Slapped Into Awareness

The other day, Trump was making fun of Sen. Charles Schumer’s emotional tears over the Muslim ban. Trump said that Schumer was faking and that he’d like to meet the senator’s acting coach. I thought that was cold, heartless and cruel. A few days later on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the host ran a video of Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch’s reaction to hearing of the death of SCOTUS Judge Antonin Scalia. Gorsuch was skiing in Colorado and got the news by text on his phone. He said he skied down the mountain with tears in his eyes. Noah made fun of Gorsuch exclaiming that it was such a white man’s way of dealing with sadness––while skiing. What the fuck, I thought. That was cold, heartless and cruel.

The hate coming from both sides now will destroy us long before the terrorists or climate change. We have to be aware of what we’re doing. I don’t expect anyone to change, but at least we should know what’s going on within ourselves. We should be aware of the danger of unbridled hate. Jokes about rich and powerful people are one thing; making fun of their genuine sadness is another. When they go low, we go lower? We’ll find out very soon where that takes us.