The politics of hate
Things have gotten a bit out of hand.
Which is an odd statement to come from a country who owes it's existence to the spilling of blood. I mean from a country whose founding father once said "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." to say we have crossed a line is saying something. Though violent and often bloody, we should remember the phrase. "When in the course of human events to become necessary for the one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." For those of you that have nodded off let me sum that up.
When it becomes necessary for two groups to part ways, one should respect the other's opinions enough to state them out loud and precisely.
Respect. That's what this comes down to. Even though we felt that Britain was abusive and had no right to rule over us, we respected them enough to declare that we thought as much. We could have sneaked up behind the redcoats and slit their throats in the night but instead they drew up a document and made it very clear what and why we were rebelling. We were man enough to say it out loud and to let them know, we were pissed and we were coming for them.
Politics used to be much more violent in this country More than a few times have fist fights and riots broke out across the country during elections and conventions. People believed passionately in their parties and expressed it as often as they could. When Lincoln won the 1860 election there were scores of death threats made towards him, so much so he was disguised and brought into Washington under cover to be sworn in. So violence is nothing new when it comes to the world of politics.
And there is nothing wrong with expressing you opinion loudly and proudly. I mean I belong to a group whose unofficial motto "We're here. We're queer. Get used to it." So I am all for self expression. But there is a line. And we have crossed it.
And there are people whose opinions, though disgusting to me, I would die to defend their right to say it. Ann Coulter has said such singers as.. "I don't know if Clinton is gay but Al Gore is a fag." And "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. This is war."
She's such a pip.
But her opinion and speech is protected and I support that. I really do. I may not agree with her on anything at all, but her right to say it, she's got it. Lots of people say lots of things and almost all of it I support. But there is a line, a line we just passed.
Sharron Angle, one those lovely Tea Party people, is quoted as saying. "I hope that's not where we're going, but you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out."
Seriously?
I mean I dislike Ann Coulter something fierce but I would never wish someone would shoot her. What is wrong with people today thinking that making a public quote about killing someone else is not just acceptable, but politically wise? When did we lose the ability to disagree with each other with respect and just moved straight into shooting someone? When in the course of human events have we all lost our damn minds? When did we lose the ability to just disagree and moved straight to trying to kill each other?
It just doesn't make sense to me any more. I feel the same way my grandfather described feeling during the 60's and not understanding a damn thing about how the way things were being done. I simply thought he was an old man out of touch with the world around hm but as I look around and hear people like Fred Phelps say things like. "WBC prays for your destruction, more shooters, more dead carcasses piling up, young, old, leader and commoner, all." As well as. "God sent the shooter." talking about Jared Loughner, our latest lone, crazed gunman in political history.
People like Sarah Palin and Glen Beck seem to serve no other purpose than to spew hate and discourse, further widening the gap that divides this country. Though we disagree as a country it is this hateful rhetoric that seems to spur on those mentally unstable people to do more and more unspeakable violent actions. And even though we do live under the protection of the first amendment we have to start to understand that every right comes with an obligation with it. For every person that is protected to say what they wish, there is an obligation that those words do no harm. You cannot yell fire in crowded theater, you cannot threaten someone's life and you cannot wish that people will take up arms and shoot other people.
When did politics become a sporting match? When did being a Republican mean that you are a mindless one, agreeing with every single decision that they make like a Cubs fan who still roots even though it's a shutout. There is a way to bring real change in this day and age and constantly inciting people to violence should not be one of them. There used to be a way to have real intellectual debate about our differences in this country, but channels like Fox News and MSNBC have boiled them down to talking points and worst people of the day. Canned information spoon fed so that you know who to like and who to hate in eight simple minutes or less. The problems that face us today are going to take real people with real solutions. It is going to take thought and argument and god forbid, compromise.
How many more people need to die before we can figure out there are more things that connect us than divide? That under it all, we are all scared and we are all praying for change? People need to stand up tell these people to shut up and shut up now. Stop telling us who to hate and start telling us how to fix it. Stop pointing fingers and get to the problem solving portion of the show. Because I don't a care whose fault it is any more, I am tired and I want it to end. It needs to end.
Before someone else is killed for simply believing something different.