George Tiller was a Kansas doctor who was the medical director of Women’s Healthcare Services in Wichita. Tiller’s medical practice was one of only three in the nation that performed late-term abortions, which were done in the instance of severe or fatal birth defects or for the health of the mother. Dr. Tiller was for all intents and purposes a relatively normal Kansas man, he was married, he had four children, and he was active in his church. Yet his career was marked by abnormality as he was targeted by anti-choice groups, his practice was fire bombed, he received death threats at his home, and he was even shot five times by a woman who had been harassing Tiller for 5 years. It might’ve been bad enough if Tiller just faced hostility at home, but Tiller was the subject of 28 separate segments of disgraced former Fox host Bill O’Reilly’s show The O’Reilly Factor. On that program, which had a national audience in the millions, Dr. Tiller was “Tiller the Baby Killer” and “a savage on the loose, killing babies willy-nilly”. In 2009 Dr. George Tiller was murdered, shot in the head, during worship services at his church. Where were his calls for civility?

Gabrielle Giffords was a US congresswoman representing Arizona’s 8th district. Giffords represented a district that had been a frequent target of Republicans, but her moderate image prevented them from taking her seat even in the Tea Party wave of 2010. Giffords supported stem-cell research, raising the minimum wage, and the Affordable Care Act, which drew the ire of conservatives in spite of her support of stronger immigration laws. Failed governor and GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s Super Pac had a website with a map of competitive congressional districts and Gifford’s district as well as others were depicted in the middle of a gun’s cross-hairs. Giffords complained about the imagery because as she saw it “there are consequences to that action”. In 2011 Giffords was shot during a meet-and-greet with her constituents, she survived but 6 people did not, including a 9-year-old girl named Christina-Taylor Green. Where were their calls for civility?

Igor Soldo and Alyn Beck were police officers in Las Vegas. Soldo was a dedicated public servant who drove from Nebraska to Las Vegas to interview for his job. He was a husband, and he was a father of a baby boy. Beck was a senior patrol officer who had served since 2001 and was also a husband and father. In 2014, conservative media intensely covered the Bundy standoff and lauded the ranchers and their supporters as something like folk heroes. Bundy of course was a tax evading racist who didn’t recognize the legitimacy of the Federal Government and his supporters aimed their rifles at police officers. These facts were not relevant to the Limbaughs and Hannitys who were focused only on framing yet another argument about a how America was drifting into Marxism under President Obama. There was a couple present at the Bundy standoff who happened to live in Las Vegas and also apparently felt emboldened by their popular support among some conservatives for standing up to the federal government. They recorded videos asking for ammunitions and detailing their hatred of government but more specifically, President Obama’s government. In July of 2014, Igor Soldo and Alyn Beck were murdered by that extremist couple and their bodies were draped with the Gadsden flag and a swastika. Where were their calls for civility?

We don’t have to talk about Donald Trump’s call for protesters to be beaten up on the campaign trail. We don’t have to talk about that time Donald Trump implied that Hillary Clinton should be shot by “second amendment people”. We don’t have to talk about Donald Trump’s embrace of nicknames, awful conspiracy theorists, and the almost propaganda like assistance he’s received from Fox News. Because Donald Trump isn’t the cause of our “lack of civility” and conservatives don’t really care about civility. If they did, we’d have heard about it before now.

Conservatives don’t like to be inconvenienced when they go out to eat, they don’t like being shamed by their friends for supporting a morally bankrupt administration, and they don’t like being held accountable. They don’t care about the political discourse which was debased long before Trump descended down his golden escalator and called Mexicans rapists. Their argument for civility isn’t about our democracy or protecting institutions, it’s about making the internment of children or the rollback of civil rights a matter of “debate” instead of “right and wrong”. It’s about accepting objectively terrible things and legitimizing hateful ideologies because “we’ve got to listen to all sides”.

