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Friday, November 02, 2018

The New Politicism

The Hill reported on the swearing in of 35 children from 22 countries who recited the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens. Now, I'm a little confused because I didn't think that children were legally allowed to swear oaths or decide to be citizens, but that's okay. Merely a curiosity on my part. What I found disappointing was the conversation in the comments. A character who bore the unfortunate moniker of "Ronald Reagan" boldly and confidently stated,
Sane people see this and are happy for these children and wish them a bright future

Trump supporters see this and the first thing that goes through their mind is they want to kill people
Why do we go there? The attack is huge. "Sane people agree with me. Trump supporters are insane." "All Trump supporters wish to kill people." "If you're not on my side, you're not sane." You may think that I'm overstating it, but if you flip through the thread of comments that follow, I think I'm being lenient. "If you're a Trump supporter, you're a hateful racist." "Anyone connected to Trump is a traitor and a terrorist." "If you're sane you're in favor of freely admitting the thousands of illegal aliens marching from Central America; anyone who doesn't is a racist hater." "Most Americans agree with the comment." "If you have a problem with it, it's because these are non-white children." These are the kinds of sentiments offered in the comments.

Hate speech is communication that carries no meaning other than the expression of hatred for some group, especially if it is likely to provoke violence. How does this not qualify as "hate speech"? Why is it that people who merely share the same political party affiliation are deemed insane, and that is not hate speech? When Hillary tells CNN, "You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for," how is that not an incitement to incivility, to hate, to violence? Why, when unkind and far-right-GOP types said the same kinds of thing against Obama and were castigated for it, is that not "hate speech"? If racism is disdain on the basis of race and sexism is disdain on the basis of sex and ageism is disdain on the basis of age, what do we call this blanket disdain for people purely on the basis of political party?

I'm not a Trump supporter, but neither am I a rabid Trump hater. And I'm deeply saddened by the hateful climate of American politics today. It leaves no room for dialogue or compromise. The term "politicism" has a definition, but it seems to me that disdain for the members of an entire political party simply on the basis of their political affiliation would be the new "politicism" today. Maybe someone else has a better term for it. I'm not expecting a solution.
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(Note: Disagreeing with the views of a particular political party is not the same as hatred for their members.)

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