Dear Friends,
Another week of crisis, and I’m grateful that the only real crisis in our home is that we only have one decent computer and three people who constantly need it. Our high schooler is doing most of her work online, and trying to get her hands on the MacBook at suitable times is causing exasperation—for her and for me. Tempers are flaring, doors are slamming—no, I kid. We love each other and mostly get along fine, but it is amazing how little irritants can quickly escalate into real arguments, isn’t it? Imagine what it would be like if we hated each other.
Naturally, that brings me to the state of our society.
I have to do it sometimes. I don’t really want to wade in on the merits of the various factions raging and battling in our society right now. To the consternation and disappointment of some of my friends, I am politically homeless at the moment. Oh, I have very strong convictions. It’s just that those convictions do not get much expression or airtime in the current parties, movements, and media outlets. I know everybody thinks they are in the sane “middle” with crazies and loons to the left and the right. That’s because we each only have one vantage point: our own, and there are always people, well, to the left and the right of us.
I do think I have managed to avoid extremes. I’m not much swayed by the “us v. them,” “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” mentality of zero-sum politics. Sure, I’m no great fan of the current President and I think most major media outlets are ridiculously biased in their coverage. Hard to see anyone covering themselves in glory these days. I really do try to read and listen to people who can walk and chew gum at the same time, or hold two thoughts in their heads simultaneously. It is possible, you know, that President Trump is not particularly competent and has a terribly inflated ego, and that he’s not an evil dictator (Certain New York Times and Washington Post columnists should take note). And it is possible, you know, that President Trump can accomplish many good things without also being the GREATEST leader EVER—may his name be forever praised! (Certain Fox News personalities should take note.)
But I said I wasn’t going to wade into the merits—let me get back on track. I don’t want to talk about the various political and cultural players; I want to talk about the conditions of the playing field.
Historically speaking, when America faces a crisis, there is a moment of unity. It might last a day, a week, or months, but there is a sense of solidarity as we rally together to face the challenge. There is a kind of background of mutual respect—if not exactly love—for one another. September 11, 2001 stands out as one such moment. Sure, there were America-haters who immediately thought (and said) we got what we had coming to us, but it took a very long time for our sudden moral clarity to be obscured enough for that sentiment to be respectable (It was so not respectable that years later Barack Obama was forced to throw his own pastor under the bus because of it). Instant politicizing of the crisis was seen as very unseemly, whether one agreed with the government’s response or not. President George W. Bush was cheered wildly when he threw out that (best ever, by the way) first pitch of the World Series in Yankee Stadium that year. I frankly wonder if that could ever happen again.
The COVID-19 crisis has given us precious little solidarity. It was politicized immediately. Everything was filtered, by all sides, through the question, “how can this be made to help ‘my’ side and hurt the ‘other’ side?” Narrative control was and remains the name of the game. It is a worrisome development exacerbated by a confluence of the astounding increase of political polarization generally and the outsized influence of Twitter “hot takes” and media click-bait. We just don’t respect each other anymore, much less love.
Nero (apocryphally) played his fiddle; we fiddle with our phones. And in both cases a civilization is coming apart at the seams. That’s the bad news.
Here’s some good news. Life on our phones is still virtual reality. Off-screen there has been a great deal of social solidarity. People have been volunteering to deliver groceries and meals, buying takeout and gift cards from struggling restaurants, giving blood, and cheering medical workers. To my intense (and, boy, do I mean intense) dislike, people in my community have decided to howl at the moon every night—because, I guess the reasoning is, doctors and nurses will just feel the love and appreciation by listening to a bunch of lunatics whooping like feral dogs. I prefer Italian singing. But I digress. The point is that there is still a difference between our virtual and real lives, though the margin is getting thinner and moving the wrong direction.
Now, I would prefer to have our “virtual” and “real” lives perfectly mirrored, so that in both realms we acted with Christian virtues of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal.5:22-23). I love Paul’s next words: “Against such things there is no law.” Let me go all The Message on you:
You know, people, it ain’t against the law for you to show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control!
But, alas, there is a divide between how we treat each other in online political tussles and real life, and the trend is, as I say, sadly going in the wrong direction. There is only one way to reverse it, and that is making the effort ourselves to push back. That means not only personally exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit; it means not giving “oxygen” to the flamethrowers who do not. Don’t click that link. Don’t hit the “like” button. We need to impact the incentive structures in our civic discourse, and I’m not deluded: that will be a generational challenge.
Dispatch writer David French and I don’t agree on everything. He has terrible taste in movies, laughably thinks Michael Jordan is the second-best basketball player in history, and I don’t think he needs to remind everyone that Donald Trump is flawed as much as David thinks he does. But there is one thing I’ll stand with him on: grace and charity are not negotiable things. The Apostle Paul was clear: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world” (2 Cor. 10:3-4). It has been shocking to see how many fellow Christians have mocked David for not punching back at his political enemies “twice as hard.” One fellow infamously criticized David for not realizing that “civility and decency are secondary values.” Um, they aren’t and never have been.
If I have a point to any of this, I suppose it would be: cultivate the fruits of the Spirit in every aspect of your life, and do not think that such virtues are dispensable when it comes to politics and social media. That’s exactly what Jesus warned about when he talked about salt “losing its saltiness” and light being “hidden under a bushel.” It’s exactly in the public square that Christians ought to exhibit Christian graces. And do your part to express and embody solidarity with your neighbors during this time. I’ll try, too, but howling will still be a “no go” for me.
I need to now graciously hand the computer to my offspring. Thanks for reading and feel free to forward this and share!
Miscellany
I’ve loved Kate Rusby from the first note I ever heard her sing, way back in 2006. She’s a marvelous songstress from Yorkshire. She’s funny and fun-loving, too. I’ve been enjoying her “Singy Songy Sessions” on YouTube. Sublime voice, and her husband Damien is an outstanding guitarist. Here’s a great one, if you don’t want to click through:
Speaking of The Dispatch, I very much enjoyed listening to Jonah Goldberg sit in his car smoking a cigar and giving an impressive, off-the-top-of-his-head, hour-long lecture on the principles of conservatism. Not for everybody, but I’m thinking of making Daughter #1 listen to it with me. It’s a valuable conceptual introduction. You can find it here.
I listened to said podcast as I drove my favorite drive through pleasant Montana mountain valleys on my way to catch Daughter #3 some fresh trout for her birthday breakfast. I returned victorious. “Social Distancing” is much more fun in Big Sky Country.