When did mainstream America become so mean-spirited? A casual glance on local and national news outlets and following stories on social media has revealed a society that makes Ebenezer Scrooge look like a mere cream puff.
A recent poll on Huffington Post revealed that 56% of those polled were in favor of sending Central American refugee children home...no questions asked...just throw the rabble out! About 40% of the same population were in favor of letting them remain until each got a hearing( called "due process"),and then throw them out, if the judge says so.
And as for "due process", people who are definitely NOT in the know are running their mouths about "teacher tenure"...which, for those who are outraged that educators have a job "for life", means teachers are entitled to "due process" when it comes to arbitrary dismissal. It was started as a response to chronic and systemic nepotism that was the pervasive way of doing business in school districts across the country in the 40's and 50's when the profession was top-heavy with women. A tenured teacher could not be dismissed for political or subjective reasons by her usually male superior who might want to give the position to a political crony's relative or to just a younger, and thus lesser salaried, person. Don't kid yourselves, these things did and sometimes still do happen. No teacher wants to protect an incompetent teacher or a teacher who is hurting students emotionally or physically. They are a pox on the profession, and need to move on. And, full disclosure here, I was a tenured teacher.
And it seems to me that more people than is logically possible claim to be spokesmen for various groups wrapping themselves in the mantel of justice...and this knife cuts both ways.
A recent horrific death occurred quite near my home. A man, who the police have said was engaged in illegal activity of a minor nature, died in police custody under circumstances that are under investigation. He was selling loose cigarettes at a local park that is frequented by junkies. The park, diagonally across the street from my home, is a respite of green criss-crossed with paths and benches and a fountain that no parent would let a child enter, nor would any local resident seeking a cool spot to sit and rest ever think of stopping there.
The community has been complaining for a long time that this place needed to be cleaned up, so the local precinct was sweeping by more often with this tragic result. There have been local demonstrations supporting both the police action and the grieving family the deceased left behind. A nationally-known, locally-based Civil Rights leader has taken up this tragedy as a personal quest and had announced a massive march and demonstration two weeks from this Saturday that would, in effect, close down the major artery than links this island with the rest of New York City: the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. He has announced that he has "earned" the right to criticize the Police Department.
This event has the potential of virtually grid locking this island, and backing up traffic to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Our local politicians are outraged; the local populace is asking the mayor to intervene; the police commissioner says the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, not the mayor, has to approve closing the bridge. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says all the mayor has to do is ask them, and they would comply with the city's wishes. No one is happy; everyone is blaming everyone else, and it seems that there is no room for compromise.
What has happened to civil discourse? Why is everything a "line in the sand" event? Where are the cooler heads? As a nation perhaps we need to take a step, or two, back and look at ourselves. This is not how mature adults act within the context of democracy...I could be wrong, but I doubt it. We need to begin to think about how our actions impact "the other".
A recent guest on a local NPR radio show was taking about how Americans are isolated into circles of people with whom they feel comfortable. Many of us don't even know our neighbors, and others have no interaction with people from different ethnic and economic groups. This had led, according to the commentator, to an alienated society in which we box ourselves into smaller and smaller social units. We need to begin conversations across these units if we are to survive as a society.
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