I saw an opinion that really took me aback two days ago, and I had to process it a bit. So I'm quoting here on DKos that opinion and my twitter reaction to it, in hopes of perhaps furthering more discussion.
Here's what made me shake my head in amazed disbelief:
"The conflicting messages from supporters for both candidates summed up the closing weeks of this election cycle succinctly; the Trump support was centered on community, being part of something bigger than yourself. The Biden message was about hating Trump and his supporters..."
This was by a right-wing columnist, of course. And I often read - and try to understand - what is being said by those with whom I disagree.
And I have to tell you ... when this columnist said "Trump support was centered on community, being part of something bigger than yourself..." I rocked back in amazement. It took me several minutes to realize that from their perspective, this was true.
They DO SEEM to be about community.
Those large pickup trucks rolling menacingly along the roads with giant Trump flags shredding the breeze? Community with each other. The "Trump train."
The boat parades? Community.
The rallies, the chants of "Fire Fauci", "Lock her up", and, yes, "U-S-A!" - Community. Being part of something bigger than themselves.
I had a very difficult time picturing that as community, because to me, community is a tool for lifting up ALL of us, the strong supporting the weak, the successful giving a hand up to the poor, the powerful choosing to use their power to succor the marginalized. And that seems a very different view of community.
But I have to realize that they do indeed celebrate community of a sort. An exclusive community, a walled community - and, it seems to me, a community bound by defiant disrespect of others if not outright hate.
So now I'm quoting my tweets, very slightly edited, in response:
"Yes. T's 'community' is deeply circumscribed at this time (thankfully) but that's how those guys in trucks think of it.
"Nuremberg rallies built 'community', after a fashion.
"And YOU can't be part of it, nor can I. It's defined by exclusion.
"Some really love being part of it.
"So the obvious: THEY don't see US as 'community' of any real sort and therefore see us as either an evil horde or as amorphous scum. Despised outsiders. That's the point that we need to understand well. We think we are broadly community; they think we're infestation.
"And to follow up: It will take skill and inexhaustible love to build a gateway into THAT 'community' and drain the rancor from within its walls. That's what I believe we will need to do, at great risk and with perseverance even through utter exhaustion.
"Our children require it."
Sisters and brothers, we have LOTS of work to do. Hate won’t fix it — that’s their weapon, and it’s sharp. Only love will fix it, I believe, and it is SO MUCH HARDER work to do. But that’s why it’s OUR job to do — I truly believe that WE can LOVE better than THEY can, and that WE can do the hard, hard work. There are so many heart-warming examples posted here from time to time — may we lean in to those examples of love, sacrificial love, turning-the-other-cheek love, healing love; may we raise them up when we see them and may we find the courage, the strength, the very guts, to create our own examples.
Blessings..