Here is the most divisive story line running through our national election season this fall:
* That there is a "real" American and that all of the rest of us don't qualify. A "real" American apparently is white, Christian, flies the flag on his front lawn, chants "USA, USA" during the Olympics, and is suspicious of anyone not like him.
But, in fact, "he doth protest too much," as Shakespeare, the greatest English writer, would have noted.
This character, perhaps a stereotype, maybe called something like "Joe the Plumber," is about yesterday in America, not today, and certainly not tomorrow.
We have always been a forward-looking people, unrealistically optimistic in the eyes of our European friends. And, for the most part, this land has been good to us.
Unfortunately, some among us have become entrenched, deciding they are entitled to the benefits they currently enjoy, oblivious to how many lives have been and continue to be destroyed just so they can drive a big car, live in a big house, and overeat rich foods in complete disregard for the complex global human ecosystem that has been distorted by our military power into delivering these undeserved privileges to us.
That's right. The class structure of the world, forget America, is based on exploitation of billions of poor people to serve a few million white people. It's unfair and it is unsustainable. It was won at the point of a gun, never a good way to achieve human equality.
So, these thoughts make me less than a "true American," right? That I love all people equally, regardless of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, IQ, color, gender, status, wealth, shape, size, age, and all the other differentiators that seem so important to the "real Americans" among us, makes me somehow less in your eyes, right?
Today, a troubled young white woman working on behalf of the McCain campaign pronounced that she had been assaulted by a large black man, who carved a "B" on her cheek (apparently and revealingly ignorant that the Democratic candidate's name starts with an "O" not a "B"). Of course it was a total fabrication, carefully orchestrated (just like the "Joe the Plumber" fakery) by those desperate "real Americans" who have hijacked the McCain campaign and turned it into the most embarrassing Republican campaign in our lifetimes.
This gutter behavior makes me literally sick to my stomach.
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3 comments:
Funny, I am a conservative and I would describe myself the same way you describe yourself. Go figure, you just can't generalize.
I still love you.
Nance
David, when this election is finally over, and you can say "I told you so" to the conservative members of your family, then who are you going to work on alienating?
Teresa
I am not into the "I told you so" mode, Teresa. Whoever wins the election inherits the worst mess of our lifetimes. The safety, security and future for our children is what concerns me. Now it appears Obama will be the President, he will need all the help he can find to try to rebuild this society from the wreckage he is inheriting. I tremble at the challenge he faces. I am sorry to alienate anyone, especially those I love. You and your family are always welcome in my house. I am a writer. A writer's "job" is to challenge, not to reinforce unexamined thinking. Of course, it is painful and difficult, but I don't feel superior or happy doing so. I write because I have to.
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