I Hate Bullies
I'm depressed. I can't shake the feeling that bullies are running--and ruining--the world.
The danger lies is normalizing bullying--making it the "go to" reaction every time a disagreement comes up.
The term civilization itself demands civility. We aren't civilized when getting at each other's throats becomes the default response to disagreement or different ways of seeking solutions to a challenge.
To be sure, incivility doesn't bother bullies. But it sure as hell bothers me. Because it seems the surest way to get bullies to take you seriously is to "speak their language"--to mirror their condescension and spiteful disapproval...which leaves me feeling even more despicable than the original perpetrator because I know better. I'm a peacekeeper, a diplomat, not a verbal assassin. I will lose if I use the same tactic because I don't want to get good at being a bully. I would hate myself if I ever succeeded!
Civil discourse is labeled "snowflake" these days. As if civility is effeminate and being kind and considerate of others is an anemic policy.
Wearing my heart on my sleeve is one of my proudest achievements. Being a sensitive human being is the response-able thing to be, if we want to save this planet, its inhabitants (animal and human) and it natural resources.
But when bullies attack, they seek to disembowel, to quiet disagreement, to exact obedience. They intend to conquer; win-win is not in their vocabulary. Rush Limbaugh seeks scalps, not settlers.
"Ill-at-ease" doesn't begin to define what I'm feeling these days. "It makes me sick" is closer to my present reality. My mental health is being affected by the constant, never-ending static that is being caused by people talking AT each other rather than TO/WITH each other.
The malady didn't start with Trump but he personifies it: "I got mine--fuck you."
He got his via a multi-million dollar inheritance and by bullying and underpaying (or stiffing) contractors, objectifying and assaulting women (Miss America, grabbing pussy, forcing himself on women he considers irresistable), and rubbing shoulders with underworld figures here and abroad. If that's what it takes to make it in America today, thank you, I'll pass--and so will America as a democratic republic.
I hate what I'm seeing. I hate what's happening. I wonder what led people to vote for this scoundrel, since he lies more often than he tells the truth about grabbing pussy and being unable to keep himself from kissing attractive women, married or not (you know, his "locker room talk"; my nephews never talked like that in their locker rooms. Just sayin'...)
Evangelicals helped elect the anti-Christ, it seems.
I just sit here scratching my head... pondering WTF?!
Are we, as a nation, so under-educated and depraved that we will allow the continuing wholesale desecration of our stated ideals?
Despite Trump and his minions ' declaration of making America great again, I don't see a scintilla of evidence. What I see sickens me.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/what-insanity-age-trump#.WUwDgbGunHo.facebook
http://billmoyers.com/story/sorry-entirely-rights-fault/
I read an article that claimed that some recent popular tv-shows have paved the way for Trump. The main characters in those shows have been disagreeable bullies, that have been presented as acceptable and successful people. An interesting theory.
I don’t watch TV but I have no doubt that this is at least part of the problem. Also part of the problem are talking heads (hosts) who are adversarial and bullish: rather than allowing their guests to answer a question fully, they jump in and argue their answer, and present questions that are designed to denigrate and undermine the guest. I’m thinking of Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and other folks who would rather bloviate than listen respectfully and answer (or respond) respectfully. Among the thoughtful, respectful hosts are Bill Moyers, Gayle King, Charlie Rose and others. Although they have a political point of view, they don’t attack, denigrate or shout down their guests. They allow them to speak. They treat them as equals, not as bugs to be squashed.