Culture

The last three weeks have been filled with two back-to-back political conventions and a week that was not to be for recuperation-but blaring with non-stop shooting of red and blue poison arrows. 

I write today about two things: 1) the double standard (it's "ok" for the red team but not-so-"ok" for the blue team and 2) Two countries: The USA and the USA.

The double standard I refer to concerns the righteous right against the somehow unrighteous- non-right. 

Examples-I'm sure you've read these before:

1) Jamie Lynn Spears (Brittany's sister) gets pregnant and the right shouts: "bad parents" BUT

Sara Palin's daughter get pregnant and the right politely states: "we treasure life".

2) If you're Harvard educated and by-pass the fancy law firm to focus on your community and your family, you are not "truly American" BUT if you never went to college or you went to multiple small colleges and finally graduated, you're living as  a "real American".

So goes the popular email entitled "I'm Confused"(Thank you, Andy!) and while all the examples are clever and very sarcastically-smart aleck, the real point is that there is something at work that- to me- and probably to  you, doesn't quite make sense. Why is my thinking so, so opposite? Why can't I get my mind around the "red world"?

To help educate myself and  better understand the "other side of the argument", I recently subscribed to the Wall Street Journal (Sorry, Bob, not quite ready for Rush's Newsletter!). As much as I am a devoted fan of the NYTimes op-ed folks; Tom Friedman,  Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd--I knew I needed another view. And there, on Saturday morning, was the article that said it all: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122125912790430149.html

In case the link doesn't work or you don't want to read the lengthy article, the main take-aways are: 1) "Liberals always think there's something broken in politics. Conservatives always think there's something wrong with the culture."

and

2) If hearing the word "culture" makes you think of Rossini, the latest translation of  "Anna Karenina", the Guggenheim Museum" or "The Wire", then you're probably a liberal--or at least, an  unreconstructed "cosmopolitan" conservative. But if the word culture means for you forms of courtship, or sexual preference, or the relationship between parents and children, or the set of rituals that revolve around the ownership and use of a gun, or, most passionately of all, ways OF living, and believing, and rejoicing, and suffering, and dying that are hallowed by the religion you practice, you are what might be called either a heartland or a Bloomian conservative.

Thus, I finally "get it"....it's about two ways of life...two opposite world views. Which brings me to my final musing...

Saturday-ironically the same day as the WSJ "Culture" article-I volunteered at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. My job brought me into the lives of two young suburban sisters--a 17year old high school senior and 20 year old-a college sophomore.

When someone walked by wearing an Obama hat, I  took the opportunity to inquire if the girls had chosen their candidate. Without a moment's hesitation, they forcefully and with commitment said"McCain". 

After I caught my breath, I gently asked what about McCain earned their support. And that's when the WSJ article intersected with my new teenaged friends: "Sarah Palin!" they exclaimed, "she's gonna bring us change."

It was raining on Saturday. And we had a two-hour shift together. I took a loooong pause. A short while later, I asked what they knew about Sarah? (Suddenly I'm on a first name basis with Ms. Palin!)  When the answers were non-coming, I asked, "Do you knew about Sarah's strict anti-abortion policy and her abstinence-only sex education?" No, they weren't that familiar with that stuff, but their own religion was against abortion.

Suddenly, the 17 year old volunteers that just 3 weeks ago she had accompanied a pregnant friend to court-as a minor, the friend was seeking a judge's permission for an abortion. (Being underage and not wanting her parents involved, she needed the judge to grant the abortion permission.) If the friend had to have the baby, she would have had to forfeit her 4-year, full college scholarship. Wanting to go on to college, she proceeded with the court approved abortion.

Now, we were talkin! We talked about the implications the overturn of Roe v Wade, back alley abortions, coat hangers ("really?" they asked eyes wide open?? These "hip-know-it-all"and  confident-girls were shocked!) We shared a few more "real stories, talked about Sarah's abstinence-only sex education policy ("Are you kidding?" they asked)  and then the younger sister said "well, we have have to vote MCCain b/c our parents and grandparents are for him" and, anyway, they are Italian and "Italians would never vote for a black".

Ahhh. And there it was. The angry, festered, bursting boil. The culture war at work.

I sympathized with their situation and acknowledged that kids often agree with the politics of their family's dinner table. The girls were silent. And I was silently hoping that armed with some facts from our conversation they would have the courage to make their own decision.

There is a lot of work to do to reach across the "culture".