If we’re going to survive as a country, we can’t keep allowing ourselves to be gaslighted into thinking that our protests to protect democracy are the reasons it’s being degraded. The idea that saying the “F word”, engaging members of OUR GOVERNMENT in public, or restaurants not being comfortable playing host to people complicit in the internment of children is equivalent to actual violence is frankly ridiculous. So, with all due respect, Fuck your civility.

The post About the Calls for “Civility” appeared first on Occasional Planet.

If one assumes that “divide and conquer” remains the ruling class’s favorite weapon, many leaders must be applauding Donald Trump for having done such a thorough job of polarizing the populace. Trump’s vicious rhetoric has encouraged people across the political spectrum to turn on each other with extraordinary ferocity and contempt. Racist stereotypes abound; study political cartoons of African-American youth or clueless, tubby Joe Six-Pack.

Such blistering attacks not only make it harder to create common ground to better protect ourselves, our families, our nation, and our planet, but also generate so much emotional static that it is difficult to think clearly. For example, blaming the election outcome on the “white working class” is a variant of “white trash baiting.” That analysis conveniently ignores how many middle class and upper middle class whites supported Trump. It also enables some smug liberals to blame the victims.

It is equally misleading to equate an average voter’s beliefs with the most odious members of their Party. Neo-Nazi support for Donald Trump does not make every Trump voter or supporter a fascist. The same applies to viewpoints about religion. Anti-religious atheists like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins are intellectual provocateurs, not to be equated with skeptical agnostics who try to pursue a spiritual life of kindness while suspending judgment on such great questions as the possibility of God, science-defying miracles, and life after death.

On the other hand, it is hard to stay polite when so many are so vicious. You become a softy in a harsh world. Outrage is necessary when our nation is acting so recklessly and cruelly. As someone who has long been disgusted by the devolution of our land from a flawed but hopeful, wealthy republic into an anxious, poorly informed herd prodded by billionaires and their hench-people, I have developed guidelines to prevent me from habitually falling into the divide and conquer trap:

Be very wary of political and economic leaders, whatever their purported ideology.

Republicans versus Democrats is often a tribal con. The economic and political elite run both Parties, permitting the citizenry to fight over Culture War crumbs. Be skeptical of any polemic that starts “Republicans are…” or “Liberals think…” Unqualified political analysis is often insultingly overbroad. Madison said that a republican citizenry remains virtuous so long as they never blindly trust their superiors.

Be equally wary of intellectual leaders and media figures, whatever their background.

The priests of power residing in the media, think tanks, and academy are rewarded for developing arguments and slogans that legitimate the status quo. The five major corporations that own most of the mass media constantly regulate the scope of acceptable argument. How often has the New York Times or any other major news source published articles describing NATO expansion and aggression in Eastern Europe?

 Don’t have double standards

A lot of Democrats understandably got very upset because children would be adversely influenced by detailed revelations of Trump’s sexual predations. But where was that disgust among the Democratic elite when Bill Clinton introduced the concept of oral sex to another generation of youngsters? If you supported Trump because you thought Obama was unwilling to enforce the law against corporate criminals and Hillary would be equally pliable, demand that Trump drain the swamp. Many Democrats loved Wikileaks when it exposed Republican war crimes but are outraged now.

Develop sympathy for most followers

Most people aspire to be decent, performing an often-tedious job, helping family members, being with friends, and enjoying some aspects of life. Not everybody who disagrees with you about important political issues suffers from greed, fear, racism, sexism, or false consciousness. Many divisive issues are polarizing because “partial justice” exists on both sides. We need each other to form a supermajority to avoid environmental and/or nuclear catastrophe. Most Americans have been poorly educated. Pervasive advertising helped mold their cultural consciousness, while their schools mandate Test-driven regurgitation of abstract concepts like “division of labor” which have been stripped of history, context, qualification, and critical analysis. These distracting, isolated concepts and facts are worse than useless.

