taking a large perceived mass of people and call them ALL racists? Who does like it? No one.
Sincerely,
A woke, radical left lunatic, libtard