Street Photograph

 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
    in the markets she raises her voice;
at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
    at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
    and fools hate knowledge? (Proverbs 1:20-22)

These words from Proverbs seem pretty relevant today. It seems that so many of us are being driven by our emotions, by fear or by panic or by suspicion—and much of that panic and suspicion is being driven by the appeals of pathos that we're drinking in on social media, television, and radio.

The result of this has been disheartening. Every day now, I read posts from friends who say that those who voted for "the other guy" are somehow morally reprehensible and don't care about immigrants, or women, or abortion, or freedom of speech, or COVID, or character, or whatever.

I guess lots of people have felt this way about "the other side" for a while. Because I've blocked most of my politics-posting friends on Facebook, I haven't seen much of it until this week. But it seems that so many of us "delight in being simple," in willfully ignoring the subtleties within our fellow humans and making blanket statements, and damning statements, about friends and family, and about friends of friends who are otherwise strangers to us. We "delight in our scoffing," and I think we've begun to think that's okay and justified, maybe because our favorite news sources and our leaders delight in scoffing, and maybe because we think the other side is so terrible that they deserve it. We have become "fools who hate knowledge" because knowledge, real knowledge, and real truth, threaten the confidence and comfort we've found in our easy Manichean thinking.

Are we really such black-and-white thinkers that we believe someone's voting choice reflects some sort of unforgivable moral flaw? Are we really so virtuous that people who don't "measure up" ideologically are no longer worthy of our respect and friendship? Do we seriously think that the other half of the populace consists of bigots and stupid people, baby-murderers and communists?

If you are viewing "the other side" as stupid, or hate-filled, or evil incarnate, or all of the above, then politics has become your religion.* And if you don't consider yourself religious, you're wrong. And if you do consider yourself religious? You might want to think about what it is that you're truly worshipping.

*Yes, there are those who truly are murderous and full of hate, but I would argue that they are not representative of half the population. We need to avoid lumping our family, friends, and neighbors in with those people, simply based on their politics. (Also, I've felt tempted to fall into this sort of thinking as well, so I'm writing this for myself as much as for anyone else.)

Rainbow pic, taken on the road between Augusta and Asheville.