In the wake of yesterday’s tragic shooting of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords no small number of commentators were quick to lay blame for the climate in which this kind of thing could happen at the doorstep of millions who differ with Ms. Giffords’s views. I find that troubling — not because I share those views — but because it points to a general decline in thoughtful, judicious political conversation.
The murderer who perpetrated these crimes is, by all accounts, criminally insane. Others may be convinced that he represents a coherent point of view. But based upon the early reports that I have read about Mr. Loughner, I can find no reason to believe that we will ever obtain any information that will provide a rational explanation for his utterly irrational, indiscriminate, and criminal behavior. Like Timothy McVey and others, his views are a chaotic combination of fear and prejudices. In another day and age he would have been branded as demon-possessed. There are others like them out there, but — thankfully — they are in the minority.
But the sweeping editorializing that claimed to understand the inner workings of this madman’s mind and then attributed them to millions of other Americans is not. It is widespread, common on both ends of the political spectrum, and far more dangerous.
For people on both the left and right, the politics of leverage has fostered a climate in which it is fair game to demonize others using the behavior of the demon-possessed. And that practice when imperils the very structures that have made our democratic way of life possible. At every twist and turn in political debates with one another, those who cherish the gift we have been given in this democracy of ours bear two responsibilities: thoughtful advocacy for a point of view and vigorous advocacy for the civil, respectful climate in which that advocacy is possible.
The great danger in the current political climate is that far too many are tempted to believe that the advocacy for a point of view is of preeminent importance. It is not. It is the defense of liberty that transcends the debates of the moment. If we allow cynicism or fervor for a point of view to undermine the strength of our advocacy for freedom of expression, then we will have all lost.
Is there a spiritual issue here? Yes.
As a Christian, I am convinced that advocacy for a civil, respectful climate reflects the freedom that God gives to all of us. I also believe that God’s way of working in our lives is never coercive. So, to the extent that our national life preserves freedom and avoids coercion, the potential for us to thrive in God-given ways is also preserved.
That makes a difference in the way I engage political issues. And while I don’t always succeed, there are three things I try to do:
- I resist the temptation to argue that our national life should conform my understanding of the Gospel.
- I resist the temptation to argue that my political views and the will of God are one in the same.
- And I try not to demonize others, using the behavior of the demon-possessed.
It is not simply the liberty of expression that is at stake. It is the liberty of our souls.
Can you expand on this?
Father Fred, a few thoughts about this. . .
there’s no question that this was the act of a twisted and sick young criminal, but history is full of stories of twisted and sick people being whipped into fevered frenzies so intense as to be pushed over the homicidal edge, isn’t it? I certainly understand what you’re saying about pundits claiming to know the mind of one who committed a totally mindless act, but I do think there is–and was– legitimate concern about the evermore inflammatory rhetoric pervading our political culture. In a culture in which a frightening number of people went on a Facebook page to join in the sick fun of a movement to pray for Obama’s death based on a scripture–which countless other and supposedly otherwise decent people including churchgoers found amusing–I think maybe you’ve overstated what you call greater dangers. I think it was inevitable that blame be pointed regarding the climate because this rampage, or one like it, has been waiting to happen for a long time. A lot of the people who have been warning about this kind of act for a long time are now seen as misplacing blame for the act of one sick criminal. Ultimately the criminal is to blame here, but words do have consequences and what once was seen as militant political rhetoric is now seen as pretty much mainstream. Every time I post an opinion on my stand on, say, gy rights, I get comments (which I don’t approve for posting, of course) from people like the one who called me a “g.d. faggot lover.” And that wasn’t even the crudest or most vulgar. So it’s small wonder that young gays or even those perceived as gay live in fear in this climate. Like I say, just a few thoughts from one who’s been sickened by the evermore violent rehetoric he hears and the violent culture he’s been living in and is really, really sick over this latest episode.
Paul, thanks for the thoughtful response. I am not minimizing the dangers and / or the vitriole of comments like the ones that you cite. I am really arguing that the tendency to identify the actions of someone like this disturbed young man with political views of countless others is, in point of fact, of a piece with incivil language.
People of good will should always challenge demonizing language. But the operative word is “always.” The kind of language used to attack President Obama was used just a few short years ago to attack President Bush and some of the same people who have rightly questioned the language used by conservative commentators was being used to describe the last President.
Both sides of a difference must take responsibility for the nature of the debate itself.
Just did! Thanks.
Very true about the demonizing of the last President. There was a United Methodist preacher, an acquaintance and colleague of mine in the North Texas Conference, quoted in the Morning News comparing Bush to Hitler and the GOP to the Nazi Party a few years ago. As much as I loathed the politics of the last administration I found that really disgusting, but there’s a lot of casual Hitler and Nazi labeling all around now, which demonstrates a real ignorance of history and diminishes just how atrocious Hitler and Nazism were. But it seems to me that people on all sides are edgy and reactionary post-911. Anyway, your stuff always makes me pause and think, and me thinking is always really dangerous.