It’s wonderful to be my age in today’s America. I am old enough to have been raised on solid values, ones that carried generations through a Depression and several wars. Yet I am young enough to be able to relate to the bizarre and often entertaining exploits of today’s younger generations. I’m not yet a dinosaur and I understand a generous 30% of what Gen X’ers and Millenials say and do. I even dare to say that I have acquired wisdom to share with anyone who asks.
Unfortunately, I am also at an age where I am deeply affected by the divided, hostile state my beloved country is in. Being raised in an atmosphere of manners, respect and tolerance I am very bothered by bad behavior, a lack of respect for institutions that I revere, a widespread intolerance of opposing viewpoints and a startling lack of civility and decorum in our disagreements. As one fellow boomer once said to me, “I feel as if my entire being is under attack.”
He’s not wrong. Dialogue has been replaced by shouting. Race relations have regressed by decades. Education has been replaced by soundbites and false information. Respect for differences has been replaced by violence. Morality has been replaced by relativism and history is under attack by revisionist historians. Sadly, instead of finding balance between the established and the progressive, many are reverting to banning that which they find offensive.
We are even banning words.
Maybe I’ll jump on that band wagon.
Let’s start here. I propose we ban the following words.
Black
Hispanic
Asian
Latino
Gay
Trans
When you see, talk to,write about, report on, interact with, tell a story about a man or a woman simply report what they did and what happened, who they are, what they stand for, what they believe but not WHAT they are. Identity politics is the bane of our existence and needs to be addressed. The facts don’t care what you identify as unless it is germane to the story and applying a label to a person only sensationalizes, not depicts the situation.
If you choose to just see a man, to just see a woman, the way we look at everything will change. See a HUMAN.
Ask only who you are and what you bring to the table.
Go ahead PC police. I’ve given you the idea, I dare you to run with it.
One race… The human race
One goal… Coexistence
The Tao of Bill 
We should probably find a way to push that even further and stop being “American” or “German” or “Mexican” and simply be human, as you say. I don’t think the biggest divide in the world today is racial, though it plays a role. Religious difference and, even more diabolically, nationalistic differences separate us into groups. Within these nationalist divides we get even further division, too, some of which I went over in my last post (the one before the dog one).
This morning, on Facebook, I saw them trolls of mine (you’ve seen ’em) posting on their own walls about how unfair the congressional trials are because “they never went after Hillary this way!” As you said in your post there is a constant revisionism of history because, as you know, they most certainly did. Bill, too.
There is mass corruption in Washington (in the world). But anytime any side tries to point it out the other side cries foul. I’d love to see a majority of the minority party, whenever it goes either way, be human instead of party (or white or black or American or corrupt).
This is the time in every dissertation when the writer says “but it’ll never happen.”
But it will. It will happen.
It won’t take an intergalactic alien invasion or a mass extinction event (though one of those may be coming, if climate scientists or doomsday clock folks are right) it will simply take time. As long as we stay alive, we humans, we will continue to move towards a more progressive, inclusive state of being. History has shown us that we do tend towards enlightenment in the long run. Today it is better than it was when we were young. Back then it was better than when our parents or their parents or our ancestors lived. The youth of today are more enlightened than we are.
It’s hard to see. The bad stuff gets sensationalized. Loss of yardage on any play gets the crowd going more than gaining 3 in a cloud of dust. But we inch closer to the end zone on every play.
Great post as always, Bill. I was gonna read a few entries from the last few days and get to work on the yard. Thanks to you I had to stop at one. Damn your ability to make me think. 😉
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thanks, Tom for your great input. You always make me think as well
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Sometimes I think that today’s society is just one, grotesque reality show where everyone is looking for their moment of fame regardless of the substance. I also often think that the only thing that will get everyone’s attention and force us to pull their heads out of their rectums and pull together is an alien invasion, and I’m not referring to anyone crossing a border.
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I’m inclined to agree
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Sad
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I sometimes have the impression we are involving rather than evolving and we show it find the needs to label and specify even when it is not necessary ,mainly if we are talking about ethnical belonging.What about the old good belief we are all the same belonging to one unique big race: humanity but may be the prob is just right there…..we are loosing our humanity😬
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Involving vs evolving. I like that. We’re certainly not evolving I’ll agree with that
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What is happening? I’m in the generation with you… why is this happening and who thought it was OK to start it? There are never discussions that end with agreeing to disagree. Every conversation is a battle. Why?!?!? I’m betting on your post to begin the wheels of conversation turning. Great post. And the PC police aren’t knocking on your door.
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I’m not sure I have the readership to start a real dialogue here. But the fact is that as we become less able to intelligently and rationally discuss, the more we will revert to the safety of eliminating all that is controversial. A truly alarming trend
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I believe it’s a good start. I applaud your bravery for even mentioning a third of what you did! I find I avoid controversy because the backlash I’ve witnessed is truly terrifying. It angers me that I step back, not voicing my opinion, not setting an example of inclusiveness. It is alarming Billy! This is a good post. A necessary message that I certainly needed to hear. Thank you.
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I think few would have an issue with what I’ve touched on, they’re factual and not really debatable. I generally stay away from hot topics also but this is a reasonable format compared to FB.
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Yes, I do agree Billy. We are lucky to have this format to share our thoughts.
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Well said! I also belong to the same generation. It was a great time to grow up.
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Sure was
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👍
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If only the people who could benefit the most would read this.
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One can only hope
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I talked to my grandkids about this exact thing. Why say (qualify) a man or woman when telling a story or anecdote?
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Are you asking me a question or are you being rhetorical?
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There’s definitely a schism down the middle with one side saying whatever nasty thing they feel like and the other being too concerned with using the right words.
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Indeed
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Man….woman..How about human?
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Of course. Perhaps I should revise
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No. I like our fine differences.
You made great points here.
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