Posted on 06/10/2018 5:04:15 AM PDT by Kaslin
At times it seems that America is at war with itself. This has been going on for many years, only temporarily interrupted in the aftermath of 9/11. Even that national harmony only lasted so long, but the question is: Why are we so divided?
The thought really came into focus while I was sitting in my Rabbi’s office. I brought with me three people well-versed on gun operation and ownership. The idea was to have an event entitled “Why I am a Jewish Gun Owner.” This was in answer to having had two Parkland students speak at our Shabbat services about their experience during the murderous rampage by a deranged young man.
Based on all of our experiences we had the thought that the clear majority of the people we know who don’t own guns don’t know people who own guns. These people have never shot a gun and don’t interact with people who have. They don’t make the effort to understand why someone owns guns, yet they vote to restrict gun owners’ rights.
One of the gentlemen who came to the meeting works for a veterans’ group. As things go in a meeting like this -- even with our best efforts – one’s mind can drift off in thought about something not directly related to the matter at hand. It occurred to me I really do not know anyone who is a veteran (one of the rabbis at the meeting happened to be).
We are living in a different time in America that has not occurred for many generations. On January 27, 1973, the military draft ended, and a divide happened in our country that grew and grew and grew.
When I grew up everyone knew veterans of the armed services. My father was a tank commander in Patton’s army. As I grew older the World War II veterans started to die off, then the Korean War veterans started to and then the Viet Nam veterans did as well. My generation came at the tail-end of Viet Nam and none of the people I knew were part of the Armed Services.
Since the 1970’s and the advent of the volunteer army, the people who served largely came from different communities. I met some Vets at college because I went to San Diego State where the military was heavily represented, but as I entered the business world my interaction became more limited.
Israel does not have this divide as virtually everyone serves in the military. They all understand the sacrifices. How does one understand the sacrifices and the importance of the military if it is foreign to you?
This divide became even more prevalent with a major social event that happened recently. That was when an estimated 4,000 Google employees signed a petition stating that Google should have 'a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology.’ My friend, Dennis Prager, wrote an excellent column about this issue.
I have met a couple people who work for Google, but I do not know any of the people who signed this petition. I can surmise though that likely few of them have any interaction with people who have military experience. They most likely went through school without any instructors who had military experience or friends with military experience.
Think about it: when in the history of this country have the employees of a major company asked their bosses not to do work for the military that is essential to keep this country protected in a dangerous world? If someone has an example, please let me know because I am guessing the answer is never. Not only that, they are urging other tech companies to stay away from helping our military develop these technologies.
These kind of divides do not shock me. I am a pro-choice with caveats Republican. Being in the Republican party I have often spoken to pro-life individuals and had in-depth conversations with them about their beliefs. When speaking to my pro-choice friends, they have rarely if ever engaged a pro-life person to solicit their viewpoint.
We have people in this country who are so far from each other and never interact. How many people personally know a cop? Not many in my community. I have a friend who is a volunteer sheriff. If people do not know individuals who are police, military, gun owners or pro-life, and have never tried to engage and/or become sympathetic or empathetic to their beliefs, how would they ever understand their way of thinking?
These are the real divides in our country. A lot of it is manifested in the differences between the coasts and the rest of the country, but we are living in different universes and that may be the first time it has ever happened in America.
This is why we have a real divide in our country.
Think it boils down to babies vs grown-ups.
Interesting perspective. We were just at a HS graduation for our granddaughter in Aiken, SC. Much to my surprise, the Superintendent of Schools had all of the Class of 2018 who were entering the military, instead of heading to a 4 year college, stand. They were in cap and gown, but they stood to resounding applause and congratulations from all present. And we sang the National Anthem. No kneeling.
Note that DoD is looking for large private tech companies (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, etc.) to take much of the government's IT infrastructure into the Cloud. Basically, the government might neither own nor operate it's defense network. Someone like Google would do that for them.
The money to be made is great. Google and others won't walk away from it. But they will have disgruntled employees who might want to "speak truth to power" by effing over the military at an especially bad moment.
bump
Those petition-signing Google employees have no clue how deeply in bed Google is with the surveillance, propaganda and warfare (we are always at war with East Asia) state.
