This past weekend was Labor Day in the
United States. If you live here like I do, you probably got together with
friends and family to go to the beach. Maybe you had a cookout. Threw some
burgers or chicken on the barbecue. Had some beers. Everybody probably had a
really good time, talking and laughing well into the night.
Well, guess what: you were likely sitting with people who
really fucking hate you.
I’m not even talking about “You never returned my favorite
album in 8th grade” type of hate. This is blind hatred built from years and
years of pent-up revulsion. This is real “The world would be better off without
you in it” type of hate.
Ouch, right? Why would I say such a thing? I may not even know
you. Who the hell do I think I am?
As you’ve probably gathered since 2010 based on all the
media coverage, this year is an election year. Those of us who are citizens of
these United States have the privilege of voting for our president. Will it be
the incumbent, or will it be someone else? I seriously don’t care.
Well, completely seriously, I do care. But that isn’t my
focus here. It’s fascinating to take a step back and look objectively at this
situation we Americans are in. Think about the last time that you got together
with your friends or your family? Did you have a good time? If you did, the
subject of politics probably didn’t come up. If it did, one of two things
probably happened:
1. You agreed on political issues. It felt refreshing to
talk that way about how bad and misguided the other side is. It’s possible that
while this was going on, you probably spoke in hushed tones so that your voices
didn’t drift over to another table or over the backyard fence for “the enemy” might
catch wind of your political beliefs.
2. You disagreed on political issues. This is the trickier
situation in which two people lead the discussion. Both of them have the strongest
ideologies of the group. Each person believes that by getting the other person
to hear and really listen about what he or she is talking about, the other
person’s belief system will fall into utter shock and join the “rational” side
of the argument. Meanwhile, although other people may chime in, they just feel
awkward being around these two people yelling at each other.
This year, though, the polarization seems worse than it has
in recent years. There are sharp lines drawn in the sand. Like the toady who
eggs on the bully, we have political pundits, bloggers, and television and
radio personalities who relish telling us one side, then the opposite side.
This would seem great—even a pretty legit way of letting people make up their
own minds based on the information they receive—save for the ever-present bias.
How can you get to that nugget of information when it’s surrounded by that
colorful candy coated bias shell? Then there are the commenters. I would try to
write about it, but I don’t even want to go into the abyss that is the “typical
internet forum political commenter.” Sometimes giving everyone a voice can be
downright frightening.
As we inch closer to November, the 24-hour news coverage
will inundate us with promises for the future followed closely by why the other
side believes that those promises will ultimately lead our country into the most
disastrous situation we can imagine. We will hear truths, half-truths, lies,
and outright lies. None of these opposing situations are new, only the manner
by which we receive them, and receive them we do all day, every day.
Recently, I was at one of the Smithsonian museums in
Washington, DC, where there was a touchscreen computer that displayed
user-voted results of who they thought was the best president. It may not come
as a surprise, but George Washington was ranked number one. But although he was
unanimously elected in 1789, not everyone in the electoral college at the time
believed that he was a great statesman or even would be a great leader of the
nation. Washington was thought of as a great figurehead. He was a hero of the
revolution, and with the lack of news organizations and ways to disseminate the
news, the fact that many people in the early days of the United States even knew
about him made Washington a perfect symbol of the triumph of the new nation.
Behind the scenes, though, Federalists and anti-Federalists were fighting about
the way the country should be run. By 1792, the nation was still so fragile
that people in the electoral college, even those who didn’t believe Washington
was a good president, begged him to stay on just to keep the country together.
He was unanimously elected for a second term. Much like today, people believe
that Washington was a great president merely because he was the first president
of the young nation, not because of his stance on policy issues.
I’m not saying we should put aside our differences and vote
for one particular candidate. I believe we should stop talking politics when
we’re having a good time with friends and family. There are those who believe that
political discourse and related arguments are healthy, but they’re the ones who
just want to get into arguments for fun. And sure, there will always be one
person at a party who will either piss you off by getting a dig in about the
candidate you like or maybe get you to snicker about the jab at the candidate
you don’t like. For the sake of our country and our sanity, though, let’s just find
something else to talk about.
This guest post was
written by Dennis. He is not going to talk about whom he is voting for this
November.
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