It has been awhile since I posted any new articles. There is a reason for this lack of content. The reason why I have not posted any new content is because I was becoming angry. I could not handle the divisiveness and the pettiness that seemed to be consuming people in the news and on social media. That hate was starting to flourish within side of me. All of the negativity that is spewed in the media and on social platforms like Facebook and Twitter was becoming too much and I did not want to be consumed by the hate. I am someone who takes pride in making sure that I do not make grand generalizations about people. People are more complex than what our media (and many of our citizens) realize. We rush to pigeonhole people into groups. As an example, I am big champion of gay-rights (for obvious reasons). I also live in Utah where the Mormon Church controls a good amount of the culture. I became angry with the Church because of their continued fight against my rights. The Church has continued to sign onto court briefs arguing for the protection of “traditional marriage.” My anger with the Church led me to start being angry with all people of faith. I began to believe in the propaganda that all religious people wanted to squash my right in marrying the man that I love. I believed it, even though I am surrounded by many faithful Mormons that love me for who I am and want me to marry the man I love. My soon-to-be mother-in-law is an example. She loves me and has accepted me into the family. She is a devout Mormon who can love her church and can also love and accept her son and his partner. Many people of faith do want to see marriage equality happen. I lost sight in that. I began to believe that Mormons and many other religious people were all against marriage equality. I began to generalize people and that is dangerous. It is dangerous because over-generalizations will make people weary of one another. That weariness becomes distrust. That distrust then leads to anger and resentment. If we become angry with one another then we will not be able to get along. We will not be able to solve our problems because we will be too busy calling each other names and accusing our political opponents of being liars and thieves.
Over the past few years, more and more of us are falling into the trap that the media lays out for us. They lay out this trap that is well disguised. They dress up their arguments in a slick broadcast with colorful anchors and pundits. Then they top it all off with a heavy helping of patriotism. They argue their biased point of view, which I have no problem with, we are all biased and we all have our opinions. What I have a problem with is that they argue and call their opponents names and never try to examine the other side. The key word in that last sentence is try. They do not have to agree with the other side, I never want people just to lie down and agree with everything someone says. My problem is that they do not try to understand where their opponents are coming from; they generalize and make accusations. They do not try to flesh out the serious problems that face this country and this world. They take three to five minutes on a story and have some talking heads fight each other for an additional few minutes. They try to tell the public that if you listen to the other guy then we are damned but if listen to me and my point of view then the problem is solved. Do not listen to the opposing side. They are wrong. They do not discuss the complexities of our problems. They believe that the Ferguson riots were just about an African-American kid being shot by police, as tragic as that is. They don’t discuss the fact that problems have been brewing between the police and its citizens in Ferguson for years. They believe that shutting down our borders in an effort to stop Ebola from spreading further in this country will solve the problem. They do not discuss the fact the world is so inter-connected that shutting down our borders won’t really stop the spread of any disease, including Ebola. They believe that the LGBT’s fight for equal rights is being hijacked by big business. They feel like symbols like the pride flag are being used for commercial gain by big business. They do not discuss the fact that this means that LGBT citizens are becoming more and more accepted. They do not discuss the fact that many companies from Target to Levi Strauss to Google are helping the LGBT community win acceptance and equal rights. The media and their presentations are a trap; there is no discussion, just quick and easy answers to our complex problems. The other side is wrong, dangerous, and un-American. End of story.
That is not the end of the story. We might not agree with one another but, for god sake, can we at least sit down, have a discussion, and acknowledge that most people (on any side of an issue) are sincere people that just want to help solve a problem? Must we continue to call people names and continue to believe that the other side has nefarious intentions? Are we going to allow this elementary school-level style of discourse to continue in our media and online? I say no. I may become exhausted and disillusioned at times but I do not want to give up the fight. I will not give up the fight. We must bring the level of discourse up to a more mature level. I say this because we are polarized. Nothing is getting solved at the federal level. We are too busy arguing and being angry at one another and that has influenced our politicians. Our current Congress is one of the least productive ever. I believe we all share fault in that. I do believe it is because of our current level of discourse in this country. We must change course. We must try to make progress. We must compromise. If we do not change course, we’re screwed. That is why I will be trying my damnedest to get us back on track. Even if I must take a break for my own sanity from time to time.
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