The World's Common Tater

I will admit that I stole the idea for this from an article I read in the Washington Post recently. The writer talked about how we’ve reached the point that after an event like the shooting in Vegas everyone waits for the report on the shooter hoping they are on “their side” not ours. One side is hopeful that it will be someone who can support their travel bans. One side hopes it is a white male gun owner so they can push that agenda. Some hope it is a democrat so they can talk about anti-gun conspiracies. It’s us vs them and we are all losers.

The us vs them mentality is everywhere these days. The Harvey Weinstein news comes out and people are giddy that he is a democrat. Great! One of theirs! Now we can hit them with the fact that he donated money and use it to smear them. The same happens on the other side when it is someone like Bill O’Reilly. Maybe we can all just agree that men who do sexually harass and assault women are bad regardless of their political leanings.

I’m all for political debate. If you read this blog regularly, you have seen that I’m not afraid to make my feelings about the current administration known. I just don’t think that everything should be us vs them. Can’t we all agree that someone who kills multiple people is bad regardless of their background or how we feel about gun control? Can’t we all agree that sexual predators are bad regardless of their political leanings or wealth?

It seems that we have reached a point that we are so divided as a country that nothing will unite us. I fear that even in the face of another 9/11 we would still be divided and arguing instead of coming together to heal. At some point, we need to try to remember that we are people first, not a political party.