President Biden used the word “Unity” 8 times in his Inaugural address. In the context of 2021, what does that even mean? How does this country unify? And what form does that take?
Anne Appelbaum has an answer. You and I might not like or agree with her answer, yet it is contained in a very thoughtful and counter-intuitive article in The Atlantic, titled "Coexistence is the Only Option". In it, she draws from lessons from South Africa and Ireland.
Here’s another idea: Drop the argument and change the subject. That’s the counterintuitive advice you will hear from people who have studied Northern Ireland before the 1998 peace deal, or Liberia, or South Africa, or Timor-Leste—countries where political opponents have seen each other as not just wrong, but evil; countries where people are genuinely frightened when the other side takes power; countries where not all arguments can be solved and not all differences can be bridged. In the years before and after the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, for example, many “peacebuilding” projects did not try to make Catholics and Protestants hold civilized debates about politics, or talk about politics at all. Instead, they built community centers, put up Christmas lights, and organized job training for young people.
There is, perhaps, a "Reconciliation" that is necessary before such coexistence is possible. There are consequences for actions.
How we self-Identify is crucial. This defines the side we take, or don’t; the zealotry we embrace, or abhor; and the values we espouse or reject. That Identity — whether QAnon or Kossack, Pro-choice, Pro-life, Libertarian, Socialist , or of a religious persuasion or nationality, or any other category — whatever it is, that Identity determines what we do, and how we perceive those who do not share it.
The most powerful force in the human body is the need to remain consistent with our Identity. People will even kill, or sacrifice themselves, to maintain that consistency with their own Identity.
It works both ways. The Identity we impose on “The Other” determines whether we see them as people (or they see us as people), or whether we dehumanize them, or they us, into two-dimensional derisive caricatures.
When we insist that there be consequences for sedition -- and we will -- this will reinforce that Identity. It will reinforce our own Identity as we insist on consequences because we know that without consequences, this can happen again with impunity. And it will reinforce the Identity of those who perceive themselves as victims of us, the sneering victors who don't give a crap about them, their lives, or their self-pitying plight.
I’m reminded of another article in The Atlantic from almost 5 years ago: David Frum, my favorite neo-con turned Never-Trumper, wrote an article during the 2016 convention season, titled, “Why Trump Supporters Think He’ll Win”. Frum starts the article by saying,
Perhaps the hardest thing to do in contemporary American politics is to imagine how the world looks from the other side.
And that’s true of us here on Daily Kos as well.
What is absolutely true is that:
- until we drop the "Otherness";
- until we do that “hardest thing to do” and “imagine how the world looks from the other side”;
- until we stop derisively creating 2 dimensional caricatures of the "Other";
Until then, no healing can occur.
Steve Schmidt, McCain's Campaign Manager and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, is correct: regardless of ideology, the only political binary is the demarcation between those of us who believe in democracy, and those who believe that it's okay to live in an authoritarian dictatorship.
Frum, in his aforementioned article, takes a “synthesis of the conversations” he had in the summer of 2016, “and the insights I’ve gleaned, presented in the voice of an imagined Trump supporter.” It’s worth the read, to understand what Frum knew that summer that we did not. For example, his composite says:
I bet you don’t own a gun. I bet you’ve never had a DUI either. So it wouldn’t worry you that you could lose the first if you get the second. But it worries our voters. Their lives are kind of messed up. They get into trouble. That’s why they want guns for themselves, and not just for Mayor Bloomberg’s bodyguards.
After reading Frum’s article, I wrote a DK story here, in August, 2016, where I examined the intersection of white supremacy, Gravesian Psychology, the inferiority and misogyny of the incel community, and the ideas of Antonio Damasio on how emotions compel our action. I ended that story from 5 years ago with this:
A friend of mine, well versed in Gravesian psychology, reminded me that if this group of people lose the election (and even, God forbid, if they win, as Trump will not actually improve their conditions), “the anger remains. And the level of anger is dangerous.” A shift in tone is required. “Until we receive their anger, there is no possibility of meeting the genuine unmet needs that they are feeling. Even if they don’t know quite what those needs are yet. And that’s a fact.”
My friend was correct. They won. Then they lost. The anger remains. How do we receive their anger?
Appelbaum recognizes this as well, noting that
“I recognize that this is not what everyone wants to hear. Even as I write this, I can hear many readers of this article uttering a collective snort of annoyance.”
She adds that, even though she often feels that same way,
“We’ll wake up the next morning, and they’ll still be there.”
Yes. They will still be there, and they are still here. Yes, we can prosecute those who took part in the sedition. By her calculation, though, 10-15% of Americans are truly seditious, and “that’s a very large number of people.”
That said:
- How do we receive their anger so that they can be heard?
- How do we do so while we still hold people accountable?
- How do we hear their anger, and hold people accountable, and have a “Reconciliation”?
- How do we do all that, while we still see the humanity in, rather than “dehumanize the Other” in the process?
Is it even possible?
I do not know the answer to that question, or the above questions. I can only hope that it is "yes." But I don't know what the answer is....