I was about to swear off political posts, but thoughts began to flood my mind late into last night and I figured I ought to write something. I did this in a hurry, so if you notice some spelling, grammatical, or other mechanical irregularities, please forgive me. And, as always, I welcome your comments, but be nice and respectful. We're all friends here.
Kathy Griffin held up what looked like the severed head of the President. An amazing backlash ensued from across the political spectrum, with pundits and pollsters, liberals and conservatives, in rare agreement that this crossed the line. CNN severed ties with Ms. Griffin and there's even talk of a Secret Service investigation. Kathy Griffin even publically apologized for the incident.
But it really did not come as a big surprise that "counter memes" began appearing, showing pictures of President Obama being lynched, hung, stabbed, and mutilated and the posters wondering why "conservatives" weren't that upset at those acts of disrespect.
I can't speak for all conservatives, but as a conservative, yes, I was upset at the disrespectful way President Obama was treated. As I've written before, I have a personal code about respecting the highest office of the land. This includes being careful to use the title President (or alternatively, Mister) when referring to the POTUS, avoiding the use of derogatory nicknames, giving the man the benefit of the doubt and not pouncing on every rumor or allegation, and certainly, not supporting anything suggesting harm or violence against the President.
But one of the myths that "my side" has propagated is that conservatives sat nobly on the sidelines in stoic, respectful silence during the last eight years of Mr. Obama's presidency. Ummm, no. we. did. not. Smarting over the trashing that President Bush received by liberals, we jumped at Mr. Obama and jumped hard. Derogatory nicknames, pushing rumors, and joking about shooting or hanging the President were common place. Some of my conservative friends even went as far as to declare that Obama was "not my President." Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
And now it's payback time, with the liberal left out for revenge. And while we can all agree that Kathy Griffin's horrifying display was, well, horrifying and that it crossed the proverbial line and that it was uncalled for, the fact is, it didn't stop her from doing it in the first place.
The severed head picture is only a visual representation of the overwhelming disrespect accorded to Mr. Trump since before the election. Barely past the first 100 days of the Trump presidency, the liberal left has vowed to resist, counter, stand against, and fight tooth and nail against anything and everything the President does or says. Instead of allowing us to weigh all the evidence and draw our own conclusions, many news outlets declare Mr. Trump's statements false in the headline itself! I mean, why bother reading the article when the reporter has already reached the conclusion for me?
So does Ms. Griffin's stunt sadden and anger me? Yes.
Does it surprise me? No.
We live in a wonderful country, where we are free to disagree with our leaders. And just as I could list the areas in which I disagreed with the politics, policies, and philosophies of President Obama, I could start a list for President Trump. I can almost guarantee that I will make both sides mad at me to some degree.That's America, people.
But as long as every negative word, every disagreement, every counter-proposal is characterized as "hate speech," we will grow insensitive to truly hateful speech and actions and we will create a climate that seeks to "dish it out" in the same or greater measure. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." (feel free to supply your own cliché at this point).
My prediction is that, before long, Kathy Griffin will attempt to defend her photo shoot by saying that Mr. Trump provokes that reaction in her. Bit by bit, her fans and celebrity friends will come to her aid, maybe invoking the first amendment, but most certainly saying that Ms. Griffin is only responding to the same heat unleashed on President Obama by the right.
And the cycle will continue.
