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A Different Trip
November 13th, 2008 | Dean Arrindell
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As we launch this website, I've been thinking a lot about my Trip. I thought it would be my journey in a city of conspicuous consumption during the financial crisis. I've also been thinking about my desire to travel, a necessity for this site that has been severely curtailed because of necessary penny-pinching.
In the last few weeks, though, my attention has turned to something else. The rhetoric out of the McCain-Palin campaign towards the end of the presidential race was disturbing. They were trying to divide the public through fear. The idea they were trying to sell was "Real America" is in the "small towns" that are "the most patriotic part of America."
They're saying that people who are different from those living in small towns aren't real Americans. These different people could be non-white, non-Christian, gay, likes things from other countries, or might question authority. Someone or something different is not American and is therefore "un-American." There's no effort made to understand that person or thing that's different. And because it's not understood and viewed as "un-American," it is feared.
Real Americans live in this town, too.
This really pissed me off. Don't question my patriotism. We may disagree on who should be president, government policy or what alcoholic beverage to have at the end of the day, but don't call me or anyone else "un-American" because of those differences. I'm not sure which is worse: the fact that a major presidential campaign espoused those ideas, or that some of my fellow citizens believe them. I'm happy, though, that it didn't work and relieved that most Americans didn't fall for it.
The failure of that divisive strategy proves that most people already know there are great things about both small towns and big cities. They are different and appeal to different people. Different strokes for different folks. The diversity in its people and places is part of what makes America great. It wouldn't be great with just big cities, or just small towns. It wouldn't be great with just white people or with just black people. It is great, though, because there are a variety of people who live in a variety of different places.
The face of America is becoming more diverse than we have ever known. We can't be categorized in just red and blue states. We are many different shades of races, political ideas, ethnicities, regions and classes. They all combine to create the great mosaic that is America. I want to see as many of those shades as possible in America and beyond. I want to see places where people are different from each other – And different from me. Those different people might be accepting and cooperating, or conflicted and failing. Those places of difference, though, are often from where new and interesting ideas come.
Related Topics: politics
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Dean Arrindell | Comments Off
A Different Trip
(via Facebook, MySpace, Digg, email and more)
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