I invite you to spend seven minutes listening to Arnold Schwarzeneger's analysis of the insurrection we watched the other day. He steps back and looks at what happened in the context of his own childhood growing up in Austria after World War II and the legacy of the war - his father and all the neighbors' fathers coming home drunk several times a week and beating his kids. He likens last week to Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) when Hitler incited mobs to go out and destroy all the synagogues and Jewish shops. Often on November 9 my mother would remind me about Kristallnacht which she witnessed as a 16 year old Jewish girl in Germany. So his comparison hits home for me.
Schwarzeneger doesn't dwell on details but strongly outlines the danger, what we must do, and a reassuring belief that we will do what is necessary and come out of this stronger.
It mirrors my sense of things. Americans have denied having "a single racist bone in my body" as long as I can remember. Trump has called on those racist bones and people have shed their lie and found the courage to proclaim what they really believe. Now the widespread legacy of racism in this country is out in the open where it can't be credibly denied. So we have finally gotten past the first step of healing.
It won't be easy. The tens of millions of Americans who voted for Trump range from Neo-Nazis to people who simply believe the old Republican ideals of free market and rugged individualism, to those whose jobs have been automated or transferred overseas, and those with a very literal belief in the Bible. Their self insecurity has made them susceptible to the professional level propaganda and lies of the Right - from Swiftboating John Kerry, to denial of the dangers of smoking, guns, and climate change.
Those of us who supported Biden must find the will to punish the worst of the transgressors, and find ways to respectfully find common ground. Yes, there are many things we have in common - experiences (war, union membership, religious organizations, music of our youth), passions (gardening, dancing, drinking, fishing, cars, sports teams), and family (from dysfunctional families to happy families and for older folks, devotion to and from grandchildren.) Let's find ways to start with those common bonds and then ease into the more difficult discussions. Listening and asking questions rather than challenging.
Here's Arnold. I can't quite remember him so on point and articulate.
