Valerie Schultz: Healthy debate undermined by pettiness
| Monday, Oct 12 2009 11:24 AM
Last Updated Monday, Oct 12 2009 11:24 AM
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As I drove to work the other morning with the radio tuned to a clip of President Obama's speech to the recent United Nations Assembly in New York City, my heart swelled with pride. How good for an American to know that our president is an eloquent, thoughtful, balanced, articulate, gracious, cogent, practical, grammatical and intelligent man. He conveys a sensibility that is both calming and inspiring. In my mind I started composing a thank-you note to the president, expressing my gratitude for how he represents the very best of us, especially on the international stage.
Then I stopped at the usual stop sign, and my happy little world was jarred by what I saw.
Glued to the stop sign was a strange portrait: at first I thought it an ad for some sort of weird minstrel show. Then I realized it was a political message. Under the made-up face was the word "SOCIALISM", so that the entire red octagon read "STOP SOCIALISM". And then I realized that the face was actually President Obama, but he had been digitally manipulated to look as though he were wearing a layer of white greasepaint, over which were two black rings around the eyes and a smeary red lipstick mouth. Which finally clued me in that someone had tarted up the president to look like the Joker, as maniacally portrayed by Heath Ledger in "Batman: The Dark Knight."
And someone in my community had posted this graffiti.
I drove the rest of the way to work, my gratitude dissolved into something uneasier. Disappointment, maybe. Dismay. Distress. While I do not expect everyone to agree with the president -- even his ardent supporters disagree with some of his positions -- I am shocked by the ignorance and hatred that sometimes reach my e-mail. A democracy depends on healthy discourse and disagreement, on the exchange of ideas and perspectives. But it is ill-served by nasty propaganda and deliberate dishonesty.
Presidents are the targets of plenty of criticism and ridicule, be they Republicans or Democrats. But there is an undertone of such anger and fear in the ongoing diatribes against Obama that a simple dialogue is barely possible, let alone a civil debate of positions and solutions. Without a doubt, some of the spewing is racially motivated: It seems that every family has its naked racist. But what prickles me most, especially regarding the issue of health care reform, are the outright lies told by Obama's most verbose opponents, which are then digested whole by people who don't take the time to research or even think. Blatant untruths are accepted as gospel: Obama is a socialist. Obama is the Joker. Obama is a Kenyan. I sometimes think the public level of gullibility and fondness for wearing blinders must discourage the president. I imagine he'd like to have a higher opinion of us.
I planned to remove the offending poster on my way home from work that day, but the job had already been done. Every morning, however, I can still see the rectangular outline of glue shining in the light on the stop sign, reminding me that in my community reside those who would rather vilify than work together for the common good. We breathe the same air and send our children to the same schools. If only we could cease name-calling and fear-mongering. If only we could communicate as fellow Americans.
These are Valerie Schultz's opinions and not necessarily those of The Californian.
