In the Name of "HARM REDUCTION"

I have been extremely lucky in having a sister who is an avid Trump supporter and Fox News consumer.

When the World Trade Center was attacked I emailed her an interview with Noam Chomsky. He explained how US policies fomented a climate for the 9/11 attacks. My sister enthusiastically agreed with the his insights. A week later she was towing the GW Bush party line.

Lesson: she returned to her fear-base and propaganda about "all Muslims are bad" and are "out to destroy are way of life" mindset.

Since then I have had tussles with her about Trump. So I decided to ignore it unless I cultivated a place of compassionate neutrality in myself. When I achieved this I would take a tack of asking questions about the problems she was bringing up. She reverted to platitudes and when I suggested it was a complex problem she deflected into another subject. I found that asking questions without judgement was helping to lay a groundwork for understanding.

Your article speaks to this subject. Thanks.

Here is a phrase I have been using to help bring together those that feel "blah" about Biden: "Harm Reduction" - borrowed from addiction therapies.

Its a good catch phrase when its followed by an explanation of the tediously slow process of change in political systems.