You can’t fix stupid.
I should add, the military recognition at granddaughter’s graduation was bittersweet. She was accepted to the Coast Guard Academy for about 2 weeks and then was rejected because of her nut allergies. She worked so hard for this honor, but she fully understands their reasons and this decision is for her own protection. She’ll study Marine Biology at the University of South Carolina on a Palmetto Fellowship, instead. But, she was willing! We’re very proud of her. Her brother is at the USAF Academy entering his 3rd year.
The real issue is that due to the legacy media being Leftist dominated, those on the Left can manage to not have to encounter Right-wing ideas. The converse is simply not true.
The result is you have a lot of Leftists running around unjustifiably smugly confident in the superiority of their ideological shibboleths. This despite never having had to defend those ideas in rigorous fact-based debate. The Left avoids anything resembling fair debate of their ideas in a public forum, and for the good reason that they wind up looking like fools. The best recent example of this is the Jordan Peterson interview by Cathy Newman of British channel 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcjxSThD54
Well worth watch in its entirety if you haven’t.
Since that time the legacy media has largely quit talking to Jordan Peterson and instead just attacks him with disingenuous ad hominem.
The lack of honest debate is at the heart of the divide discussed, and it is lacking because the ideas of the Left cannot stand up to it. Thus they avoid it at every turn, hoping they can win by sheer volume of propaganda.
We cannot let them.
I’m sorry your granddaughter had that setback. It bothers me that the military will allow transexuals (with many medical complications) but is very strict on some other conditions. I hope she prospers at USC.
Thank you. She will. A nut allergy could be a matter of life, or death, when out at sea. Much of the cooking on board is done with peanut oil, I understand. The Academy said it would be no problem when she was going through the ordeal of applying, but then they changed their minds after she received the appointment. I hope that it doesn’t mean that some other deserving South Carolina graduate won’t get her place.
They wouldn't and won't even try. They've been so propagandized by the media for decades to believe that conservatives are just plain stupid and their opinions are worthless.
Bkmk
Makers vs takers.
And the takers are winning.
I think it boils down to those who see themselves as citizens of the world and those who see themselves as Americans.
In my family the divide is stark and generational. Those of us over 50 consider ourselves to be Americans. Not super flag waving Americans, just everyday people who grew up in a country we think is pretty special. Some served in the military during Vietnam, some didn’t, but we all grew up with WWII vet fathers and uncles, and went to schools where we were taught the greatness of America. We love our country and can’t imagine living anywhere else. Even when liberal run things we think it is still a pretty great place to be.
The under 50 group are globalists. They mostly work for big international tech companies to whom borders don’t exist, while one works for the State dept.. As a group they have traveled extensively out of the country and one even studied abroad. They don’t hate America, they just don’t care one way or the other. They just see America as a country they live in not an ideal. I guess what I’m trying to say is they don’t default to the identity of being an American. As the Bambster said, “Americans think America is exceptional just like the Greeks think Greece is exceptional”. They were taught in schools since preschool to see themselves as world citizens and they do. Because of this they see nothing wrong with open borders and limitless immigration. In their minds anyone should be able to live in any country they choose, and at least one is hoping to move to Europe where she can be a citizen of a continent, not a country as she says. When it comes to policy issues they think ‘America first’ is a hokey, archaic, selfish sound bite used to gin up resentment against others. As my State dept. relative told me recently, ‘The Syrian and Somalian refugees were nice people who just wanted to live somewhere safe like anyone else’.
It is a stark divide in culture and thinking, and one that will not be easy to overcome. As I told Mrs. Redangus the other day, ‘When I argued with my parents we were arguing about a difference of opinion on the same world view. When I argue with my younger relatives I am arguing with someone who shares little of my innate culture or my worldview. We have little in common outside of family and that gets strained at times.
Same in Danville, In.
When globalist start to get burned at the stake some minds will change then.
Or hanged and left to rot in the public square.
Same here. Granted, there's always been a generation gap, but the power base has shifted. Used to be things such as the need to feed one's family brought about a dose of reality. That's been supplanted by the need for government to self-perpetuate, and the subsequent move from individualist to collectivist thinking.
achievers and envious resenters against achievment
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