COMMENTARY | With anti-Semitism on the rise recently, as reported by the Daily Mail, I’ve hesitated to talk about being Jewish, even when it’s relevant to my commentary. There was no way to fairly express my viewpoint without this information in a recent article about presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich’s claims of anti-Christian bigotry, so I included it and braced myself.
Of the comments on that article, I had a couple that could be seen as anti-Semitic, and only one overtly so (the guy said “A Jew criticizing Christianity through a candidate – sneaky.” Which, of course it isn’t, because if I wanted to criticize Christianity I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to do that right out in the open, but I digress). And then it hit me.
There are more of us than there are of them.
Not Jews, of course, because that is numerically impossible. I mean there are more of us who don’t divide the world into ugly little boxes with unflattering adjectives outside, who think that the difference between us and our fellow Americans is what makes them interesting.
It’s a hard thing to remember, because the ones with hideous things to say are so loud and have such an ability to croak above the song of discussion, to take an exchange of diverse ideas and stop it dead with something putrid and awful. In a clear sea of conversation, though, a drop of oil spreads far further than it seems it should.
I’m not suggesting that unkind things weren’t said in the discussion. As the article was about the demand to regulate other people’s lives to fit with someone else’s view of homosexuality, there were many comments with heavily dogmatic perspectives and some that were truly cruel. I don’t suddenly have a Pollyannic view that our world is nothing but brotherhood and light.
But I do get the sense that there are so many of us, out here on the other side of computer screens, who — after reading thousands and thousands of comments that could have come directly from the Dark Ages if they wouldn’t have smashed the computer and burned its owner at the stake for witchcraft — are relieved to find we are not the only ones who aren’t obsessed with what their neighbors do in their bedrooms. Who think that religious freedom does not mean the freedom to impose a single religion on a nation. Who don’t resort to bullying or stereotypes to make a point, and who will refute them as they see them.
Maybe we thought our voices weren’t necessary in this new world, but it’s a new world that’s getting older all the time. So here is my challenge to you, my new-found friends: Let’s out-vocal the vocal. Let’s demonstrate that our nation is not one of superficial divisions and jockeying for superiority. Let’s prove our country is one of diverse viewpoints that can be shared in an exchange of ideas over insults, one comment at a time.