Discussion in a Time of Anger

We know that our culture can influence the way that we choose our politicians. Have you ever thought about the influence of our politicians on our culture?  

This is what Michel Martin, weekend host of NPR’s All Things Considered, asked us to think about during her speech at this week at Susquehanna. George Washington loved ice cream, and it’s been an American classic ever since. Michelle Obama’s style had whole blogs related to it, and certainly influenced how professional women dress. In 2012, President Obama came out in favor of same-sex marriage. That was a risky move. He almost certainly lost supporters because of it. Sure, public opinion was already beginning to sway that way, but after Obama’s announcement, support jumped, and in 2015 same-sex marriage was finally legalized by the Supreme Court. Even post 9/11, the terrorist attack that shook the country, favorable views of Islam rose when President Bush called for tolerance.  

What does this say now? In an age where our president regularly attacks the media, we can see the reflection in the way that reporters are treated. According to Martin, her colleagues at NPR faced hatred like they hadn’t ever seen before while covering the candidates on the campaign trail. Last week, she had to go past three levels of approval to play a clip of the president on the radio. Journalists used to be trusted, even admired. Now, too often they’re despised, seen as elitist and as part of the swamp that President Trump has promised to drain. She pointed out that college students aren’t often viewed much better, especially college students at private liberal arts colleges like Susquehanna.  

So how does this effect our culture? Has our culture been effected by this? Our politics are beginning to function as our religion. They are an animating force for both good and bad. People are willing to kill and to die for their political views. Even interparty marriage is taboo amongst about 60% of members of both political parties. Our political views have become integral parts of how we identify. 

How can we talk about these things then? Conversations across the political divide are hard, and difficult. They are uncomfortable, but they are important and they are necessary to our country. We must place an extremely important value on educating ourselves about other people, and also educating other people about ourselves and our values. Yes, it’s uncomfortable. Yes, it’s hard. But feeling uncomfortable is not the end of the world, especially not when the discomfort is temporary, and not if it helps us to understand a long term discomfort felt by someone else. To make her point, Martin referenced the recent protests amongst NFL players. When she did so, the tension in the room became almost tangible. “But you survived it!” Michel laughed. “You’re all still here.” 

Michel Martin left us with some homework: started having those difficult conversations. Local, personal talks are often the most productive talks we can have. They have the highest chance of being listened to.  

The second part of the homework was to listen. Listening is a skill. It’s not something everyone can do immediately. Some people are better listeners than others. But everyone can develop the skill. Having a conversation means both people get to talk, and both people get to listen.  

None of this is to say that these conversations will ever become easy. They will always be hard, and sometimes, we will mess up. But the important thing is that we always stay in the room and keep having those conversations. If we check out, if we leave, it’s likely that the people who stay behind won’t care nearly the same way. “There will always be a good reason to do nothing,” Michel told us. “There’s always a better reason to do something.”