Casual cruelty vs. showing mercy
Someone shot a neighbor’s cat point-blank last week. No one nearby heard a shot. The cat tended to range widely and was lucky a coyote didn’t dine on it before last week. (Yes, we have coyotes now in WNC.) He went missing for a couple of days before limping home near-empty of blood. By the time he got to the vet, he was too far gone to be saved.
People’s casual cruelty is regularly dispiriting. Like recent hatred politics that way.
A reporter here asked what I thought of the the notion that Democrats need to distance themselves from all the “pronouns” focus from activists and organizers at a convention like this, what some deride as the professional left.
It’s true that there is a lot of that here. There are pronoun buttons even. The Netroots conference has evolved from a bunch of amateur bloggers into more of a networking event for progressive professionals. Some of the younger people here seem to have been sponsored by the nonprofits for which they work. Some, but not all. During panel Q&As, questioners typically identify themselves by their name and organization, and perhaps announce their preferred pronouns. Some, but not all. Panelists identify themselves that way. Some, but not all.
Pronouns are a right-wing bugaboo right now. Ask Ted Cruz. But the truth is that the few thousand attending Netroots are a tiny fraction of the center left and leftier. There is little “my pronouns are” back home or at state party meetings. But Ted thinks he’s a comedian and uses it as a punchline to Other Democrats.
What stands out about people who come here each year is their focus is on promoting values of inclusion, and on valuing each other. There are a host of policies being promoted, sure. But the focus is on making life and this country better for everyone, including the people the right means to exclude. “My pronouns are” may seem a bit clunky, but is an expression of solidarity by those working to broaden us to encompass the marginalized and to make the union more perfect. Each year, it is rejuvenating to be among people dedicated to that kind of mercy.
People here mean to expand the social and political circle of inclusion. The right wants to shrink it, to make the political franchise more exclusive. Until it is just them, of course. To leave everyone not-them on the outside. When conservatives talk about Real Americans, they don’t mean you. In fact, Real Americans is the opposite of “my pronouns are.” But reporters don’t ask if Republicans should distance themselves from that, from casually excluding the majority of the American population.
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
— Micah 6:8 (KJV)
So I want to finish with this story of survival, empathy, and mercy in the wake of recent Missouri flooding (The Guardian):
Cavers in Missouri recently rescued a dog stranded hundreds of feet underground almost two months after the animal disappeared from her family’s home.
A small group of cavers discovered Abby, a 13-year-old pet, while exploring the passages of the 18-mile Berome Moore cave system in Perry county on 6 August. They alerted the local fire department and members of the Cave Research Foundation at the surface of their discovery about 500ft below.
Several of the more experienced cavers went down to take a look.
The lethargic animal “was not in good shape”, according to caver Rick Haley, a teacher and recreational spelunker, in a Facebook post. But he said she was moving her head, and shuffled into a duffel bag he spread on the ground.
“I laid that bag out, unzipped it, put the blanket in and the dog at that point walked right over and sat in the bag, because the dog recognized ‘this is the driest, warmest and softest thing I’ve seen in a long time and I’m just going to lay on it’,” Haley told CNN in a story published online Saturday.
“She didn’t seem to have any injuries. But boy, she was really malnourished. She was skin and bones.”
Abby was quickly returned to the Bonner family who’d missed her since early June.
“Abby is getting back to her old self. That’s pretty normal. I mean she really hasn’t barked yet – I guess she just doesn’t have the energy for it,” said Rachel Bonner, daughter of Jeff and Kathy Bonner.
And to whoever shot Beckham, fuck you.
From Netroots Nation-Pittsburgh
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