So Reagan is dead.
And we are left with quite an emotional whirlwind.
Some, here, were Reagan Democrats. While disagreeing with some of his policies, they may give him credit (rightly or not) for bringing an end to the cold war and making America feel confident for the first time in two decades.
Some really disliked Reagan and his policies. They saw him as a potent enemy to their view of what America should be, and they were appauled by his policies and his appeal.
Still others blame Reagan for tragedies he caused, or may have prevented if he wanted. A few people here have unleashed an emotional response to Reagan's treatment of the AIDS epidemic. This was certainly a major failure of his administration, and it caused many great pain.
So how does this community deal with his death? What is appropriate, and who has the right to call something inappropriate?
Continued...
Well, here's my initial reaction, for what it's worth.
We must all be patient and respectful towards each other.
Towards those who have a powerful emotional reaction towards Reagan, such as those who have commented on the loss of a loved one to AIDS: please try not to be hurt by the reactions and range of opinions expressed here. I'll tell you why. Most people here agree with you; many will react negatively to an assault on Reagan at this time, in part because their upbringing and political sensibilities are at odds with it. Don't bother doing battle at this strange time. It might be best to avoid revealing too much personal information on a public site like this, if only to avoid being hurt by faceless strangers. Although I will say that your loss is moving to me, and I appreciate those who have shared. It has truly made me understand why some must criticize at a time like this. He spawned the most homophobic decade in modern memory, and his deliberate inaction caused so many of his own citizens pain and death.
Towards those who feel that Reagan is to be treated with respect at a time like this, have patience with those who cannot do that. Some here are afraid of the outpouring of admiration that the man will receive in the coming days, as they believe he had hurt our world, our environment, our country, and perhaps their own friends and family. They want desperately for the country to understand their perspective, what they experience as reality. And they don't want to wait until the national media machine saturates us with praise and loving admiration of the man.
My personal feeling on all this is that we should try, to the extent possible, to keep the sharp words and the heated responses to ourselves for a few days. We should respect each other as a community by neither baiting fires, nor responding to the bait with flames.
At any rate, I just wanted to open a forum for this discussion, of how we on the left can deal with such a national occasion. Keep in mind that nothing that is done here can take back the Reagan years, and nothing that is done here can undo any damage that may have been done. Perhaps what is most important about historical politics is the way it shapes current reality; at the very least we must work to make sure that any positive spins on Reagan's legacy, whether we agree or not, are seen as weaknesses of Bush rather than as as laurels for this current administration. Hopefully, we can all agree on that.
In the meanwhile, let's all take a breath and respect each other.