Just minutes ago I was described as an apologist for genocide. It took less than 24 hours for someone to ascribe to me the attributes of Hitler. I was waiting for it. I expected it.
In the mean time, of course, I have been called virtually every disparaging name in the book. Racist, White supremacist, horrible, terrible, asshole, etc. etc. People I know, respect(ed) and like(d) shamed me publicly. They threatened my career.
And for what? For saying that the media behaved irresponsibly and had gone beyond the pale for invoking Hitler.
24 hours later, _I_ am Hitler.
During those 24 hours, do you know how much civil discussion there was? Almost none at all.
During those 24 hours, do you know how much civil discussion there was? Almost none at all.
This is how it works, folks. When we polarize into tribes, and ramp up the rhetoric, it doesn’t take long to demonize your friends and invoke Hitler upon those you disagree with.
This is where genocide lives. It lives in the willingness to declare those who disagree with us as perpetrators of ultimate evil. Ultimate evil must be destroyed at all costs.
This was pitchforks and torches folks. I’m a big boy. I can withstand it. But it does not bode well for our society.
Yes, the crisis at the border was heart and gut wrenching. It was horrible. But the political polarization we saw in action over the last 24 hours is much scarier, to me, than that. Bad things happen when the torches and pitchforks come out.
I advise you to put them down and start to _think_ again.
