(This entry is as much to myself as to anyone else.) A few weeks ago I drove down to San Diego to visit friends. My car doesnt get very good radio reception, so often I listen to anything I can get. I was somewhere around Santa Barbara when I tuned in the Michael Savage show, which I had heard of, but never listened to.
The man was so full of hatred and bigotry that I couldnt belive that anyone would listen to him. He was full of anger, spite, and venom. Any caller who expressed moderate disagreement with his views was verbally flayed and bashed beyond belief.
At that moment I recalled some of the words that have come out of the mouth of the likes of say, Michael Moore...just as inflammatory, just as sensational, and just as wrong, in my opinion. And I thought, hmmmm...If I talk about people with the same hatred, with the same one-sided, self-righteous attitude, am I any better??? Answer below.
If I walk around calling all Conservatives and Republicans evil, stupid, idiotic fascists, then I am no better than Michael Savage.
That's why I won't partake. I refuse to play the partisan game that I have been sucked into before. I want to be careful about becoming that which I am against, careful about acting just like those who I feel are wrong.
Listen to this: I dont think that all Republicans are stupid, or evil, or are power hungry monsters. I think that many of them are just people who have beliefs, and who follow their leaders, just like Democrats follow their leaders.
I have friends who are Republicans, and talking with them is like trying to solve a goddamn Rubic's cube. I get frustrated really quick. But that doesn't mean that they are evil people, or that I hate them, or feel that they are to be despised. In my mind, I have to try as hard as I can to provide the best possible point of view without getting into a shouting match. That's my job.
Trust me, I get into it with conservatives. But my new goal has been this: don't get mad, and don't resort to name calling or slander. When that starts, it's all over.
Just because someone disagrees with me doesnt mean that they are stupid, and doesn't make it right (or productive) to verbally pulverizing them. What it means is that they have a different point of view, and that I need to look into that to see why they feel the way they do.
How about this one: "Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy's point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weeknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition." That comes from Martin Luther King himself. (I posted that speech recently).
I have seen some of the conservative bashing going on here, and personally I don't think it gets anyone anywhere. I know it doesnt.
We, as liberals or progressives or whatever you want to be called are claiming to be trying to spread a message of justice, of peace, and of hope. How does hatred of other Americans fit in with that message? It doesnt.
We can't become the enemy. That's very important. We can't let that happen. We can disagree, but we don't have to escalate the already disturbing divisive climate.
How can we expect to solve deep conflicts overseas when we can't even talk to each other here at home?
It all starts here. Do unto others...