sticks and stones

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names…” (Traditional childhood rhyme)

John Boehner did say that while he agrees with the president that every American should pay their “fair share’ of taxes, it shouldn’t be done through “class warfare.”

It has become so America 2011 as politicians begin to call people names when usually that is the only answer they can offer in trying to solve a problem. We no longer feel obligated to try and resolve a condition, but instead set up conditions by scapegoating a segment of the population categorizing them or marginalizing them by using the childhood game of name calling. So now instead of trying to figure out how best to reduce the deficit or create jobs all we will now hear from all the news outlets as they debate is there a class war going on. We will now side step the main issues and instead become pillaged by the newest propaganda marketing ploy, “class warfare”.

America in 2011 has moved into the realm of us vs. them, good vs. bad, right vs. wrong. We have permitted our politicians to allow the fringe, the angry, the bigoted the biased to sway their thinking, pay their coffers and lead their actions. We have decided that politicians must be at polar opposites of anyone who does not look, pray or live as we do. The middle, the consensus is a land of taboo, the far right or far left the only sanctuary of safety. To get us there we make sure we call anyone not like us a name.

The poor are greedy and want things they don’t deserve. The unemployed are selfish and lazy. The elderly are taking away opportunities and resources from the young. The Gays are destroying the fabric of America. The unionists want to take and never give back. The top 2% of the wealthiest Americans are cold and non-caring. The Progressives hate America. The Conservatives are heartless. The immigrants want to take the red white blue and turn it into the color of their native country’s flag. The President wants “class warfare”.

It has become so much easier to divert our energies and actions from serious participation to silly name calling. We have become masters of passive aggressive behavior, ignore the real problems but call someone a name. Ignore a common ground and instead find your own plot of land and keep anyone out you dislike by calling them a name. As America has aged in its nationhood our politics have become so childlike and out politicians like children.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names; well in 2011 they do hurt. Names harm, they hinder and they hide any reason or rhyme in making life for all of us any better.