We've past a tipping point there in these United States, folks. There is a lot wrong with the situation.
This may be a continuing series. I put it out to you, gentle reader, not entirely just to vent and bitch about the worrying trends in American Culture, but to respond tot he adage, "the first step in solving a problem or problems is first to identify
For a goodly number of people, PARTICULARLY on the left side of things - civility is not seen as anything they want any part of. Civility is what you have when people who may disagree, still want a calm framework in which to exist.
Yeah - people don't want that. People want struggle, apparently. They want strife. They are firmly convinced that their brand of resistance will usher in their particular brand of aforementioned (last post) utopia. People all around this country are sanctimoniously convinced of their own correctness. Their way is the only way. Only rubes or evil Nazis (a term very freely used by both sides) could possibly think another way than their enlightened path. If only those who disagree with my OBVIOUSLY correct stance on all issues, would shut up and embrace the true faith, we'd all get along swimmingly. We don't care that you were brought up a certain way or have a different set of opinions, that you formed through a lifetime of differing experiences to mine. You should shut up and do as I say or I'll scream in your face.
That's what a lack of civility entails. Not, "hey we obviously disagree, here are my points, and if you don't like them, you don't have to talk to me ever again" - it's "hey f--kface, you suck and I hate you because of reasons. Nazi, libtard, rethuglican, et al".
Gone are the days (if they ever truly existed) of the marketplace of ideas. Of civil discourse. Now we have social media echo chambers that are causing Americans to factionalize. Where do we think this all might go? Do we think that not being civil to people you disagree with is somehow going to magically change their opinion? Calling people names, threatening them, demeaning them will somehow bring them over to your side of thinking?
The left and the right do this all of the time. As a "principled non-participant" in the two party system, it would be comical, if it wasn't so scary. My Facebook page is a microcosm of the nation as I have "friends", friends and family on both sides of our nation's political divide.
There are a lot of us out here in "flyover country". Not all of us are knuckle dragging imbeciles with our MAGA hats on. There are a lot of independent thinkers who don't want to spit on people with MAGA hats on.
Trump is a bad, bad man. No doubt. I didn't vote for him, but I couldn't vote for his opponent either. I did vote my conscience, which in a republic is all we can do, aside from saddling up and running ourselves. Problem is, our system is so dirty, so corrupt, it's moral foundation so riddled with voids and gaps, no "good" people can run. Anyone that runs for national office at this point is a borderline psychopath in my opinion. We'd be in this place no matter who won in 2016. It's the system, the framework. We don't even pay the Constitution lip service anymore. We live in a country dominated by a corrupt Military-Industrial-Media-Educational Complex.
So what to do in a country that has effectively declared Civility a thing of the past? I am going to do what I think every American should do. Concentrate on things that I can have effect on. I will plan for my future, raise my children, love my wife and brother and parents and in-laws. I'll take care of my extended family in ways that I can. I will plan for the worst, and hope for the best. But we're at a point in time that it's hard to divine the future. I pray for the continued laziness of the American people, it's what I'm going to bet on. Civil War (a frequent result of escalating incivility and factionalization - simple, recent history - see the Balkans in the 1990's) is HARD work. Modern Americans can't even find their houses on a non-electronic map, much less plan a modern infantry engagement. Modern Americans are helpless. They want what they want, when they want it and they are not used to not getting their way. I work with the general public and most of them, even with their modern conveniences (phones, computer, internet) What to do? Don't be helpless. How that works in your life is up to you. Food and water are pretty important - start there.
I will continue to be polite to every person I meet in life. I am not withdrawing from Social Media, because it is becoming far to interesting, and there are people on the internet that I once knew in-person, and still care about. I'm there for news about them. But if you post more than a few party-line political posts in a row, you just might get unfollowed for a while.
Civility is easy for a people that wants to be a people. It's coming apart, people. History says it will.
Pray that we build something better out of what came before.
Love is the only way to win,
Crazed American, out.
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