Month: March 2016

I have a left coast/right coast friendship with a person I met on a banjo excursion.

(Have I lost you already?)

Mike and I are pretty far apart on the political spectrum. We’ve taken to egging each other on in long emails about stuff like guns, politicians and whether or not Paul Krugman is worth reading. (Sometimes I feel about Paul Krugman the way I felt about George Harrison when I was 13.)

I always learn something from Mike, and he gives me insights into the way conservatives and libertarians think about things. He also helps me see the gap between our information sources and how they shade our understanding of the world.

Mike’s son has told Mike several times that he admires the fact that we can have civil conversations about this stuff without getting snarky and rude.

Yikes!

So apparently, the norm is not to listen, question, discuss and respect.  Adam, a bright college student, has grown up in a time where snarkiness is the best one can expect and all-out hostility and wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap words are acceptable in a conversation about reason and values.

I was getting used to being called a liar (someone who I didn’t know once called me a liberal liar by name in what he thought was a private Facebook message), or being lumped together as one of those “lefty liars.”

I have bristled at being included as one of “those idiots” who support a left-leaning position.

Honestly — and apparently mea culpa — I associated this kind of social media language with the Limbaugh-inspired right wing fringe.

Until this campaign season.

My friend Ivan recently posted that he was tired of Clinton supporters calling Bern Feelers idiots if they chose not to vote for Clinton in the general election.

I am cringing at some of the language aimed at the Hillary side, as well as Clinton herself, by some Sanders supporters. (I’m not opposed to liberal use of F-bombs, but I don’t like them when used to describe my political leanings.)

And let me take this opportunity to rant about any use of “tard,” which I have seen used by folks on both sides of the aisle. Really, people, have you not progressed from when we were eight years old and called each other. . . well, I can’t even say what the favorite third-grade insult was.  Have we not learned anything about humanity?

This has got to be one of the most offensive words ever used in a political discussion — worse than nigger, bitch, you name it.

I had the hubris to believe that Democrats were the thoughtful party of respectful people. I am so sad to acknowledge I had it wrong. Crassness knows no party lines.

In a conversation, it’s great to have one’s perceptions challenged. It’s important to receive new information and be introduced to new ways of thinking.

But when my integrity or my character is challenged, the conversation ends for me. For many others, I’m sure.

As I’ve said repeatedly in recent weeks, this is a heart-breaking time in our political history.

It’s true that Donald Trump is encouraging violence in many ways.

But violently hateful language — even the words that we use among so-called friends — can be more enduring and more dangerous.

I am resisting the temptation to hide under the bed for the next nine months. It could be a lot worse  by the time I emerge.

 

 

 

Last fall, I listened to a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service talk about the intensity of the 2015 fire season. She referred to the number of resources available for fighting fires and how many more were needed to control last year’s forest fires.

Eventually  I realized that she was simply talking about people. She wasn’t talking about helicopters or trucks or flame suppressant. She was just talking about young men and women who fight fires.

I remember in the past working on new projects for a corporation. One of the big considerations was “resources.”

But again, what they were really talking about was people. How many people is it going to take to get the job done? Are people currently available to work on the project or to complete the work once the planning is done? Are they already committed to other programs?

This all got me thinking about how organizations talk to employees. How does it feel to be considered a “resource”?  On the one hand, it’s good to know that you’re valued and seen as something that contributes to the success of a program or project. On the other hand, how does it feel to be lumped into the same class as a laptop or a Kubota?

Bureaucratese can be boring. It can be imprecise. It can be awkward. But the worst thing it should ever be is impersonal. Whether the language is directed to front line employees or is exchanged in meetings between managers and officers, it’s important to be respectful of the time, skills and lives of those who get most of the work done. Every word counts.

As are all employees, forest firefighters are much more than resources.They are healthy, brave people who put their lives at risk.