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It’s no secret that our country has grown more and more divided. Notions such as "the two Americas", "red state/blue state", and "if you’re not with us, you’re against us" reflect the entrenched partisanship that has been steamrolling attempts at nuance, compromise, and finding common ground. Turn on the television or take a stroll through the blogosphere, and you’ll find more than enough evidence that America has given itself over to oppositionalism.
With the explosion of the health care debate, however, this oppositionalism is spilling over from Washington and the media into the general population. In ways I have never seen in my lifetime, otherwise rational and reasonable folks are going off the deep end. Partly fueled by inflammatory words from politicians and talk-show hosts and partly fueled by personal frustrations related to the economic crisis, people are speaking up and lashing out at whatever targets they can find - and we’re starting to see some of the collateral damage.
Yesterday at my church, in an environment that has always been reverent and even overly-polite, an unprecedented incident occurred when the conversation turned to politics. Strong opinions were expressed, feelings were hurt, and a friendship or two was threatened.
Everyone seems to be keyed up about politics right now – and not just about health care, but also about the overall direction that the government is taking. Even though many of these opinions are irrational and based on deliberate lies and distortions, the emotions behind them are real. Many people are genuinely scared right now, and believe that the health care battle is a battle for the future survival of their country and their way of life.
The question, then, is how do we counter the false notions that are out there and the very real emotions they are generating? How do we help people turn away from the fear that this bill is a threat to our democracy and toward the conviction that we have a broken health care system that needs to be fixed? And how do we do it in a way that does not reject or belittle the very real anger and anxiety that, in one way or another, we are all feeling?
2 Comments
It’s a fine line.
Health care is definitely an issue that gets passions up, especially among folks who don’t consider themselves “political.” After all, you’re talking about family, sickness, parents, children.
And in fact, anger has been a very good motivating tool for people to push for a change in the system. Of course, that leads to collateral damage, as you point out.
Jim, I think it has to be person to person. You might accept that Glen Beck or Bill O’Reilly is wrong about something, if a friend from church you’ve known for many years tells you so.