Disclaimer: Just because I am talking about Right Wing intolerance does not mean that I think the politcial left is immune from such behavior, nor do I believe that all liberals are tolerant. I recognize that there are Left Wing groups and individuals as intolerant as those on the right. I am after all fair and balanced.
Today something totally weird happened to me on Facebook, I made a throw away question and response on a friend’s likewise throw away comment. Some guy who was a friend of a friend of my friend on my friend’s Facebook friends list jumped my ass. He was brutal, called me stupid, a douche bag, idiot and several other things after I said that I was a “liberal.” He made derogatory comments concerning my intelligence and listening skills and when I made the comment that he had set off a severe PTSD reaction (I was trembling so badly that I had to take an anti-anxiety medicine to calm down) he made repeated derogatory comments about my condition and medication even saying that “too bad there is no medication for stupidity.” This young man did not know me from Adam yet he ripped into me assaulting my character, intelligence, and mental stability. This kid was ruthless, but he had learned well. He sounded just like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. The young man blamed the whole incident on me and commented “that people like me start wars.” I have no thirst for war after Iraq, but evidently this young man thinks that I am a war monger. Of course I didn’t make anything better when in the midst of my PTSD defense reaction I called him an asshole, but he was an arrogant young ass. My friend, who has known me for years dropped this young man from his friends list. Afterward this young man sent me a personal message blaming me for getting dropped from my friend’s friend list. I had apologized to my friend for breaking the decorum of his post by calling the young man an asshole, but I never suggested removing him as I did not know his relationship to my friend.
This young man unfortunately represents many who spend three to six hours a day or more listening to conservative talk radio. I used to do so myself, but had to give it up after my time in Iraq when I realized that many of these commentators had no earthly clue about what was going on over there. I also realized that in order for them to keep up ratings and make money and stay on the air that they have to keep people continuously spun up and agitated. If someone listens to that kind of message, regardless of the ideology espoused by the commentator, one will be spun up and agitated, ready to go to war with anyone who does not think that way.
When someone on Facebook sends you a message you can view their page. This young man claimed to be a Christian with his political views listed as “Anti-Democrat.” However, the Christian faith is about reconciliation. This young man has obviously been listening to more conservative talk radio than wrestling with Scripture or Christian belief. I hate to say it but the philosophic and scientific foundation of Capitalism is that of Charles Darwin and the survival of the fittest. It is pure and simple social Darwinism. Sorry that is not Christian, but my brothers on the political right often see at as something intrinsic to the Christian faith, when in fact it has been condemned by Popes.
I had another young man a few months ago who is an active duty officer in the military drop me from his friends list after I suggested he be careful in being too vocal about his political views. Active duty officers may vote, we may support political candidates, but we always, even when the President is different from our Party treat him with the respect and deference that the office and our oath demands. When I see right wing news sites like World Net Daily encourage military men to disobey lawful orders I am troubled. Those who encourage young men and women to disobey orders in a combat zone will abandon them once they have done so and been punished under the UCMJ. Then they will move on to another topic leaving the men who risked all for what these people encouraged them to do sit in jail, or are discharged; be it a Other Than Honorable, Bad Conduct or Dishonorable discharge. The right wing groups will raise money keep people spun up, but leave these men and women hung out to dry when they are finished with them. Such action by supposed “Christian” conservatives is unconscionable, immoral and in fact unchristian.
I can definitely say that I used to be a conservative, back in the days that it wasn’t popular after Nixon left office. Bill Buckley, George Will and Ronald Reagan were my political mentors. They were men of principle, gentlemen and though they disagreed with their opponents on the political left never made ad homonym personal attacks. They remained friends with their opponents on the other side of the aisle. I do still have some conservative leanings, I am pro-life but think based on what I see in medicine that there are some definite “gray” areas. I was appalled at the Vatican’s decision to excommunicate the mother and doctors of a 9 year old girl who had become pregnant with twins by her stepfather. The girl was discovered to be pregnant when she got sick and was about to die at about the 4th month of the pregnancy. The mother and doctors rightfully decided to save the child’s life which had been endangered by the criminal actions of the step father, who by the way was NOT excommunicated, the Brazilian government is prosecuting that horrible excuse of a man. When I see this action on the part of a church, any church I am appalled. I cannot see Jesus doing this to anyone, especially the people who elected to save the life of a child. Those who know anything about medicine know that at 16 weeks with a mother in extremis that any babies born will not be viable and will die anyway while at the same time likely killing the nine year old. Does this make me pro-abortion? I don’t think so, but evidently the Vatican does.
I left the Republican Party last year. It was hard. I had been a Republican since I was 16 years old. I worked for Gerald Ford’s campaign before I could vote. I cheered for Ronald Reagan, voted for George Bush. Had many issueswith Bill Clinton, but was troubled by actions of people rising to power in the Republican Party. I voted reluctantly for George W. Bush and wish that the Democrats had run someone other than John Kerry in 2004. I became critical of the Bush administration for many things which I will not go into here, but they are subjects often targeted by Libertarians and by those that some in the Republican Party refer to as “Paleoconservatives .” One of my chief complaints about the “Christian” right is that it looks to me that its leadership is simply an appendage of the Republican Party. I wonder if back in the 1976-1980 time frame had Christian leaders across the board ensured that they were represented inboth political parties if the Democrat Party would have gone as far left as it did. I also wonder if this would have kept both parties honest in dealing with social issues, including, but not limited to abortion. I have seen some “Christians” impose ideologies such as free market capitalism and war against Islamic nations and support of the former President and Republican Party agenda as tests of ones Christian faith and practice. I wonder about that because I think it has gutted the witness of the church in the world. I guess tis makes me a liberal now. Oh well…if I am I’m a liberal for Jesus.
So that is my story after being once again beaten up by some mindless drone who claims to be both a Christian and conservative. I’m definitely a Christian, but cannot claim to be a conservative in the current topography of the political landscape. As was the case in a Bloom County Comic strip back in the 1980s, Opus the Penguin was labled as a liberal, and the lable stuck. I guess I am a liberal now. Oh well…
The Inglorius Padre Steve's World 