Have you ever run across the meme about “describing yourself in x words,” designed to make you choose among a limited number of possible descriptions and pick the most important? It’s supposed to be hard, and generally done to make you draw some hard conclusions about yourself and your priorities.
What makes it so hard is all of us have multiple affiliations: positive associations with groups, teams, tastes, beliefs, parties, species, regions, and countries. There are (of course) blood relations and marriage, faith and politics, sports teams and pets, languages and hobbies and interests. And they are good. Think about the pleasure of getting together with old friends, or family holiday gatherings (should they go well), being with fellow fans when victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat: does it get any better?
I have commented previously about the role college football has played in my life. I used to tell my daughters to spread my ashes in the north end zone of Notre Dame stadium (that was before they went to artificial turf, a story for another day). I’ll always fondly remember when my son-in-law Cody (like my daughter, a fervent Ohio State Buckeye) first met my fanatical Irish extended family. He deftly defuzed what could have been an explosive moment by saying “At least we can all agree that we hate Michigan.” Affiliations bringing people together!
By definition, such affiliations also divide us, and can become a source of real evil. The subject came up in the news recently when some political pundits were attacking a US Army Lieutenant Colonel for possible competing loyalties because he was Ukrainian-American and came to this country as a child. But set all those details aside; what I want to focus on is why the man was attacked in the first place. He was the target of attacks because it was politically expedient in the no-holds-barred political deathmatch that is Washington, DC, today!
Political mudslinging is nothing new, but it has reached epidemic proportions. I regularly receive social media reposts of the most vile sorts from both my progressive and conservative friends. I’m not talking about a reasoned explanation of why “Medicare for all” is the wave of the future; I’m talking graphic comics or pithy mis-quotes designed to fuel rage. I find these reposts very helpful, since FaceBook has a “hide all future posts from” function that helps me avoid these sources without losing my friends. In this way, my friends are providing a useful service: they send me things to show me what NOT to see ever again!
What surprises me is that most of the people engaging in this behavior simultaneously decry the level of discourse. They’ll claim ‘the other side started it’ (has that ever worked?) or ‘they’ll say something worse’ (preemptive bad behavior? a novel approach!). Sorry, folks, the level of hate out there is so high because many of us consciously choose to participate in it. If you second something offensive, or even fail to rein in the worst behavior by your friends, you’re complicit.
Affiliations work that way.
The Nationals just won the World Series. Somewhere, some Nats fans had a little too much to drink and the raucous, post-game celebration verged on a riot, but that didn’t happen, because some other Nats fans snuffed it out. When someone on my side of the political divide makes an outlandish claim in my presence, it’s my responsibility to correct them. It really is that simple.
It’s a good thing to profess a belief (political or religious), to really embrace it, to put its precepts into action. But when you run across opposition, you have to convince or proselytize or reason: not attack or condemn or cancel.
“OK, Boomer,” I hear some Gen Z out there thinking, “but we face REAL EVIL today. We can’t play by those outdated rules! We have to win by ANY MEANS NECESSARY!”
I admire the commitment to virtue, I really do. But today’s long list of challenges do not measure up to Slavery, Fascism, or Communism, to name just the 19th and 20th Century challenges. Those enormities were confronted by the truth, which is always more powerful than hyperbole, propaganda, or hate. So put down your phone, delete that tweet, and take a deep breath.
Affiliations work best when we accentuate the positive. Cheer on your team, promote your agenda, profess your faith in public. We are all the better for it.
Our former President did a pretty good job discussing this.
Like you, I do not believe the end (commitment to virtue) justifies the means. But I disagree that the Evil we face today does not measure up to slavery, Communism, or other of history’s generally acknowledged travesties.
Many people did not recognize those evils when they slithered onto the scene and evolved slowly and perniciously. Similarly, many people are deceived by language couched as a woman’s right to choose and as men should not control female health and reproductive freedom when discussing a huge tragedy and evil — abortion — which may very well evolve to legal last trimester and/or post- birth abortion.
Freedom of speech and freedom of expression for Christians is being challenged and slowly being extinguished. Younger people do not appear to understand the soul-stultifying evil inherent in socialism or communism.
People committed to virtue have a Biblical and societal duty to speak up on these issues; they reflect the erosion of our moral fabric.
That said, I agree persuading people to turn to virtue is not accomplished by hate, blame, and recrimination. Neither, however, can virtue be reclaimed by soft peddling truth. People committed to virtue must speak hard truths — without hate but with conviction.