I believe that kindness remains an overall value of American life. When we participate equally in the American dream, we are able to fight apathy with empathy. It is a value bigger than ourselves, deeply ingrained in our way of life. Foreigners often comment, with varying degrees of discomfort, that Americans tend to smile and talk to complete strangers.
Social media isn’t the same way. There, we talk at, rather than with, one another. Attitudes are not likely to change with facts or truth. As one poster this week put it, truth (online) doesn’t exist and all is opinion. While I believe that is the wrong attitude, said poster didn’t miss the mark by that far.
Before the politicking and culture wars came to dominate everything so many of us do online, Americans thrived with a ‘live and let live’ spirit, in which we tolerated opinions and lifestyles that didn’t affect us personally. That mentality has unfortunately morphed into divisive hate aimed at those with whom we cannot agree.
‘My way or the highway’ doesn’t encourage debate. It eschews human empathy in favor of control.
This is an attitude that I have noticed more and more over the last few years as the division has ramped up to a point where we are literally at war with one another. On issues ranging from LGBTQ rights to law and order, online Americans are no longer capable of reacting to current events with humanity.
When we cannot even speak to one another about the afflictions of our nation, we surely can never approach solutions or achieve progress. Witness the ongoing battles over wearing masks in public to protect ourselves and others from a deadly virus. Human empathy is derided as living in fear and there is no way we can convince one another to even consider following certain protocols.
Another area where intense fires have recently flared is the topic of race relations. In the news this week, black Americans in the city of Minneapolis are grieving and protesting over the death of George Floyd who was pinned to the ground and choked to death after being cuffed. As of this moment, the police officer who killed this man has been removed from duty and arrested.
We tend to think about issues like this by saying things like “This wouldn’t have happened if he’d just obeyed the law.” The man in question was suspected of using a counterfeit bill to purchase something in a store. When last I heard, this was not an offense punishable by death.
The community of Minneapolis is understandably angry. Riots have ensued and fires have been set. While these activities are by no means acceptable, we must ask ourselves why these people are so angry. When we ask questions like that, we allow ourselves to discuss ideas that can better protect lives.
Logging onto social media and threatening to shoot protesters and looters who are already grieving is not constructive behavior, let alone respectful, especially from our leaders. It is callous and destructive. Protest must be peaceful to be heard and our leaders should meet these challenges head-on by asking how we can make life better for all our citizens.
Minneapolis, we feel your pain. We are with you. We will unite to help ensure tragedies like this never happen again. Let’s assemble task force right now to brainstorm new methods to achieve justice for all.
Those are the words of an empathic leader. And they are ideas lacking in our online society today.
Supporting police forces doesn’t mean resorting to injustice because of identity. Our police officers put themselves in harms’ way every day to serve us. They are our employees and should be treated with dignity. That does not mean looking the other way when one of them errs.
The police officers who acted and stood by watching it all unfold should be charged and tried. What Minneapolis and so many other communities across America are dealing with now should not be who we are as a people. It is time to put egos aside, ignore petty differences, and work toward solutions in our time of crisis.