{"id":261,"date":"2012-11-07T15:41:23","date_gmt":"2012-11-07T23:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/?p=261"},"modified":"2012-11-07T15:41:23","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T23:41:23","slug":"regardless-of-who-won-weve-all-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/regardless-of-who-won-weve-all-lost\/","title":{"rendered":"Regardless Of Who Won, We’ve All Lost!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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"Mr. President, Why Do People Hate You?"<\/a>.\u00a0 This was a question that was posed to President Obama by a fourth-grader last week, and it should cause us all to stop for a moment and reflect on what has transpired over the past year or so.<\/p>\n

Win or lose (depending on your candidate of choice), Election 2012 marks a significant lowlight.\u00a0 Campaigns, especially presidential campaigns, are often brutal affairs.\u00a0 But this one was nastier, uglier, and more comprehensive in negativity that was often dipped in racist dogma; involving everyone from individual citizens to a higher institutional level that even included elected officials. This election wasn’t about voting someone into office to make us great or "fight the good fight". It was an election based on manufactured hate. Frankly, it\u2019s been enough to make my stomach turn.<\/p>\n

Let me be clear:\u00a0 this applies to Democrats as well as Republicans.\u00a0 I wrote awhile back on the story of a guy who was beaten because he put a pro-Romney sign in his yard<\/a>, and another one about a teen who was mocked by her teacher at school for wearing a pro-Romney shirt<\/a>.\u00a0 Both of these incidents are wrong on so many levels that I hardly know where to begin.\u00a0 But I’ll give it a shot by referring to my own experience, especially my years going to an almost all-white private prep school from grades 7-12.<\/p>\n

My school high school was an extremely right-leaning prep school. When Ronald Reagan was running for the presidency, there were often strong disagreements on who to support with my classmates, at no time was I ever ridiculed by a teacher for my beliefs as a Democratic.\u00a0 It\u2019s unconscionable to me to know that the supporters of a President who has been so badly maligned would stoop to the kind of lows.\u00a0 This is especially true when one of the \u201cstoopers\u201d is a teacher.\u00a0 It\u2019s not right or funny under any circumstance.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

(Note: at no time was I physically threatened by my political affiliations though I would never be na\u00efve enough to suggest that such things didn\u2019t happen somewhere in Cleveland given the great racial divide at the time.)<\/em><\/p>\n

I would rather err on the side of protecting the rights for everyone than merely getting what I want for myself.\u00a0 It\u2019s that aspect of personal accountability with respect to propriety, or lack thereof, that\u2019s been so shocking. I\u2019ve been surprised how many people have been willing to condone outrageous and\/or disgusting behavior, either outright or by their silence, as long as the ends justify the means; no matter how bad the collateral damage to our system of governance. \u00a0When you see someone observing abhorrent behavior while acting as if nothing is happening, it’s hard not to also see "guilt by association".<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at just a handful of the more visible and egregious instances of personal attacks on the President, his race, and his religion:<\/p>\n