Politics. Sort Of. . .

This will be my one and only blog post for the political season. I was originally going to write a lot of blog posts about a lot of my thoughts. But I am lazy, and didn't get around to it. Meanwhile, I kept reading a lot of other political stuff from other people, and I realized something - almost all of this political ranting and gnashing of teeth about this or that candidate/policy/debate/gaff/whatever just starts to be pathetically futile background noise. It reminded me of something I saw on Facebook once that struck me as being particularly true. It said something to this effect:

"Your political rants and tirades on Facebook have really convinced me that my previously held beliefs are wrong. I have decided that I should now think like you.

-Said nobody. Ever."

I think that is basically true. I can't think of a single political rant that I have ever read that really gave me pause to reconsider my own stances. It is all propaganda. The Nazis could not have dreamt of a more effective way to spread dissent and hatred. Worse yet, it is almost always misinformed, half-baked and terribly biased. Plus, the amount of venom and vitriol that is spread around on Facebook and other sites about politics is just plain rude. We would never lambast each other like this if we were in the room together. But in the anonymity of our living rooms, we can wax grandiose and belligerent about things we aren't qualified to teach, smugly belittle others while wearing sweatpants and slippers, and for the most part, get away with it.

All of this political fighting doesn't reveal nearly so much about our politics as it does about our character as people. If we are willing to offend, alienate and disenfranchise our friends and family just to make a politically inflammatory statement, then this necessarily means something about us. It means that we suck as people. And if we do this harm to others without being aware that we are harming them, it means we suck as people and are ignorant of it. That is infinitely worse.

I think a lot of people who do this political posting are unaware of the harm they are causing. Unaware (or maybe uncaring) about the feelings they are hurting, the disrespect they are showing, and the lack of civility they are betraying to the world. It is one thing to show support for a cause you champion. It is another thing entirely to mock or belittle the stances of others. Even as a kid playing pee-wee soccer, we were taught that good sportsmanship is cheering for your team. Bad sportsmanship is cheering against the other team. If you score a goal, you cheer. If the other team does something stupid and you cheer, that means you are a jerk. You are celebrating their misfortune. You are a bad sport. You shouldn't be allowed to play. In fact, I can remember a time when just this thing happened.

I was playing basketball in the Jr. Jazz league in Riverton. I wasn't very good, but I was very tall. So I played center. I remember that the other team had a power forward who was a very good shot. But he was short. So I kept blocking his shots. And people in the tiny crowd watching the game would cheer. That felt good to me. But then someone began making fun of him. Whenever he got the ball, they taunted him to try and shoot again. That did NOT feel good to me. I was ashamed. I was ashamed to have been pulled into something that became tawdry and cheap. I became part of persecution. I hated it. I kept blocking his shots when I could, but I didn't enjoy it anymore. I wasn't mad at myself or at the kid. I was mad at the person who turned my good game into his cause to make someone else feel like they were somehow less. The jerk kept it up, though. And was ejected from the game. He was the father of one of my team-mates, and when he was ejected from the game, I felt relieved. He was ruining it for me and for everyone else.

That is what all this political/philosophical/theological abuse really is - we are trying to make other people feel like they are less. This is the essence of persecution. It is bad sportsmanship, bad citizenship. So if you do it, stop. Doing it means you suck. Don't suck.

We don't have to agree. It is healthy to disagree. But if we do so in an ugly way, it necessarily means that we are ugly ourselves. All the anonymity in the world doesn't change this. Ugly is as ugly does.

So here is my plea as the election winds down - next time you have something political to say, make sure you are cheering for your team, and not against the other one. Make sure that, in your zeal to promote your cause, you don't simultaneously degrade yourself. There was once a pretty smart guy who talked about how we should treat people we don't agree with. If I remember the story right, there was nothing mentioned about criticizing, being mean, or making anyone feel like they are less. I am paraphrasing here, but it was something like "do good to those that despitefully use you."

If Jesus thinks we should be nice and understanding to people who are literally crucifying us, I shudder to think how He feels about it when we are rude or dismissive or harsh to others who have only done us the grave offense of disagreeing.