A Republican friend of mine wasn’t particularly pleased with a Kansas City Star editorial we ran this week that railed about a rodeo clown’s crude parody of President Obama at the Missouri State Fair. MAYBE a good portion of why there is a coarse edge to society today is lack of restraint and accountability on social media sites.
The Star characterized the black-face episode as not only ridiculing the president, but also casting Missouri in a negative light.
My friend wondered if that was greatly different than some of the crude things said and done in reference to George W. Bush, when he was president.
All were wrong and embarrassing to thoughtful and caring citizens.
I haven’t agreed in total with what has occurred during the Obama administration, nor did I when Bush was in office. However, my attitude with each was that while in office he was my president and that the office, regardless of the office holder, demanded respect.
Disagreement is part of the political process, and back alley humor has no place in the discussion. That effectively defuses an argument, often turning it completely contentious.
Perhaps I am living too much in the post-World War II halcyon days, when I was maturing politically, but I long have thought that politics and politicians should be viewed in the same vein as the Biblical edict of “hate the sin but love the sinner.”
I’ve had a life-long — and in recent years long-suffering — love affair with professional baseball in Kansas City. I’ve mellowed enough in later year that a loss doesn’t grate on me like it once did, and it sometimes amuses me the proliferation of cruel comments from bloggers when things aren’t going right.
With a loss the manager, Ned Yost, is castigated several levels past anything remotely civil, and the vicious criticism increases if losing persists. It seems as if the bloggers think management actually wants to fail.
What little I’ve followed on political blogs, I’ve found the same attitudes and railings prevail there.
Which takes me to an observation:
It’s easy to make snap judgments and let those fashion your forever-feelings about a person. Fact is, there’s something good in everyone — even whoever is currently sitting as president.
Civility in short supply
