The Great Divide, Who Reads What, and It's No Wonder We are Divided

Perhaps you have also been perplexed of late about the vitriol and anger that we see, hear, feel, and read these days.  There is certainly an explosion of explosiveness that is new or old, depending upon how we see things, or maybe how long we have been seeing things.  Conflict is nothing new.  Ask survivors of the Civil Rights Movement from the ‘60s and see what they say. As Black farmers who were pivotal in the Voting Rights Movement in the ‘60s and listen to their descriptions of fear and anxiety co-mingled with conviction. Our two-party system is a player, do you think? My opinion is that the social media craze has much to do with it. It’s difficult to confront someone across the table from us over lunch in a restaurant downtown, but, on the other hand, it is quite easy to challenge someone whose face and voice we do not see through the magic of Facebook or Twitter.

            

My wife and I live in red Texas, or at least a red section of Texas.  For eight years we lived in red, red, red Oklahoma. We are quite accustomed to negotiating conversations when we are the only blues in the room or in the house or sitting at a restaurant. Or were we? Maybe we avoided more than we’d like to admit.

            

Of late I have been pondering what we read.  Then, the Pew Foundation made it clear for all the world to see.  If I lean right, or if I am right, see what I read? If I lean left, or if I am left, see what I read? We simply do not gather sources from the same place. We are not reading the same things. These feed our biases and we are drawn to them because of our biases. It is hard to discuss content, then, or issues, when we read different things. CNN will report differently than Fox News when covering the same event, like a presidential speech, or a candidate's speech. It's no wonder, then, that my friends who watch Fox News see Trump's handling of the coronavirus as a colossal victory for America. On the other hand, it is no wonder, then, that my other friends and I see his handling of the coronavirus as a colossal failure since we gather our information from several of the sources listed below with CNN as #1. I am surprised that my right leaning friends gather their information from two sources. I find this stunning. 

            

Also, someone has created this beautiful schematic which shows the continuum of publications across the continuum of liberal to conservative. We get our news from somewhere, printed or television or radio. Again, they feed our biases, or we are drawn to them because of our biases. 

These helps to understand why we have our own little enclaves. We set up artificial boundaries within which we are contained and from others we are protected. I sat at a table, a rather large table, at a church event several years ago in which the men across the way were discussing the fires in California.  One gentleman offered the view that God was probably punishing California for its stand on homosexuality. I was taken aback, on my heels, and only retrospectively could I process such an ostentatious comment. Bully pulpits offer such interpretation of events, and it is perhaps obvious to all of us that such theological nonsense is offered up in a spirit of holiness in less public forums.

It is no wonder, then, that the public discourse and even private conversations are oftentimes filled with "your opinion does not count since you are citing a source that I consider to be biased toward the left" or "your opinion does not count since you gather your information from a source that I consider to be biased toward the right."  Then we go around and around and around, and then back again and again. 

            

In an upcoming post I’ll share with readers a program that I find provocative in helping to change the discourse we hear and participate in. Perhaps you’ll find it as interesting and challenging as I did.

Unholy Mess We Are

Dear Lord,

I’d like to chat with you,

If you have the time

For some things are on my mind,

And you are the right one to talk to.

My prayers to you come out as a lament

While friends of mine seem pretty thrilled

To see those actions and their hopes fulfilled

While me and mine just feel pretty spent.

We are an unholy mess

As I look around at this place

And I hang my head in disgrace

But I love this place I must confess.

Jewish people slaughtered when they met

Worship on their minds and hearts

They unknowingly would depart

Before that holy day would set.

Guy with a gun sought entrance into a church

Door was locked to the black church so he gunned down

Two black people while making very little sound

Except that gun burping away leaving us all in an unholy lurch.

And then that killer down in the south

Made all those bombs and sent them out

To people who’d been attacked by the one running about

Spewing hatred from his wide-open mouth.

