Remember when we all used to live together in a shared country? (Together being the operative word) We didn’t always get our own way and we tended to favor the notion of having one political party in control of the White House while the other one was in Congress.
We had infinite and nuanced shades of grey, if not anatomically, then metaphorically. As opposed to the here and now when we have the most abrupt, bruising, and brusque form of non-nuanced conversations in all the years I've been carrying around this bellybutton.
We’ve divided ourselves according to four-letter non-words, MAGA and WOKE and never the twain shall meet. We have clenched jaws, cold eyes, and hardened hearts, but that doesn't mean we can't talk-it just means we won't. Somewhere we decided two diatribes equals one dialogue and I GET TO GO FIRST! (sorry).
If we yell AT one another long enough, from a distance somewhere in space it may look like we are talking to one another. Respectful disagreement has disappeared. If you don't agree with me you are the most awful person in the history of the planet, as is everyone else related to you, everyone else related to them and everyone any of you know. Except when I do that much finger pointing some of the fingers on that hand point back at me. Hmmm.
Labels such as 'liberal' and 'conservative' are now pejoratives hurled like discount store invective at opposing viewpoints, appropriate or not, and the reaction to the labeling obscures quite nicely any opportunity to see the person we've just tagged. Now all we are is disagreeable when we disagree.
And we engage in preemptive shouting matches with one another in forums supposedly designed to let us exchange ideas and views. The longer the meeting, the louder the yelling and do not get me started on the understanding (the smoker you drink, the player you get).
We have ongoing arguments over rights and responsibilities and insist the other person ‘needs to read the Constitution’ when, more often than not we’re referring to the Bill of Rights but fail to realize the distinction or the difference (much less the irony).
Back in the days of not that long ago we used to talk things out and arrive at consensus through reasoned discussion and informed debate. Now the line between responses that range from gee-willikers to jihad makes it almost impossible to discuss anything.
I mention this because in the fall we have local elections for both Board of Education and seats on the City Council and we owe it to those who have offered themselves as candidates for office to speak in coherent and complete sentences about what we want and what we feel we need and how we propose to work together (that's a key phrase in my house) to achieve the continued development and improvement of our city and our public schools.
We need to acknowledge that you can't shake hands with someone who has balled fists and a closed mind, no matter how hard you try. We need to relearn how to speak to one another, one at a time and then transition to larger groups. With luck and pluck, we might get the hang of how we used to do all this, back when we all lived in the same country at the same time.
It’s worth a try.
-bill kenny
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