What’s it take for us to slow down and
stop the “hating?”
Let’s begin by reading the following.
"Know this, my dear brothers and
sisters: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow
angry." James 1:19 CEB
Rudyard Kiplin’s poem, If, echoes this: “If
you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on
you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by
waiting, or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give
way to hating, and yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise ...”
Let’s summarize the two this way…
1)
Listen to the other
person
2)
Don’t get angry if
they disagree
3)
Keep your head
4)
Make allowance for
the fact they might be giving you a poor argument
5)
Wait for it
6)
Don’t lie or worry
about being lied about
Stop hating.
I have the strongest of feelings that most will not care about this. Most will say they aren’t doing any of this.
To that I say, uh, poo.
What has caused all this anger?
We have lost all our ability to compromise, to think more of the other than of ourselves, and it’s getting worse.
The American public is divided—over economic policy, social policy, foreign policy, race, privacy and national security, and many other things.
And how have we gotten here?
NBC News said this: Opinions vary. There’s the fight over Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination. Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract with America. Bill Clinton’s impeachment. The 2000 Bush v. Gore recount. The Iraq war and its aftermath. Or the more recent fights over the health-care law and the debt limit.
I have the strongest of feelings that most will not care about this. Most will say they aren’t doing any of this.
To that I say, uh, poo.
What has caused all this anger?
We have lost all our ability to compromise, to think more of the other than of ourselves, and it’s getting worse.
The American public is divided—over economic policy, social policy, foreign policy, race, privacy and national security, and many other things.
And how have we gotten here?
NBC News said this: Opinions vary. There’s the fight over Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination. Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract with America. Bill Clinton’s impeachment. The 2000 Bush v. Gore recount. The Iraq war and its aftermath. Or the more recent fights over the health-care law and the debt limit.
“But the Cook Political Report’s Charlie
Cook traces this era of increased polarization back to 1984, when Democrats and
Republicans battled over the contested election for Indiana’s Eighth
Congressional District – famously dubbed the “Bloody Eighth.”
“In that close race, the GOP challenger was initially declared the winner by
Indiana’s Republican secretary of state, but the Democratic-controlled House
refused to seat him. After recounts, the House declared the Democratic
incumbent to be the winner.
“In
no time, the House developed a poisonous culture,” Cook says. “This soon led to
ethical headhunting, trying to get opposition party leaders forced out of the
House and even prosecuted. Professional courtesy was dead.”
And then there’s the rise of partisan
media and the Internet. “You want a culprit for all this? The Internet, email
and cable TV,” says political analyst Stuart Rothenberg of the nonpartisan
Rothenberg Political Report. “They have conspired to polarize the electorate
and our politicians.”
Where do we go from here? We need to do
the above list. Often. It’s our only hope.
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