Still people coming up from other places

Looking for asylum from pain and destruction

Hope in their hearts and their fear of abduction

Walking the long path with weary worn faces.

While still a thousand long miles from here

The man in the White House sends military down to the border

Just a week from the election, no small order

But we know what is behind his very thin veneer.

It’s all a big unholy political stunt

To arouse his base and inflame the fury

Of people of his ilk will not face any jury

While we worry and pray and bear the brunt.

Some of us keep on hoping and praying

That the man with the power will see his wrongs

Repent of his narcissism but we’ve waited too long

To see any hope of change, you know what I’m saying.

Compassion is lost across this fertile land

Incivility reigns and is seen all day and night

Just watch FOX NEWS, CNN, or MSNBC for the sight

Of people hurting people and kindness banned.

We have chosen up sides to the left and the right

And some in the middle cling to hope

That some ray of sensibilities will help us cope

When our long, long days turned into the night of nights.

We’re going to polls in large numbers as we pray

Then election day is here for all of us to anticipate

That change will come that we can all create

With our children in mind and work for a brighter day.

Lord,

I know that you hear

And that you are near

Though you are above the fray

And that is why we hope and pray.

Amen

Are There Tears in Heaven: Meditations of January 11, 2018

Were there tears that day

When Jesus said goodbye

To his faithful disciples

Did you see those grown folks cry?

They’d been together

For a few short years

When He wrapped it all up

Did they do so with human tears?

In some of His very last words

He prayed for Himself and the disciples

He prayed for all believers, too

Me and you, or so I read there in my Bible.

One line really catches me

As things sometimes do

He prayed for complete unity

To let the Father’s love shine through.

That was a long time ago

And today is still today

That prayer is still not answered

And I wonder, what do you say?

The Right has seized the story

At least that seems to be true

The only ones who are true believers

Where does that leave me and you?

Does the Right own the story

Or is it religion that they claim

Whatever you want to call

It causes a lot of pain.

Are there tears in heaven

I this morning do wonder

We have messed up the message

Just one blunder after blunder.

What He prayed for seems like fiction

If the conversations that I hear

We’re no less one in unity

Is what I’ve come to fear.

So, are there tears in Heaven

Does Jesus look on us and weep

Upon this mess we created

We despise His other sheep.

We have our left and our right

Everyone assigned a place

That sure seems misguided to me

Just looking for some sacred space.

Surely Jesus weeps

When political speak

We all do seek

Our own inside ideology we keep.

Does Jesus weep

When we speak our very own labels

We spew them left and right

Right there at our church’s tables.

Are there tears in heaven

When our rhetoric is so loud

If He really sheds a tear

Could we really stand that proud?

Are there tears in Heaven

To me it’s an important question

How we violate that prayer

Today is my one obsession.

Are there tears in heaven

Am I the one to cause

If so, I’ll think it over

With that question will come a long pause. 

Let Us Pray and Think About Our Prayer

Dear Gawd, Jehsuuus, Dad, Holy One of Israel, lots of salutations we say
To plead for His hearing when we pray.

Some are contrite, others demand

Get it together, you foolish man.

Some demean, others quiet

Looking blankly toward the blinding light.

With heads bowed low we generously pray

Who is to confess the meanings of what we say.

Some are prayers of the right

Preaching righteousness and vengeance with might.

Some are prayers of the left

We all are a mess, left bereft.

Prayers from the middle, let us pray

Words of conciliation, we hope, we say.

Civility is now here in this sanctuary, this room,

Waiting, waiting, waiting, our return to the tomb.

Some are prayers of hope

Com’on, man, don’t mope!

Longing for the day.

We have all gone astray.

Some are prayers beseeching those who’ve gone before

Kindly leave your offering at the door.

Let us pray, let us demand

Expect of God His slight of hand.

We are so feeble, so frail and so fickle

I think I’ll go buy a burger with my last nickel.

Amen, and yeah verily I say, “Amen!”