Something that has been irritating me lately is this language of "us" and "them". It's not so much the words that bother me, as the extreme generalization that they create.
How is it that both "sides" can get away with the horrendous personal attacks that they do? How is it fair to say all conservatives are intolerant or homophobes or whatever when it's very unlikely the person saying that has every MET all conservatives? And how can conservatives claim that all liberals are anti-American, murderers, or intolerant or whatever? Have conservatives somehow talked to EVERY SINGLE liberal out there?
No. Neither side has. Yet they keep assuming they know ALL about each other. From where I'm standing, neither side knows--or wants to know--anything about the other AT ALL.
And I'm not talking about accepting their view points. I'm talking about learning what their view points REALLY ARE. Not what the news says they are, not what Hollywood says they are,--not even what colleges say they are--but what the "LITTLE PEOPLE" say they are.
Lets face it, we're all letting the elitests in the News and Hollywood tell us what to think about each other! Why are we doing that? Why can't we simply use our brains instead, think of intelligent debates, without resorting to personal attacks? Or have both sides fallen so far that they've forgotten it's not about proving yourself RIGHT, it's about finding the TRUTH.
And if you really want to find the truth, then you'll stop arguing, and start DEBATING. And maybe by doing so YOU'LL CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!
But God help us, we don't want that. Liberal or conservative, they both want to stay tucked away in their own little worlds where they're comfortable and safe.
Sure, you go ahead. Blind fold yourselves, stuff your ears with cotton, and scream as loud as you want. You're not doing any good. Not for the poor, not for the needy, not for the widows. You're all just obsessed with being right.
Shame on you! Shame on all of you!
If you want to debate ideals, ethics, morals, do so! But do it civilly. Do it like the person you're talking to is a real-live human being made in God's image! Is that so much to ask?
Maybe it is.
I'm a conservative. I'm begging my fellow conservatives not to stoop to this level of personal attacks and pointless arguments! And liberals, I beg you too!
Can't we all just shut up for a moment and appreciate each other for the people we are? There's more to life than politics. There's... you know... life.
2 comments:
Yeah... polemicity is really just designed to make its writer feel good when they hear other people praise them. I find it embarassing how many times Christians do this inappropriately and speak of them as this nebulous enemy, when we do not fight against them, as Paul clearly points out in Ephesians 6.
Well that's hard to do since there is no God, personally I think I look more like my dad than any of those pictures of God that I have seen
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