Criticize extremists and avoid trolls

There are always some followers worth criticizing. If someone joins the Ku Klux Klan or any other organization that romanticizes terror and bigotry, they truly are an “enemy.” If a fanatic acts violently, they deserve severe punishment. The white supremacist murderer Dylan Root and the four African-American sadists in Chicago have deeply hurt our society. If you reject the electoral system, as flawed as it is, you need to change your viewpoint.  Do you really think an even more unaccountable political elite would be more responsive to the average person’s needs and interests? Trolls are at best worthless, at worst an emotional drag.

Try to find some common ground with friends and family who are on “the other side.”

This is the most important point, because these people are the emotional center of our private lives. Try to prevent public issues from destroying domestic tranquility. While often failing, I attempt to avoid political discussions with those close to me unless they express quite a bit of interest, don’t want to get into a shouting match, and don’t play intellectual “gotcha.” First, try to find issues you agree on. There should continue to be elections. Domestic political violence is bad. Political dissent must be protected. If they don’t accept these basic democratic principles, there is no reason for further discussion.

Perhaps you can move to more contentious issues. Systemic torture is vile, counterproductive, and a threat to our troops. Americans should not be left to starve to death. Clinton and Trump both have flawed characters. Florida should not go under water. Nuclear war is a bad idea.

If you run into a political bully from either side, politely inform them in private that you prefer to discuss something else. If they continue, point out that they are causing you emotional discomfort even if their motives and intentions were good. You might deter continued harassment by describing how they are not respecting your wishes. If they persevere, calmly exit. You might even wait a couple of minutes, so they won’t get the pleasure of thinking they rattled you. There is no reason to put up with such abuse.  Of course, you may have to do this many times with certain family members.

Preserve patient hope

Some of you may have not been all that interested in politics. It often is a dirty business. Now that you have become involved, you may expect things to change quickly. Good luck with that. Patience is a political as well as a personal virtue. You must maintain hope that we can improve, but you might want to reduce expectations that major advances will happen, much less happen soon.

We can be quite certain that things will get much worse if decent people capitulate. The good news is that the emergence of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders indicates that the neoliberal, imperialist ideological monolith may be cracking up. This is an interesting time. For decades, millions of us could not find a single politician or television program reflecting our viewpoint.   But we should remain wary of all politicians, including Warren and Sanders. Will they join or oppose the Democratic leadership’s promotion of a second Cold War with Russia?

Be kind to yourself and others

It may not seem like much, but smile at people who appear to be on the other side. There are a lot of anxious Muslims and defiant white males walking about. A non-political joke goes a long way. Whenever you encounter an internal wave of misanthropy, despair, or bitterness, don’t lacerate yourself with shame or self-hatred. Otherwise, you turned these recommendations into another debilitating version of “political correctness.” Nobody is perfect. For instance, you may have noticed that I already violated these strictures by castigating “some smug liberals.”

Sadly, both sides have so much fury in common. Perhaps we can address that shared reaction by asking each other “Why?” and then actually listening to the answer with an open heart if not a completely open mind.

The post Political civility during the Trump administration appeared first on Occasional Planet.

I have read several letters urging those who voted for Hillary Clinton — winner of the popular vote — to be gracious in defeat and unify behind President-elect Donald Trump. As well-meant as such exhortations are, they ignore the fact that, based on Trump’s rhetoric and the team of advisers he has assembled, many Americans are frightened for our future and the future of our country. There is too much at stake to sit back and pretend it’s business as usual.

Trump actively encouraged a nativist coalition that includes overt racists. He acquiesced in Russian meddling in an American election. He has promised to curtail press freedom and impose the socio-religious preferences of a right-wing Christian minority on the country.

Trump has pledged to nominate Supreme Court justices who will enable all these depredations while supporting business-friendly laws that sustain the creation of a corporate oligarchy.

The post Trump’s cadres don’t care about civility appeared first on Occasional Planet.