Political?

Posted on September 27, 2003 in Attitudes Blogging

Is it politics or not?

I’ve had many conversations about the immigration issue and often find my fellow Californians in disagreement with me. Recently, as a result of one posting on the immigration issue that I saw on another blog plus a host of others, I made the decision to end a relationship. The one poster who has come in defense so far (there may be others), has claimed that I have ostracized this person merely because of “politics”.

I see two camps in the anti-immigration field. The first simply wants to prevent California from becoming over-crowded. Or they worry about the effects of bilingualism. These are the moderates and the centrists. Typically, when you disagree with them, they will protest that they are not racist — they merely see a flood of people coming in or unnerving changes. I can talk to these people — they express a point of view without being derogatory towards me or towards others.

The other camp is derogatory. Members of this camp and their fans insist that they are the nicest people. Articles such as this and this suggest that they are quite capable of mean behavior. For the record, I don’t participate in humor that marks George W. Bush as being monkey-like in appearance, for example. It’s mean. So are the articles mentioned above.

I can usually read around the leftist blogs where they post the puerile stuff about George W. Bush. But I visit them less. With the right wing blogs, it is, I admit, harder, because a lot of the shots that are taken are made at people like me. “Liberals are this. Liberals are that.” I’ve been called a lover of terrorism because I object to the war in Iraq which has proved to be anything but a war on terrorism (at least not until after the invasion). I’ve been called an accessory to murder for opposing the death penalty. I’ve been called a traitor for questioning George W. Bush’s performance in office. I’ve been called racist because I stand for giving people of color a chance to have an education and to serve the public as elected officials. I’ve been called sexist for stating my support of the same for women. I’ve been called a sex fiend for standing up for Bill Clinton’s right to a fair trial and freedom from wrathful, highly partisan prosecution.

When you print derogatory songs and mocking drivers’ licenses about Joe Tijuana and laugh, that’s racism. You also mock the compassion that people like my wife and I feel about these people whose “crime” is wanting a better life for themselves.

Such mockery isn’t “political disagreement” — it’s derision.

That’s going beyond mere political disagreement. That’s abuse. That’s the difference between class one and class two on the immigration issue. Class one speaks from a concern. Class two goes far beyond the concern and declares a war. Class one deserves rebuttal. Class two deserves reproach.

It’s apparent to me that the problem with many on both the right and the left is that they don’t have a clue how mean they sound. They don’t get that their jokes are cruel. Or maybe they do and it just doesn’t sink in that they aren’t going to make high quality friends that way. When you walk from them, they and their friends whine as if you’ve driven a knife into them.

In a sense, you have.

What I feel is this: a trap was set by another. I walked into it. Then, on self-examination, I realized that by doing so I had to agreed to engage in the same kind of attack. I didn’t want to do this. So I walked away.

I am not going to hang around at weblogs that print racist and other hate material. I don’t have time for people who don’t have a clue about what they are doing, who don’t make an effort to understand the criticisms that are lodged against them, who don’t ask themselves “what have I done here?” They will have many “friends” who will defend them. Friend is a common word, but a rare fact.