I was following a comment trail in a post where a friend expressed disgust at a comment made by Donald Trump Jr. that implied continuing deaths due to Covid-19 were insignificant. The trail continued to go back and forth on different opinions about the response of President Trump to the virus and how President Trump is perceived versus how some commenters in the trail believe him to be. One commenter stated the following:
“The venom has come from the Biden camp. I’m far more concerned with behavior than speech. To the best of my knowledge no Republican has looted a business or set one on fire.”
My personal political views conflict with assorted comments throughout the trail. However let’s focus on the final sentence of this person’s statement; “To the best of my knowledge no Republican has looted a business or set one on fire.” As a challenge, I desperately wanted to reply “To my knowledge there are no Democrats in the KKK.” but elected to restrain myself. On one hand neither his statement nor mine has much value given that he likely knows no looters or arsonists and I do not know anyone in the KKK so neither of us can definitively determine their party affiliations. On the other hand, however, as inflammatory generalizations, they hit the spot. His statement implies Democrats are looters and arsonist and mine implies Republicans are white supremacists. And as a whole neither statement is likely true.
The discord between the leading political parties is worse than I can remember since I started voting. Demonizing one party or the other based on the behavior of the most radical extremists of each party serves no purpose. The saddest part of this demonization is what I see happening at the personal level in communities. Politicians have slung mud and hateful rhetoric at each other for years, but now it is neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, and family member against family member. Instead of finding ways to respectfully debate and discuss, we fling negative generalizations at each other. This does not help move our country forward. I have no issue with commentary about the behavior or known beliefs of individuals, but let’s stop demonizing each party as a whole.
Despite the election’s outcome, we must find ways to “reach across the aisle” in Washington and “reach across the fence” in our communities. These solutions will require cooperation and compromise. I pray we can find the ability to do so with respect and with the best interest of ALL Americans in mind, not just individual parties.
Discovering Grace 