I am currently writing a book on moral imagination and ethics and have been reflecting on what does what I’m writing have to say to people during this political campaign.
I don’t know about you all, but I have found the level of political discourse in the media surrounding the 2016 Presidential Campaign very dispiriting. It has gotten very ugly and once again the country is polarized. The first two debates were the dirtiest I have ever seen and the third one, although more policy-oriented was not much better.
Also, the 2005 tape of Trump with Billy Bush where Trump was justifying sexual assault hit an all time low for a Presidential election. Despite what Trump says, this goes beyond locker room talk and it goes beyond ‘boys being boys.’ Ironically, NBC is holding Billy Bush to a higher standard by firing him than Donald Trump is being as a potential President. The topic of sexual assault and sexual harassment, the gas-lighting and excuse making of politicians for political gain, is the subject for my next blog. Suffice to say it was a new low with new low points being reached daily since then. Clinton’s reference to many of Trumps supporters as being irredeemable and to be put in a basket of deplorables wasn’t right either. Trump supporters, as deplorable as some of them might behave, similarly as deplorable as some of Hillary’s supporters might behave, are not inherently deplorable.
The debate between the followers of both candidates has become very polarized and each side demeans the followers of the other side for being ‘stupid,’ less than human, and deplorable. It’s based on a politics of fear, not of hope. And it makes this election a zero sum game. What if we approached it from the perspective of hope and what if this election actually wasn’t a zero sum game? Regardless of who is elected, a significant portion of the American people are going to be unhappy. And there is nothing any of us can do to control the outcome other than vote. So what happens if the candidate many people think is the end of all civilization as we know it is elected?
As I was working on the first chapter where I define moral imagination, I came across a quote on moral imagination by John Paul Lederach, a prominent writer and practitioner in the field of peacebuilding, mediation and conciliation.
He writes that moral imagination “requires the capacity to imagine ourselves in a web of relationships that includes our enemies; the ability to sustain a paradoxical curiosity that embraces complexity without reliance on dualistic polarity; the fundamental belief in and pursuit of the creative act; and the acceptance of the inherent risk of stepping into the mystery of the unknown that lies beyond the far too familiar landscape of violence.” (Lederach, Moral Imagination, p. 5) He goes on to say that to explore these four areas, we must “first understand and feel the landscape of protracted violence and why it poses such deep-rooted challenges to constructive change” and then we must “explore the creative process itself….. We must venture into the mostly uncharted territory of the artist’s way as applied to social change, the canvases and poetics of human relationships, imagination and discovery and ultimately the mystery of vocation for those who take up such a journey.” (emphasis mine)
So what does that mean for the campaign and most importantly for November 9th when no matter who wins, there will be an unhappy vocal minority and a very divided country?
UNDERSTANDING THE LANDSCAPE OF PROTRACTED VIOLENCE AND WHY IT POSES SUCH DEEP-ROOTED CHALLENGES TO SOCIAL CHANGE
In the context of American society, it’s important to begin listening to one another. Part of this listening means acknowledging that we live in a web of relationships. We are not individuals that exist outside of relationship or communities. We are interdependent and we need one another. What affects me does affect you and vice versa whether or not it is obvious.
In order to have a functioning flourishing society, the needs of all need to be taken into account. It is not a matter of by promoting the rights and well being of one group of people, that you have to deny the rights and well-being of others. For example by looking at the suffering and social injustices that African Americans face and emphasizing that Black lives matter, doesn’t mean poor white working men’s lives don’t matter. They matter too, but the voices of black lives have been marginalized and their needs have been ignored. How can we promote both and rather than either/or. This is what Lederach means by moving beyond dualistic polarity. It’s not a question of black lives versus white lives. It’s not even that all black lives and the needs of all African Americans are the same, the same as not all white lives are the same. People have multiple identities that reflect their position in society, a position which is not fixed in time and space, but is constantly changing.
Why are people so angry? Why do they feel so disenfranchised? Some speculate that globalization has meant that the losers are unemployed and feel that their significance, value and worth have been diminished. Others speculate that because the wealth distribution gap between the richest 1% and the remaining 99% has widened, this has bred resentment,.
What’s ironic is that the country is doing better than it was in 2008. The employment rate is at it’s highest since before the Iraq War began and peoples’ incomes have reached, if not exceeded, their pre–2008 crash levels. I really like the Canadian twitter campaign that is encouraging Americans that we’re better than we think and that we got this. Here’s a link to an article that gives more details about how well things are actually going. http://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2016/9/28/13081298/conservative-trump-apocalyptic-america-optimism There are many other articles out there saying similar things..
In any event, it is important to listen and understand the context of hatred and anger. I hope that whomever is elected will go on a listening campaign and really work hard to understand what’s gone wrong and to try and work across the aisle. What unites us is far more important than what divides us.
However, it’s not just up to the newly elected President to do this. We are all responsible for understanding and reaching out to our Others. It’s part of what makes us human beings. For the Trump supporters, try to reach out and understand the Hillary Supporters and vice versa. Stop the name calling. It isn’t productive.. What we all have in common is that we want what’s best for our families, our children and for future generations even if we disagree about what we do and how we get there. This will take moral imagination.
MORAL IMAGINATION INVOLVES EXPLORING THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Part of moral imagination is empathy, the ability to put ourselves in the other’s shoes and to walk a mile in their shoes, to see life as they see it. What are their fears, what are their concerns, what challenges do they face in their daily lives? What is it like to be a police officer who answers a call and is in fear of their life. What is it like to be an African American male who’s shot at gun point for no reason? What is it like to be a single mom trying to raise her kids. What added challenges might a Hispanic or African American single mom face?
It is possible to develop this empathy by reading the stories of others either in fiction or newspaper accounts. These stories abound. It means stepping into the unknown and allowing our lives to be changed by the lives of the Other who we encounter. It means venturing out beyond just reading about other people but seeking them out, befriending them, meeting them, talking to them, having meals with them. This is just for starters!
Peacebuilding and reconciliation is a creative act. It is a commitment to create something out of nothing, to envision and promote a future that, after understanding the past and the commitment of people to the status quo, is different from the past. It’s finding solutions to problems that address the complexities and addresses the vested interest all that are impacted by those problems and their complexities have. It’s not elevating one at the expense of other because that means perpetuating hierarchies of value. Victims then become oppressors. For example, one reason people are reluctant to give up their white privilege is they fear that they will become victimized and oppressed if African American people assume the top dog position.
Moral imagination is opposed to fear. Moral imagination may start in anger but it doesn’t stay there. Anger at the status quo when it perpetuates injustice is sparked by moral imagination, a sense that life can and must be different, and it is an important step in the journey, but it is not the final step. Moral imagination is committed to love, understanding, empathy, creativity and trust for our fellow human beings. It means not demonizing them any more and reducing them to categories. Human beings are unique, each has a story. They exceed definition, and as I say elsewhere are, are capable of doing new and exciting things. Fear and anger freezes our thinking. Solutions that work will be solutions that are born in reaching out, listening, not automatically defending one’s own position, humility, empathy. It is an art and a creative act. It is a vocation for the brave and courageous who are willing to let go of their fear, who are willing to forgive past offenses (I’ve spoken of forgiveness elsewhere).
I pray that on November 9th, no matter who wins, we will all work together as Americans to create a productive, creative, flourishing future for all Americans and not to perpetuate fear, misunderstandings and resentment. Let’s become artists of reconciliation and hope! What a great vocation!