Contempt: “The feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving.”
Not long ago, I read an opinion piece in which the author asserted the deteriorating state of American discourse has reached such a low point in our history that we too often divide into two camps and have nothing but contempt for one another. He insisted we don’t just dislike each other, we genuinely despise people with different opinions.
This emotional component has always been with us, but it seems to have become more pronounced over the last three decades. And it’s frightening when recalling Abraham Lincoln’s assessment 150 years ago that a nation divided against itself cannot stand.
My interpretation is that until the late 1970s evangelical and fundamentalist religions essentially stayed out of politics, but the Christian Coalition and Moral Majority somehow persuaded the “Holy Rollers” to get out and vote, form political groups and even run people for office.
The chasm that now exists between left and right, between liberal and conservative, didn’t happen overnight. It started with an emotional lightning rod issue in abortion and later added prayer in school, flag burning, gun rights, standing at attention for the national anthem, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, Nativity displays on public land, the “New World Order,” gay rights, racism and the list could go on for a long time.
Unfortunately, the list of issues rarely includes such essential problems as infrastructure, quality education and climate change.
But my friends on the left have taken to unproductive name calling and sometimes they act like misbehaving children on the playground. They spend more time attacking the other side for their appearance or other superficial considerations, such as Trump’s hair. Bill Maher even called him fat last Friday.
“Your mother was a hamster, and your father smells of eldeberries.” — Monty Python and the Holy Grail
One of the most common ways we fight these wars of words is through stereotyping, the process of depicting the other side with characteristics and habits that may or may not be true.
Right-wingers call lefties dope-smoking, latte drinking, Prius driving, tree hugging, climate change Chicken Littles, Obama loving, MSNBC watching, America hating libtards.
On the other side, righties are stereotyped as devotees of NASCAR, World Federation Wrestling, country music, Duck Dynasty, Fox News hounds, demolition derby fans, Islamphobes, racists, homophobes, Trump fanatics, anti-science Christian right rednecks.
Indeed, there are some who play out those stereotypes. I know some personally.
It’s too bad we’ve grown to hate one another when we’re all Americans. We’ve become accustomed to regard everything in terms of back and white, good and bad. Fundamentalists are famous for believing that way — you’re either with us, or you’re against us. Islamic fundamentalists share that worldview and both sides actually want to have it out for the final world-wide battle — Armageddon. And some of them want to drag the rest of us into the conflict.
“You’ve got to decide whether you are going to be the problem, or you are going to be the solution.” — The MC5 rock group, 1968.
There are many who waste too much time making fun of Trump’s appearance and not enough time examining what happened to what used to be called the melting pot. As I so often have been saying lately, Trump is only the symptom. We are the disease. We’ve got to find a way to heal ourselves.
David, you forgot that us lefties are also NPR listeners! 🙂 Otherwise, a fair observation of current fact. We need to listen more to understand why our dissenters dissent. None of us is entirely correct, but understanding each other is really the paramount ideal.
I think your ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome is most telling in your explanation of “Fundamentalists are famous for believing that way — you’re either with us, or you’re against us”. NPR listeners aside, we don’t understand each other? You’re quite right, there is a schism in American society, and the media is a large part of the reason along with the rest of the Democrats. Middle America is the only “glue” that holds the country together – the great “fly-over” country. While both coasts are filled with thinkers, we “doers” in middle America keep our heads down, work like dogs, and try to better ourselves and our families. We are too busy working to pay attention to those trivial things liberals rail about and just want to be left alone. The Democrats are the most radical they’ve ever been since 1968, so anything they say or do doesn’t alarm me – they are nuts!