Today in seminary we were talking about Flat Earthers. Don’t ask; it’s not important.
What is important is the part where one of the teenage girls in class said “I actually know someone who believes the earth is flat!”
One of the boys snorted and said “He must be a Democrat.”
She replied, “No, he’s not.”
And he responded incredulously, “You mean he’s a Republican?”
We all kind of laughed it off, but later, as I thought about the exchange a bit, I realized it bothered me for a couple of reasons. First, this young man– who’s a great kid and quite sharp– seems to believe that all people can basically be defined by their political beliefs. You’re either a Democrat or a Republican, and that’s it. And second, he clearly feels that the former are idiots and the latter are geniuses (or perhaps better stated, Democrats are wrong and Republicans are right).
I feel like this pretty much sums up the way American society is today. So many people have an “us and them” mentality, where they place anyone who believes differently than them into a category, and then turn them into an enemy. And everything– literally everything— is politicized. I long for the Good Old Days when we were the United States, and where polite, respectful discourse was the norm, not this bitter rancor we see now.
Sigh.
