Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Grape #34: Raising The Bar

In the great scheme of things, one phrase of slander against the President of the United States comes and goes. Whether it's an attack on Barack Obama's citizenship or Donald Trump's hair, or any of the much worse things thrown at both of them in the past and present, the individual insults are fleeting. It's the larger regression of our public discourse that matters more, and where we must begin.

No matter who you voted for in the last two presidential elections in the United States, or who you would have voted for if you could have, one truth should always, always, always be at the forefront of your thinking: morality is more important than politics.

On Sunday night, Robert De Niro hurled an insult at President Donald Trump on live television at the Tony Awards. He said, "Fuck Trump. It's no longer 'Down with Trump'. It's 'Fuck Trump'."

Now I happen to understand Mr. De Niro's feelings 100%, and in the moment, I don't mind admitting I was happy he said it, but in retrospect? Well, in retrospect I see how utterly useless it was, and how it only sets us back a bit more.

I despise Donald Trump's loathsome character and cold-souled assaults on countless people on both sides of the political divide, but I both want and need to publicly acknowledge my distaste of insults and mindless curses from his critics. Do I understand them? Yes. Have I taken part in some public sub-par criticisms of Mr. Trump, too? Yes, and I'm sorry. But it is my feeling, deep in my soul, that we need to stop such childish behavior as soon as possible.

The loud criticism must continue, because clearly far too many American citizens think Mr. Trump's vile behavior is worth supporting, but the adolescent rants about his skin color, hair, waist size, and looks are just ridiculous, and we will never prove ourselves any better than the Bully in Chief by sinking to his level like this. To put it another way, we cannot hope to prove to people how awful his insults are when we just join his games and do it ourselves.

I understand the need to attack Mr. Trump in any verbal and written way we can. The guy disgusts me like no other human being ever has, and I find his reckless lies and despicable, deplorable behavior deeply disturbing, matched only by my shock at the complete refusal of so many people I know and love to publicly call this man out for his hideous behavior.

This is not about politics. We are all always going to disagree and argue over political issues, and hopefully, we can do even that from a place of morality, and not in a pursuit of money or power. This is about basic moral decency. When the President of the United States of America is bullying people with name calling, or telling outright lies from podiums and social media alike, you should be very alarmed and very disturbed. You should be ashamed. And you should speak out.

I'm somewhere left of center politically, but only because every moral truth I've ever learned tells me caring about the least among us is more important than how much money I have in my own bank account, and because I feel weapons capable of killing should not be something people want to own. Turn the other cheek, and offer that one as well. He who is without sin can throw the first stone. Remember those? No, too many of us have not. We've conveniently forgotten.

My point is this: morality should be your focus in all things, all day every day, even in politics.

One of the reasons Robert De Niro and your friend on Facebook and that other guy, and that other woman you know all scream out so often with insults and slurs is because Donald Trump's supporters have absolutely nothing to say by way of criticism of him. They don't feel any need to say a damn thing. Yet when someone dares attack him, as De Niro did Sunday, suddenly everyone's got a passion about them you never see otherwise.

Do you not get the hypocrisy and insane madness of this? At all?

So let me repeat my earlier call to action, and I say this knowing some of my liberal friends will keep doing it anyway. Stop insulting Donald's hair, skin coloring, and other personal attributes. That kind of game is mean, and we need to just stop being mean to each other, even to bullies.

DO keep attacking his lies, malicious words, and childish behavior. Call him out for it any time you have the energy enough to do so. But do not sink to his level anymore. It's time to raise the bar for ourselves and our souls.

Be the better person, because I promise you, your passionate argument, when calmly thought out, will always go over better than if you reduce things to silly slurs or mockery. Be better than that. Be the good you want to see in the world. If you truly believe Donald Trump is wrong when he mocks people and says awful things, then don't do it yourself. Thank you.