The Whereas of justice vs. the Therefore of bigotry

There was a Facebook string this morning in my feed about how some people “hate” the Tea Party and their members, dismissing them as bigots.  I have no great love for the Tea Party, but I’m not about to categorize them along side the Klan, simply because to do so reduces my thinking to a Klan-like mentality of discrimination.

When I consider a sociopolitical group I look at the “Whereas” and the “Therefore” before considering supporting their effort.  If agree with one or the other I don’t support them.  If I agree with both, then I consider support.  Compare the Tea Party and the Black Panthers of the late 60s.  The latter says “Whereas African Americans have been oppressed by the white majority in the United States for two centuries (I agree), therefore we must kill and harass white people as often as possible (I disagree).” The former says “Whereas government spends too much (I agree), therefore we must vote in conservative Republicans and eliminate Democrats in public office (I disagree).”  While I agree with their first statement, I disagree with the latter and cannot support them.

In the 60s, my early teen years, I was enamored of Dr. King.  My mother and I attended the rally where he gave his “dream” speech.  Dr. King had the same Whereas as the Black Panthers, but his Therefore was peaceful civil disobedience. He never called anyone who opposed him names.  He never even responded to their hate.  He merely stated his position over and over. I still support his Whereas and Therefore.

When the American Indian Movement took over Alcatraz, the Whereas was similar to Dr. King, and the Therefore was to take over Alcatraz to make a point.  I supported that, too.

But today I have a hard time supporting any of the Therefore’s of politics.  The Tea Party, the Occupy movement, abortion rights, abortion abolitionists, gun rights and gun control, etc. all have the same Therefore: whoever is against us is evil and part of a plot and must be minimized if not expunged from society.  It is perfectly acceptable to walk away from the merits of the issues and move to name calling.  It is perfectly acceptable to hate people who disagree with you, or have more than you do, or have less than you do.  And social media makes it easy to pull the white hood of anonymity over your head and bash people with impunity. I, too often, get pulled into that circle of hate by these people and that annoys me to no end.

I say all that to state that there are some people out there in our community who aren’t anonymous, and state their case.  I don’t dislike them at all. I actually admire them even when they are annoying.  In almost every case I agree with their Whereas.  I just can’t agree with their Therefore.  The Whereas is generally just.  It’s the Therefore that exposes the bigotry.  I will never support that, because there is always an alternative to hate.