Those peaceful days with Clarence and Ernie
Those peaceful days with Clarence and Ernie
In war, you are either with us or against us
Why are so many people unwilling to admit they are wrong, acknowledge their side may not have all the answers or even listen to those with differing views? What is the allure of searching for reasons to hate the other side while looking for any signs of heresy within our own camp?
Whenever another friend, family member or coworker has made disparaging comments about the nationality of the woman I was dating, called my Muslim friends terrorists, referred to me as an enemy of the people, screamed at me for criticizing Barack Obama or Joe Biden or accused me of racism for holding black students to the same standards as whites, I would harken back to my grandfather and his brother Ernie.
I can still picture them at family gatherings. Their laughter rings through the decades.
My grandfather lived in Wisconsin, Ernie in Illinois. They were always so glad to be together, even though my grandfather was a Republican and Ernie a Democrat. As far as I know, neither ever thought of spending their precious time together yelling and screaming about politics.
But we weren’t at war then. During war, dissent is viewed as dangerous.
The political right and left are committed to destroying each other. In Wednesday’s posting, I linked to vile threats Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger is receiving. Here is a story from Bari Weiss’s “Common Sense” about threats coming from the left.
These are not isolated incidents. This is our political culture, one of war and hate. We are like the Hatfields and McCoys and the Palestinians and Israelis.
There is only one way out of situations like this. Enough people must decide to put down their weapons and stop fighting. In our case, the most potent weapons are partisan news channels, social media, woke academics and hateful religions.