On Values

So here we have the now-famous headline, the genesis of which gave rise to made up part of our lunchtime conversation today. Himself, it seems, knew that Mr. Bezos was mighty rich ($150 billion net worth according to Google), but hadn't heard about Mr. Pecker's alleged extortion/blackmail (you choose) attempt. So I recounted it for him to the best of my knowledge.

And we kind of sat there for a while, kind of stupefied.

At last, I said something like, "It's kind of hard, isn't it, to understand a person's values when they are very different from one's own?" Himself concurred. We wondered about the various aspects of the story:

• Why would anyone want to have $150 billion?
• Why would anyone take a nude selfie?
• Why would anyone want to look at someone else's nude selfie?
• Why would anyone worth $12 million (David Pecker, ibid.) want more money? 
• Why would someone threaten to share someone else's penis picture unless certain demands were met?
• Need I continue?

Somewhere in a psychology or sociology course I took long ago, I ran into the concept that when we like someone we tend to believe that said someone is like us, i.e., holds a similar value system. I suspect that Mr. Bezos and Mr. Pecker have more in common than either of them would be happy about. 

I had a kind of a values clash recently with someone I liked; therefore, I surmised that we held similar values, despite my being a classic bleeding-heart liberal and the other person's being a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. Because I liked this person (a funny, generous, and articulate {qualities I find important] individual), I guess I thought that the political labels notwithstanding, we felt similarly about the important things, i.e., 

• feeding the hungry
• welcoming the stranger
• separation of church and state
• a woman's right to choose
• equal rights for all
• again, need I continue?

I was surprised, therefore, when this person wrote on Facebook for all the world to see, that s/he (I will not use "they" as a singular pronoun) found the values of Liberals "repulsive and repugnant." I'm still reeling at what feels like a very peculiar betrayal. Unsure how to handle this, for a couple of weeks I've just given the person a wide berth while I try to figure out a kind way to say something like, "You know, given the givens, I think you and I are better suited to being (calling on Facebook terminology) Acquaintances rather than Friends."

There's no connection between the Bezos/Pecker story and my/my Acquaintance's story. But somehow it feels like there is.