Those are the words spoken by a simple man, Rodney King, who became a philosopher king when violence broke out on May 1, 1992, after the acquittal of the police officers involved in his 1991 arrest. Could we ever use Mr. King and his wisdom in America 30 years later.
I was grappling with the events of last week and the assassination of another political figure in America. After a day of devastation for Charlie, his family, and our country, I focused on a little-spoken aspect of the event. There are an estimated 3,000 young Americans who now for the rest of their lives must deal with the scarring effect of witnessing Charlie Kirk – someone they voluntarily came to see – violently shot, gushing blood, and carried off. That is a memory they will never outlive. What has our country become? What has caused us to become not a divided country, but a divisive country?
After a legion of interactions with others, I turned to my dear friend Dan Schnur. Dan is a well-known face in the California political world. He is the former Chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission and teaches at three major universities across the state. We usually seek refuge with each other during these times of upheaval. Dan and I come from the unflappable group of long-lived politicos.
While discussing the turbulation of the moment I reminded him of a story I experienced some 20 years ago. The Beautiful Wife and I have shared an office for over 25 years. At the time we had an assistant, let’s call her Patty. When we hired Patty, we made clear to her there was a lot of politics that went on in the office and it was of the Republican persuasion. She accepted the job and worked for us until she retired. We neither asked nor cared about her political leanings. We later found out she was fairly far left.
Patty’s desk was at the entrance to our offices. More often than not she wanted to engage me on a topic of the day. I willingly discussed matters with her and heard her viewpoint. One day she broached a topic, and she became discernibly heated. We disagreed. I had some work to get done so I went into my office. She followed. She was literally shaking and was visibly upset. She asked me why I wasn’t experiencing the same reaction. I calmly said to her, “Patty, it is just political discourse. You have your thoughts, and I have mine. That is what makes this country so wonderful. We can have discussions like this and remain civil to each other.”
In that way Dan and I are cut from the same cloth and have been for decades. We respect each other’s opinion, and we do the same with other people we encounter. Dan preaches that to his students and through his writings and other venues. I do that in my columns and my constant interactions with others.
Unfortunately, there are not enough of us today while there are too many “Pattys.” At least Patty was interacting with me, and we remained civil. The common pattern today is people have little discourse with others having an opposing opinion. They enter echo chambers where the temperature rises, and the language becomes hurtful and harmful. They forget that the other side are their political opponents, not their enemies. Without regularly hearing or reading the opinions of the other side, they descend into hateful rhetoric.
While that is not all that good, it gets worse. They may think they are just throwing around words, but they forget those words matter. With 350 million people in our country, people end up tipping over the edge into violent actions. Others then point fingers at the other side saying “they do it too” as if that is a rationale or justification. IT NEVER IS.
Adding to this is the current tendency for public figures to engage in publicly uttering one of George Carlin’s seven dirty words. There is never an appropriate time for political figures to express themselves like that in public. It deepens the coarseness of society bringing down the political conversation. It is guttural.
I don’t expect immediate change for people to suddenly be civil and receptive to others when it comes to political interaction. It takes practice. I would hope that the recent events will get some to be introspective and lower the temperature of their comments. They will realize how much better they are as people and how much better we all are for that. I would hope they will have the strength to call out others who are acting inappropriately and hurtfully.
We must win this battle one person at a time. We absolutely must cherish our right of free speech and remember it comes with responsibility. And maybe we will honor the memory of that great philosopher, Rodney King. Can’t we all just get along?
