{"id":14443,"date":"2024-04-07T09:27:58","date_gmt":"2024-04-07T13:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=14443"},"modified":"2024-04-07T09:27:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T13:27:58","slug":"harder-to-hate-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=14443","title":{"rendered":"harder to hate them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following is the best thing I read last month. It\u2019s an op-ed by the \u201csane, hilarious voice\u201d of Ben Kawaller, an L.A.-based writer and Free Press<\/em> contributor who believes in good-faith debate and the importance of finding consensus in our polarized times. He is on a mission to understand our country\u2019s division.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is wise. He is funny. Here is his mid-March contribution, entitled, \u201cIt\u2019s Harder to Hate the Other Side When You Come Face to Face\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently went to Mardi Gras and spent a couple days committing the ultimate faux pas: talking politics at a party. Knowing that <\/em>in vino veritas<\/em><\/strong>\u2014or at least, <\/em>in vino ludicrum<\/em><\/strong> (thank you, Google Translate)\u2014my plan was to ask people, in their inebriation, what they would change about America if they were in charge. I figured these interrogations would yield some insights into the collective psyche of a polarized nation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The primary insight: what polarized nation? <\/em>Polarized <\/em><\/strong>suggests a clustering around the extremes\u2014and while I spoke to a few enthusiastically left- and right-wing partygoers, they were at least matched by people describing themselves as moderate, independent, or completely disengaged. And many of the partisans were lukewarm. One black gay guy described himself as \u2018liberal. . . ish.\u2019 When I guessed that one twentysomething boatyard worker from Maine leaned conservative he said, \u2018Meh. Sure.\u2019 One elderly black woman who loved Obama and JFK resisted the label <\/em>liberal <\/em><\/strong>entirely, as did two local high school seniors, though they rejected the word <\/em>conservative<\/em><\/strong> as well (\u2018I feel like that\u2019s just so aggressive.\u2019). When I asked another woman if she was conservative, she was stunned (though her reflexes seemed generally dulled). \u2018I\u2019m gay!\u2019 she told me. Did that mean she was a liberal? \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d she slurred, then added, \u2018Your camerawoman\u2019s kinda hot.\u2019 This was hardly a population seething with pre\u2013civil war rage. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps that\u2019s no shocker\u2014this was a bacchanal, not a constitutional convention\u2014but you would think that if we were on the brink of a \u2018national divorce,\u2019 at least <\/em>someone<\/em><\/strong> would have said something like, \u2018The problem is liberals,\u2019 or \u2018Everything would be great without Republicans.\u2019 In fact, the overwhelming response to \u2018How do we fix America?\u2019 was a plea for greater kindness and less division. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was gratifying, as someone generally critical of the left\u2019s culture wars, to see my own opinions so gloriously reflected by these people on the street. For instance, when I asked six self-identified liberals what the left gets wrong, two interviewees (both of them black) specifically cited \u2018racism\u2019 and \u2018race-baiting.\u2019 It was quite something, I thought, that in 2024 any African American should feel the need to remind his fellow liberals that \u2018We\u2019re all human.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other critiques were similar. \u2018We can be sanctimonious,\u2019 one liberal-leaning voter told me. Another leftist lamented the inability to \u2018relate to each other as individuals.\u2019 Another cited \u2018cancel culture,\u2019 suggesting that the left is too \u2018inclusive\u2019 of \u2018over-thinkers.\u2019 I would call them jerks. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got less self-critique from the right, but they\u2019ve always been savvier at this kind of thing. If it\u2019s self-flagellation you\u2019re after, nothing beats Democrats.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was I conducting a rigorous piece of political science? No, I was shooting the breeze with drunk people. But more serious adults <\/em>have<\/em><\/strong> researched the psychology of our electorate, and their findings echo my own suspicions: that most Americans make up an ‘<\/em>exhausted majority<\/em><\/a>‘ whose views aren\u2019t represented either by the orthodox left or the far right. The amplification of those extremes\u2014and, I would argue, a craven kowtowing among the political right and the cultural left to each group\u2019s most radical elements\u2014gives an impression of a nation more \u2018polarized\u2019 than it actually is. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My trip to New Orleans was the first in a series of stops I\u2019ll be making around the country over 2024 to understand how people\u2019s political identities (or lack thereof) are affected by this year\u2019s face-off between two deeply unpopular heads of two <\/em>increasingly unpopular<\/em><\/a> parties. I hope to find out what real Americans actually think. And, as I have always thought of myself as a healer of nations, I hope to help bridge some of our supposed divides.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or at least not make things any worse.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben will be making regular reports across the country for the Free Press<\/em> this year. Looks like it will be wise to tune in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is the best thing I read last month. It\u2019s an op-ed by the \u201csane, hilarious voice\u201d of Ben Kawaller, an L.A.-based writer and Free Press contributor who believes in good-faith debate and the importance of finding consensus in our polarized times. He is on a mission to understand our country\u2019s division.\u00a0 He is … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “harder to hate them”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14443"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14445,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14443\/revisions\/14445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}