Political Profiling

It’s pretty sad where we are today as a society regarding our obsessive needs to catalogue people based upon their perceived political beliefs.  And we follow this up with a complete dismissal of these individuals from our lives if their beliefs differ from ours.  Because of political beliefs we curtail contacts with family members, end memberships in organizations, break off long term friendships, and in extreme cases even end marriages.

A perfect example of just how damaged we are as a nation is the recent Garth Brooks’ concert which took place in Detroit.  Garth came out on stage wearing a football jersey with the number 20 on it and the name Sanders printed across its front.  Pictures of him wearing this outfit quickly made their way to social media where condemnation comments lite up.  They included such statements as “Brooks is a f..king liberal socialist,” “He needs to stop mixing his music with politics,” “I’m never buying anymore of his music”, etc, etc, and so on, and so on.

Actually Garth Brooks was honoring one of the great running backs of football, Barry Sanders, No. 20 of the Detroit Lions.  It was not a political endorsement for Bernie Sanders for the 2020 election!

Sadly, more and more of our everyday actions model what occurred at the Garth Brooks’ concert.  Our   behavior and speech are judged solely in political terms.  Coupled with this is an obsessive need to lump individuals in a “for” or “against” paradigm as it relates to our political schema.

We no longer care about the overall worth of a particular person as a total being , but instead simply cast him/her aside from our shared world based upon political beliefs.

When I once stated to a friend that I was friends with a certain individual, I was immediately questioned as to how I could interact with an individual that was so opposite from my political beliefs.  It was abhorrent to this individual that any such interaction could even take place.  He seemed shocked and totally confused when I replied that this person was a good individual and enjoyable to interact with in my life.  He was always somebody who I could count on to “have my back.”   We just don’t discuss politics.  Regrettably, this was beyond this questioning individual’s comprehension.

Stop obsessively reading the garbage on social media and stop “politically profiling” individuals to judge whether they are worthy to be in your life.

Family, friendships, and spouses are forever.  Political figures will come and go, and in reality almost all could never even remotely be considered your friends.