Patriotism and Beer
I am sitting in church and I can see the American flag fluttering over the Anchor Steam brewery through a narrow window. I have been thinking a lot about America lately, and it all seems so symbolic, but then, I guess that’s what church is for. “Out of many- one” keeps waving through my head, and the priest tells us that We are exactly what God wanted; that when God was creating the universe, we were what He had in mind, imperfections and all. There are so many Us, so very many views and plans of action. How on earth can we expect to get along? To get anything done? How can We be exactly what anyone wanted?
I have been trying hard to relate to my fellow Americans, especially my fellow Christian Americans. Most of the time I’m pretty sure there is no overlap between our shared beliefs. Nothing to share at all, really. But I can’t write off so many of my kin; I’m a humanist at heart and I desire to feel a connection, to understand where people are coming from. Why people say abortion is wrong, but seek to defund birth control. Say every life is precious, but vote to defund programs that ensure these children will be born healthy and have food to eat. I wonder, what kinds of lives are considered acceptable as long as every conception pans out?
As a bleeding heart liberal I am told I’m idealistic, but I’m not suggesting we base policy on the assumption that people are going to stop having sex and doing drugs. Am I really the naive one here?
I recently had a long conversation with a friend about The Great Abortion Debate. I was pondering why fetuses are the most well loved of minority groups. How can the same people who support them not support social programs? Why are fetuses more exciting than the people we already know? He told me they were innocent, which I promptly disagreed with, Amorality is not the same as Innocence. He clarified, “They are blameless.” He went on to assert that much of what Conservatives talked about could be related back to the concept of blame. I mulled this over, it seemed fitting, but too simple.
This past week I’ve thought a lot about the concept of blame and how it fits into the Conservative framework, and I’ve found that, correct or not, it explains a lot for me. I’ve renamed The Blame Theory, The Fairness Framework, because I think that gets closer to the heart and doesn’t sound as condescending. One of the things it explains for me is why I find Conservative opinions so utterly baffling; I don’t believe that life is fair, and I don’t believe it’s even something to aim for, so if someone’s philosophy was based on a desire for fairness it would make sense I would find it nonsensical.
I find this incredibly comforting. More than wanting to change people’s minds (which I don’t hold a huge amount of hope for), I want to understand where they are coming from, I want to feel their humanity. When I cannot sense this I feel alienated, and the world seems like a scary and unpredictable place. I understand people wanting things to be fair. I don’t agree with it, and I don’t think it’s possible, but I get the desire, and that understanding is important to me. For me it is a way of healing the huge rift that I sense in our society.
I have a lot more to say on this, but I think that’s a nice place to end for now.
Post a Comment