if you can’t say something nice…
Reading the news in an election cycle is not for the faint of heart. I admit that I lost my stomach for the political season before the primaries were over. Once the ads went negative, I tuned out. Admittedly, I am a wimp.
Attempting to remain somewhat sane in an insane sea without going to shore, I have attempted to read an array of sources from the Huffington Post to Fox News, from the New York Times to Aljazeera. Although an economic neophyte, I have tried to read the daily news of the unraveling economy with intention while dodging the mud fight that is always a paragraph behind.
Coming of age with Ronald Reagan the rise of the Moral Majority, religiously tinged political rhetoric is not new to me. What is new is the level of hatefulness and the loss of all semblance of decorum. When our political rallies become feeding frenzies for hate-filled rhetoric, we have gone too far. When the charged rhetoric from the podium unleashes chants from the floor for murder, it is too late to hide behind the banner of free speech.
To be sure we are a fearful people and it is our fear that opens our hearts and minds to the swirling public sewer of negativity. Our scientific minds have now so far outpaced our moral ones that we have neither the scientific vocabulary nor the moral sensitivity to have a responsible conversation about the essence of life. We can start life in test tubes and keep hearts beating with machinery, but we have no clue about when the spirit enters and leaves. In lieu of wisdom, we purchase packages of soundbytes from one side or the other to hurl across the divide. Instead of discourse, we create discord. In this cultural context of fast paced shallow conversation, we find both a presidential campaign, an endless war, and a tanking economy. The result is not pretty. The toxic stream unleashed in recent weeks will not assuage our fear, it is in fact a heady fertilizer that puts our fears into hyper drive, turning our fears into potent landmines.
Although I was not a fan at the time, I’m beginning to see greater wisdom in the simplicity of Nancy Reagan’s, “Just say ‘no’.” To be sure, the problems we face far exceed any soundbyte including this one. Still, the first step to breaking the alcoholic cycle is to stop drinking. So too with the toxic waste destroying our public discourse. Just say no.
Between now and the election, I would suggest that if a negative commercial comes on the television, turn it off. If attending a rally that becomes negative, go home. If your friend or neighbor begins to tell you what’s wrong with this candidate or that, change the subject. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Now, more than ever, we need a return to the basic rules of kindness that govern the kindergarten playground.
Turning off all the negativity may well leave a void, but it is in this void that our still speaking God can be heard.
