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I loved the sentiments expressed in this little diddy from my facebook feed. Was America ever truly kind? I guess that’s really a matter of perspective. Than we can ask, “kind” compared to what? When? Where in history? Over all however yes, I’d say America has been kind in terms of providing the most opportunity for the largest number of people, in terms of our generosity and charity towards others, and our committment to human rights. We could get very jaded and cynical here and mention all of America’s faults too, but I’m not going to. I still think this is the best place in the world to live and people who continue to risk their lives trying to get here, seem to agree with me.
The meme however, speaks to how we were before the politics of personal destruction and technology took over. I liked the good old days when the rich and famous would fall on their faces all over our TV’s and we could laugh about it. Today we act as if everybody is a famous celebrity so we have the right to gloat over each others misfortune. Neighbors, friends, family. That was never our way.
At some point in recent history we went from, “I may not agree with you, but I’d die defending your right to say it,” to “just shut up and die, you aren’t supporting the right political candidate.” Hostile and divisive. Definitely not “kind.” On the bottom of the power structure fighting for scraps, like dogs fighting over garbage. Divided, not having unity, now relieved of all idealism and actually celebrating the potential downfall of an entire political system, a party, a candidate.
It’s ugly. I also know I can’t do a darn thing about it, the wheels were set in motion long ago, but kindness still matters. People far wiser than me have deduced that at the end of the day, kindness is really all that does matter.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
I think things were actually better before social media took over. We as a society seem more divided now, simply because everyone and their grandmother feels compelled to voice an opinion.
Kindness, common sense, respect — those qualities seem to be in short supply. I wish it wasn’t so.
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This sort of falls back to “perception is reality”. No matter how many of our soldiers die to police the world, no matter how much money is raised to save the “fill-in-the blanks”, no matter how many goods are shipped to help the orphans…America is the ultimate enemy for whoever wants what they aren’t receiving.
Kind? As generous as the American people have been for the last 100 years, the only people who call us unkind are those who want the money and just haven’t gotten as much as they want….yet. But calling Americans unkind will guarantee the funds they request.
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I think there are still many kind Americans but that is no longer reflected in those who govern us. I certainly, don’t feel represented in this presidential election. Traditional, Constitutional liberty loving Americans are pretty much left out in the cold. Still, I intend to remain kind and true to the principles I believe in no matter what our political system becomes.
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I don’t think we’ve had an ideological election since the Reagan/Mondale race in 1984. Carter really started the downslide by making the election personal in 1976; true, Reagan did promote a solid plan and vision but even his campaigns were fueled largely by antagonism towards the failed Carter policies and a lot of anti-Establishment sentiments. After Reagan, the dam really broke. I’d wager that 9 voters in 10 today are motivated either by hatred of the opposing candidate or handouts offered by the one they favor. And the candidates reflect that: their speeches are either personal criticism or vague platitudes and empty promises.
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I agree that this election in particular, is very emotion driven but that also, serves as a smoke screen to cover that fact that none of the top candidates uphold the Constitution. The left upholds The New Constitution of Progressivism and outright socialism. Trump upholds Trump and is expertly riding a wave of populous anger. If the left hired Trump to destroy the Republican party, he could not do a better job. The majority of people don’t approve of any of the candidates. The people aren’t being represented but there are still some being manipulated. So…I think ideology is at play but these days, manipulation over-rides everything. There are many pots that have simmered for a long time that seem to be coming to a boil all at once.
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In fairness, all that Trump is really doing is using the Left’s own tactics against them. The Liberals have been inciting populist anger since the 60s. The danger though is now we have both parties riding on a wave of anger. The Republicans at least used to stand for the Constitution although recently the leadership has been too weak to enforce it.
Looking back at past Populist leaders like Theodore Roosevelt and John Kennedy; you had men with proven track records of doing the right thing and proving themselves as leaders. Trump, on the other hand, is like the recent run of celebrity candidates who talk a big game but have no ideas. I think that if Hilary gets nominated a lot of Bernie the Sandman’s supporters will support Trump instead because he shares their attitudes moreso than their ideology.
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People always sidle up to power, Eric. Trump is the alpha, so he just has to say “follow me,” and many will without even being aware of why.
So yes, it is totally attitude over ideology and you are right, the Bernidines would likely lean Trump or sit it out before they’d support Hillary.
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I’m not sure if ‘kindness’ is what’s missing today; people are probably about the same in that regard. What’s changed socially is on a deeper level. When the ‘Personal is Political’ became the New Normal, things like one’s politics, religion, relationships, occupation, etc. were considered private matters—nobody else’s business. Today, those things—even down to what you eat, what you wear, what you read, what you drive: are considered making a political statement and defines you as an ally or an enemy.
This is also the reason why privacy rights have so eroded in America, BTW.
What we’re seeing in the political landscape is the logical outcome of this mentality. Trump’s Brownshirts and the Sandman’s Redshirts are not even ideologically motivated; they just hate some abstraction that the other side supposedly represents.
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Well said, Eric. The personal did become political, largely in part due to feminism. Then we progressed into the politics of personal destruction, where it became permissible to invade someone’s privacy and totally demolish them if you didn’t approve of their politics. In the “olden days,” we could disagree vehemently and then shake hands and go on to work together. Nobody ever thought it was okay to doxx people, to report them to various agencies, to basically punish them for bad thought. There were boundaries, some rules for decent behavior. Of course it was never perfect and there have always been lunkheads, but today our candidates really do act like the comment section on some of our favorite websites.
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There’s always been a degree of political violence in the US, but the difference in recent years has been that the political and cultural leadership has been egging it on and encouraging it. The government’s actions during and after the US Civil War—the most divisive time in history—stunned foreign leaders because of it’s emphasis on reconciliation and lack of reprisals. The attitude even then was ‘brother against brother’ and most Confederate leaders had citizenship rights restored and were serving with the united government within a few years. Nothing like that ever happened in European civil wars.
In today’s political and cultural climate another civil war would end like the French Revolution.
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“In today’s political and cultural climate another civil war would end like the French Revolution.”
The French Revolution is certainly something that is often on my mind. I frequently say rather cynically, “oh great, and here comes the Goddess of Reason, right on schedule.”
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I so agree with this post. I am not too old to remember a time say what, 10 years ago when people could disagree politically but still understand that the other person was coming from good intent. Now everything is demonized and what you believe determines your morality.
So many things contribute to this; divisive politicians, 24/7 news cycle, social media’s ability to let opinions fly without consequence, narcissism run rampant….there’s a lot at play here, who knows how it will end up.
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I agree IB:
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Just lovely, Paul. Thank you.
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This is something from my last post that seems to fit here.
Kindness results from being thankful. Thankful people are kind because they are thankful they have something to share, and people are grateful — thankful — because someone cares enough about them to share.
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Kindness results from being thankful! Great comment, Tom. I think you’re right there. Happiness, joy, often stems from gratitude and when people have an abundance of gratitude, we do tend to want to share.
Speaking politically here, it seems much more effective to allow people to keep the fruits of their labors, to thrive in the midst of opportunity, rather than to mandate sharing. It’s more aligned with human nature to give from overflow and abundance rather than scarcity and resentment.
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@insanitybytes22
Agreed. The Democrats like to tell us Social Security and Medicare are great successes, but how do we know? We have to go to other countries to see how any alternatives might work.
Here greedy politicians used charity as an excuse to spend other people’s money, and those politicians spent every cent they got and then some. So both programs are projected to go broke.
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Reblogged this on Parrots, Prose, and Poetry.
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Thank you for the reblog, much appreciated. 🙂
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You’re welcome! I love this!
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