Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Election Day Hopes
I am writing this on what could be one of the most important election days in America’s history. I don’t mean this as another facetious hyperbole, but as a fact. I won’t go into which candidate will win, or even which deserves to win. That’s up to the results and each voter, respectively. What I do want to touch on is the growing rancor that I’ve heard and indirectly witnessed.
It’s hard to say when this rancor started, but I wish that it would end and civility return to our discourse. I’ve noticed that people who are ideologically disposed will immediately believe the worst of the opposition. Sometimes, they will even believe lies and half-truths about the person. In other cases they would exaggerate certain flaws in a candidate and say that this is the true person.
My problem is that whoever wins the presidency will already have a group who has “pre-hated” him. This becomes a ready-made audience who will believe anything evil about the man. If this audience is miniscule, it won’t have much of an impact. The problem becomes when this group grows in number and influence. When this happens, it could cripple the person in power – if he lets it.
This “pre-hatred” is the source of the ugliness of our political discourse. I’ve witnessed a bit of this ugliness in what I call the “Battle of the Signs”. Recently, my commute has gotten a bit longer. This means that I’m forced to see the various political postings of people’s favored candidates. During these forays, I’ve noticed that the signs of one certain candidate were always getting vandalized. (I won’t say which one.) No matter how many times they were replaced, they would be mutilated or go missing.
Such people would have to be mean and small-minded to do things to a sign. Then again, better a sign than a person. But, then again, what does it say about the perpetrators’ feelings toward the candidate as a person? Do they even see him as a person, or as an object of scorn and hatred? Why do they feel this way toward the candidate? Are their reasons based on facts or lies? Do they even care what truth is?
We live in a time when people would rather live within their “comfort zones” and listen to the voices of the political echo chamber of their choice. Within this echo chamber, the opposition candidate is demonized – sometimes literally. Everything he says and does gets a diabolical twist to it. The opposition party is seen as a satanic instrument. As for their own side, they are on the side of the angels and their cause is just.
Sometimes, there’s truth in what the echo chamber says. After all, politics is relative, the ends justify the means, and all the rest of it. However, this is true for both sides. A more open-minded person, no matter the ideology, would attempt to see what “the other side” says. Sometimes, he may even agree with them – if he’s truly open-minded! The problem is how many such people are there?
I would like to see the end of the echo chamber – or, at least a significant reduction in its influence. I just don’t see it happening very soon. We would rather believe the worst in the opposition. Maybe it makes us comfortable, but what does it mean for the future of our country? Will all future presidents have their own ready-made group who pre-hates them as they take the oath of office?
Meanwhile, I’m already hearing stories of election scandals – from both sides. This too has a deleterious effect. We’re supposed to be the bastion of freedom and the shining example of democracy for the world. Instead, people the world over are either snickering or shaking their heads and say that we’re no different than any petty third-world country in the way we handle elections.
Between voter suppression and voter fraud, we’re not the shining example we believe ourselves to be. Not that this is the first time that such nonsense has happened in this country. Now, however, it seems to be on a national scale – and we have the added onus that the world is watching our every move. Now, whenever we try to preach democracy to other nations, we will have sullied our reputations and thus our influence. (This would mean that the only influence we have is military, and our vaunted moral persuasion is diminished.)
I wish it were otherwise, but I don’t know when it will end. By the time you read this, a winner will have already been decided…maybe! Whoever he is, I wish him the best, and I hope and pray that he will not be discouraged by the pre-haters.
( I hope that those of you who are eligible will have voted. In these divided times, every vote counts.)
It’s hard to say when this rancor started, but I wish that it would end and civility return to our discourse. I’ve noticed that people who are ideologically disposed will immediately believe the worst of the opposition. Sometimes, they will even believe lies and half-truths about the person. In other cases they would exaggerate certain flaws in a candidate and say that this is the true person.
My problem is that whoever wins the presidency will already have a group who has “pre-hated” him. This becomes a ready-made audience who will believe anything evil about the man. If this audience is miniscule, it won’t have much of an impact. The problem becomes when this group grows in number and influence. When this happens, it could cripple the person in power – if he lets it.
This “pre-hatred” is the source of the ugliness of our political discourse. I’ve witnessed a bit of this ugliness in what I call the “Battle of the Signs”. Recently, my commute has gotten a bit longer. This means that I’m forced to see the various political postings of people’s favored candidates. During these forays, I’ve noticed that the signs of one certain candidate were always getting vandalized. (I won’t say which one.) No matter how many times they were replaced, they would be mutilated or go missing.
Such people would have to be mean and small-minded to do things to a sign. Then again, better a sign than a person. But, then again, what does it say about the perpetrators’ feelings toward the candidate as a person? Do they even see him as a person, or as an object of scorn and hatred? Why do they feel this way toward the candidate? Are their reasons based on facts or lies? Do they even care what truth is?
We live in a time when people would rather live within their “comfort zones” and listen to the voices of the political echo chamber of their choice. Within this echo chamber, the opposition candidate is demonized – sometimes literally. Everything he says and does gets a diabolical twist to it. The opposition party is seen as a satanic instrument. As for their own side, they are on the side of the angels and their cause is just.
Sometimes, there’s truth in what the echo chamber says. After all, politics is relative, the ends justify the means, and all the rest of it. However, this is true for both sides. A more open-minded person, no matter the ideology, would attempt to see what “the other side” says. Sometimes, he may even agree with them – if he’s truly open-minded! The problem is how many such people are there?
I would like to see the end of the echo chamber – or, at least a significant reduction in its influence. I just don’t see it happening very soon. We would rather believe the worst in the opposition. Maybe it makes us comfortable, but what does it mean for the future of our country? Will all future presidents have their own ready-made group who pre-hates them as they take the oath of office?
Meanwhile, I’m already hearing stories of election scandals – from both sides. This too has a deleterious effect. We’re supposed to be the bastion of freedom and the shining example of democracy for the world. Instead, people the world over are either snickering or shaking their heads and say that we’re no different than any petty third-world country in the way we handle elections.
Between voter suppression and voter fraud, we’re not the shining example we believe ourselves to be. Not that this is the first time that such nonsense has happened in this country. Now, however, it seems to be on a national scale – and we have the added onus that the world is watching our every move. Now, whenever we try to preach democracy to other nations, we will have sullied our reputations and thus our influence. (This would mean that the only influence we have is military, and our vaunted moral persuasion is diminished.)
I wish it were otherwise, but I don’t know when it will end. By the time you read this, a winner will have already been decided…maybe! Whoever he is, I wish him the best, and I hope and pray that he will not be discouraged by the pre-haters.
( I hope that those of you who are eligible will have voted. In these divided times, every vote counts.)
