This is a diary about how differently we can see the world from other people.
How differently a GOP voter might see the world than a DKos denizen, to be sure, but also how differently DKos denizens might see the world from each other.
For me, this has been the source of (to put it mildly) vehement disagreements with other DKos members, about the appropriate response to individuals who choose to vote GOP.
That is, what to do about individuals who choose to align with party of: mass death, crimes against humanity, murder (by a gang of thugs in the Capitol, or state-sponsored murder by law enforcement), insurrection and the dismantling of the rule of law.
Until recently, I simply couldn’t fathom why anyone would be so quick to extend forgiveness and absolution to those that make atrocities possible, who in fact make atrocities a daily event in the US (and that was before the pandemic).
So I was taken aback when I saw the same view expressed towards the fascist thugs who pillaged the Capitol, beat an officer to death, and were intent on murdering Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, with the stated purpose of (literally and figuratively) burning our institutions of democracy to the ground.
Surely more than a momentary ‘My bad’, or the perception that one of the thugs chose not to commit the worst possible crime in a given moment, in the midst of participating in the larger crimes of the mob, cannot be the basis of complete, on the spot redemption.
Could it?
What is the significance of hearing someone disavow their role in sheer depraved violence (which if only by adding their physical presence, their bodyweight and strength to the mob, made it possible for the criminal gang to overtake the barriers and the outnumbered police), after their efforts are unsuccessful, and they face prosecution?
Surely that doesn’t count as evidence of genuine regret and remorse?
Could it?
How might forgiveness and absolution be given so reflexively, so cheaply, without even waiting for the perpetrators to ask? Or taking the request for forgiveness and absolution as sufficient for it to be granted?
It occurred to me that someone willing to respond to outright violence, and grotesque displays of bigotry, in this way— forgive first, and further, ‘try to understand why the perpetrators acted in the way they did’ (as if there must be more to it than what was evident in their words, choices and conduct), perhaps even hope to ‘educate the perpetrators about how they have been misled by nefarious powerful entities’ (like right wing media)— must have a very different understanding of the world, in fact a different moral framework, than I do.
To respond to the perpetrators in this way, and to preemptively exonerate all those who made the violence of the criminal gang possible— the like-minded family members, the friends, the groups that shelter them, encourage them (if only by way of silent tolerance), those that make the elevation of a fascist cabal possible, through decades of continued support for the GOP with their vote— requires a moral framework in which forgiveness and absolution are axiomatic, a moral framework in which redemption is presumed possible for anyone, and everyone, even those who do not feel they’ve committed any act which entails redemption.
This moral framework must include other axioms: that somehow, in some way, every perpetrator is reachable, they can be swayed by appeals to conscience and shared values.
That’s not how I see things.
Atonement is the work of a lifetime, not a statement.
It requires acknowledgement of the transgression, and taking sole responsibility for one’s actions, one’s choices, not shifting the blame, not demanding a hearing of grievances.
Atonement doesn’t plead ‘both sides’.
Atonement doesn’t demand the privilege to be free from inconvenience and hardship that result from just punishment, from the consequences of choosing to be a perpetrator, or to align with perpetrators.
Atonement doesn’t demand a seat at the table that you tried to deny others for generations, through to the present day.
Acknowledgment and atonement are demonstrated only by conduct, consistent, day in and day out, not by proclamation.
Atonement is not granted, it is earned.
Forgive me if I’ve seen precious little acknowledgement, and no evidence of atonement, by GOP voters.