For What it's Worth

I read the following this morning. I think it’s worth while. It has to do with the great divide and the fact that we (Right and Left) just aren’t talking anymore. I thought about the Buffalo Springfield Song:

There's something happening here.
What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there,
Telling me I got to beware.
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down.

There's battle lines being drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speaking their minds,
Getting so much resistance from behind.
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down.

What a field day for the heat.
A thousand people in the street,
Singing songs and carrying signs,
Mostly say, “Hooray for our side.”
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down.

Paranoia strikes deep:
Into your life it will creep.
It starts when you're always afraid.
You step out of line, the man come and take you away.

I can tell you with confidence that both left and right wing thinkers feel that song is about them, as the one the man will come and take away. Both sides feel the the other side is the one with the GUN. How is that possible? How did we get here? Who generated that much hate? Where is all the venom coming from? This is a conversation conservative thinkers are engaged in right now. Here's a peek into that world.

The Anchoress asked this morning:

I wonder if we are not putting too much energy into negativism, whether it’s actually constructive or just mean-spirited. It doesn’t matter if the left does these things, compiles these lists; for conservatives, some of this just seems to not be the best use of our time or our minds.

We on the right have tons of legitimate differences with folks on the left; on some issues our whole worldviews are utterly and absolutely at odds. There is more than enough to debate about, already, and too many subjects on which we may never be able to come together. We don’t really need to expend our time and energy on projects that simply come down to pointing a finger and saying, “ewwww…look at them” do we?

Isn’t that best left to the perpetual adolescents who live for it?

Negativity and cynicism are too easy to embrace. I know, because when back when I was a liberal, cynicism was the tool by which most of my opinions were shaped; it was simpler than thinking and always gave me a “moral” edge. And because I am human and sometimes inclined to laziness (and sometimes just eager to feel prideful and morally superior and “too smart to fall for” anything) I still find myself falling into cynicism (particularly about the fourth estate, for example) and going negative, because it IS so very easy to do.

Not all blogs embrace cynicism, of course, at least not habitually…but it’s worth thinking about: when does constructive criticism become negativity; when does healthy skepticism become cynicism, and do our better natures get buried under such easy weight?

Cynicism and negativity are like easy-to-make snacks, full of empty calories which fatten you up (and slow you down) while offering no nutrition. Feeding on them gives your body (and your mind) nothing on which to build, or grow, or heal.

I know, some will say that the left is incapable of extending a sentence of good-will toward the right, so why bother - President Bush tried changing the tone and got his extended hand smacked back - yeah, I know, I know. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

Remember Atticus Finch, in To Kill A Mockingbird, who explained to his son (after losing a case and watching his unjustly accused black client fall victim to entrenched racism), “just because we’re licked a hundred times over is no reason not to try.” A positive act, upon being rebuffed, does nothing to injure the party offering it.

Clearly, I have work to do on myself. It’s worth thinking about, is alls I’m sayin’.

She had said earlier:

I was thinking about left and right, about how our political passions can overrun our humanity, sometimes, and make us behave in ways that seem quite outside of our instincts. I didn’t write it well, though, and I ticked off a few people.

From Sigmund:

In making the decision who best represents interests, consider this: Anyone who really wants to help his fellow man or represent the best interests of citizens, will not make the focus of their work speaking of human weaknesses, failures and hate. They will speak of man’s great potential and the possibility of participating in good works. More than anything, they will let their love for their fellow man and good works speak for them.

Mother Teresa rarely talked about her work. She went out and did what needed to be done. When she needed money to continue her good works, she demanded that we help- because that would tap into our higher and better selves. We too, could share in those works. She had no harsh words for those of different opinion.

Contrast that, for example, with Rachel Corrie and the ISM. Neither Corrie or the ISM were Mother Teresas, in any sense of the word. Despite noble statements to the contrary, their entire raison d’etre was and remains to promote and publicize an agenda of hate. Their website, and others like them, are filled not only with hate, but instructions on how best to hate.

Mother Teresa and her Order had no time to hate. There was too much work to be done. Rachel Corrie and her ilk had no time to get the job done. There was too much hate to spew.

We all of us do it, sometimes, let our passions get the better of us and spout off, and if we feed that, we find we are like little computers set for scorn, who cannot reboot - we get stuck on cynical, stuck on the sneer.

We might all do it, sometimes…but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to maintain a sense of just how far we are going, and know when we are out of control.

ME AGAIN:

So, how did we all get here, how do we get back. How do we stop the hate and venom from BOTH sides. I am somewhat fearful that even if my side or your side wins that the Buffalo Springfield song will come true once again as it did in the 70’s.

We must stop the hateful talk somehow, from BOTH SIDES.