nilchance | (no subject)

The divisiveness that this article espouses is the reason I hate politics. My husband is a Republican. My daughter is a Republican. They aren't evil, stupid, or bigoted. But this article makes it seem like they are.

I went back and forth about whether to comment on this, but ultimately decided to make a plea for unity.

A) At no point does the article cite Republicans as the problem. Our culture's view of race is the problem. The media isn't picking up on these issues, a large chunk of DEMOCRATS aren't picking up on these issues.

B) I have no doubt that your husband and daughter are compassionate individuals. My problem is not a personal one with them or most other individual Republicans. My problem is with the Republican PARTY, who has definitely made things personal when they seek to legislate my relationship, my body and my health. I can't espouse unity between the parties at this point without surrendering on these issues, and I'm not willing to do that.

You're right in what you say, and you say it eloquently. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't have a problem with people having opinions. We're all different - we all SHOULD have different opinions. My problem is that by demonizing the 'other', whether it be Democrat (can I strangle Sean Hannity now, please??), Republican, Muslim, whoever, we make them into the enemy. Then it's okay to propagate all manner of hateful actions towards that group. Isn't that what happened with Mathew Shepard? The demonizing of gays led to hateful actions by a few hateful individuals.

I'm not trying to imply that YOU are this way. I know you only through your writing and kitty posts (which I love) and the occasional reviews and links you post. I'm just saying that I wish for unity in the sense that all thinking people "agree to disagree" and proceed to make difficult decisions without hateful rhetoric and finger-pointing.

I teach college level history, and this is my goal - to help students to analyze their thinking, to go beyond emotion and instinct and engage their higher brain functions. So I get all bent out of shape when I see attack ads and articles, and what not. And all sides in politics do it.

At least this election there is an effort by both sides to keep it positive. Maybe it will help? I don't know.

I appreciate your thoughtful response, especially in lieu of the fact that I'm commenting on your journal. I mean, it's YOUR journal and you should be able to post whatever you want on it. I guess I commented because I'm still working these thoughts out in my own mind. And perhaps your posting is a way of the universe telling me that I need to post about things other than the usual inanity I usually do.

My problem is that by demonizing the 'other', whether it be Democrat (can I strangle Sean Hannity now, please??), Republican, Muslim, whoever, we make them into the enemy. Then it's okay to propagate all manner of hateful actions towards that group. Isn't that what happened with Mathew Shepard? The demonizing of gays led to hateful actions by a few hateful individuals.

I don't consider cultural criticism "demonizing the other". In a lot of cases, it deconstructs demonization of the other, like McCain's views of disability/health care or GLBT issues. I don't believe that disregarding issues like white privilege or straight privilege or WHATEVER in the name of courtesy is really doing anybody any favors.

See, while I'm willing to believe that some Republicans aren't evil individually, I have issues with the party they support.

The Republican party is rallying behind candidates who are divisive. They espouse freedom and justice while denying it to half the population. They would (and thanks to Bush, have) denied many women access to birth control. The would deny rape and incest survivors the right to abort a child conceived in fear and hatred.

They believe that my partner and I should be stigmatized and deny me the right to see

nilchance should she be in an accident.

They believe that the constitution should be filtered through the lenses of religion, instead of standing on its own as it was intended.

So yes, I believe that every person should have the right to choose what they support. But they're going to have to deal with people judging them by their party alliances.

See, while I'm willing to believe that some Republicans aren't evil individually, I have issues with the party they support.

Believe me, I do too. I won't address your other points, because I don't want to get into a political debate, but I will say that my disagreement with the article goes deeper than individual points. It goes into the foundation of respect that I believe every person, regardless of beliefs, should be accorded. It's that whole 'demonizing' thing that I mentioned to

nilchance above.

The truth is that I sorta hate BOTH parties. They collude together to keep other voices out - I'd love to see more parties. Green Party, Independents, even those insanoids the Libertarians.
When you really analyze the actions of Democratic and Republican presidents, there isn't all that much that separates them.

Anyhow, thanks for your thoughtful response. You could have just said STFU, lol.

I don't see how the article espouses divisiveness so much as it calls attention to a divisiveness that already exists. There's a big difference.

I also agree with

nilchance; the article doesn't blame the Republican party for this divisiveness. It's merely an illustration of how that preexisting divisiveness is currently being applied. The fact that it happens to ALSO go along party lines is, largely, irrelevant.