Thoughts While Hiking Alone: Consistency, Thou Art a (Rare) Jewel (Part 2 of 2)

On a recent solo hike, I had some thoughts on a variety of topics, beginning with a list of yard chores and ending on America’s present state of political debate. Some of my thoughts were directed at liberals, which I shared in my previous column. Now for the rest of the story…

Dear (Southern) Conservatives, if you are feeling smug and vindicated by my words… don’t be. You are doing the same thing the liberals are doing. You are claiming the sole right to decide the meaning of your star & bars, regardless of how other folks feel about it. OK, fine, but when it comes to some NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, you insist on imposing your view of their actions. They claim their kneeling is about protesting racism – it’s not intended as disrespect to our nation, our troops, our school teachers, our nurses, etc. It’s about racism in police shootings. In other words, dear Conservatives, you claim the right to wear your Dixie flag because it doesn’t mean hate to you, but you won’t give the NFL athletes the same right to define what their own actions mean.

So, dear readers, both liberal and conservative, it seems to me that there are two reasonable, logically consistent approaches to this issue and one unreasonable, hypocritical approach. The two reasonable options are: first, don’t criticize either group; simply take them at their word for what their actions mean; or, second, criticize both groups because their personal ideas about what they are doing ignores the obvious fact that their behavior is offensive to much of the American public. The thing that these two approaches have in common is that they judge both the good ol’ boys in South and the NFL’s protesters by the same rule. Consistency, thou art a jewel, a rare jewel.

The inconsistent, hypocritical view is this: criticize just one group (that is, the one you disagree with) but defend the other group (the ones you agree with). This is the most popular approach, and yet it is unfair and inconsistent because it judges these two groups by two different standards. For your favorite group, you let them determine what their actions means; for the other group, you let the opponents and critics decide.

So, for those of you who defend a Southerner’s right to wear the Confederate battle flag, fine, but to be fair, you must also defend the right of someone to kneel during the national anthem. Likewise, for those of you who defend a person’s right to kneel during the national anthem, fine, but you must also defend the person who wear a “Heritage, not Hate” T shirt. (For purposes of full disclosure, I wouldn’t defend either one. I think both are showing disrespect to our flag and to basic civility. I wouldn’t wear a Nazi swastika and then claim “German Heritage, not Hate” because I don’t want to be associated with the evil that most folks associate with that symbol.)

It’s time for both sides to step back, take a deep breath, and think about how their actions are perceived by others. Do you really want to continue to do something that is perceived by many others as racist or unpatriotic? Do you seriously believe that advances your cause? A guy once said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and “treat others as you want them to treat you.” If those values make sense to you, then your goal should be peace and reconciliation, and you should do your best not to offend your opponents unnecessarily, even though you have the right to.

So, those are the kinds of things I think about when I’m hiking alone. My next project will be North Korea. Since the future of the world is at stake, I’ll get to it soon, as soon as the weather is nice and I don’t have yardwork to do.

Thoughts While Hiking Alone: Two Flags (Part 1 of 2)

One of the dying skills in our modern world is the ability to be alone with one’s own thoughts. Our various hand-held devices (no, not pens and paper and books; the electronic kind) seem to be bringing a slow, sad death to quiet contemplation and meditation. In years gone by, while on some lengthy, lonely hikes, I’ve solved pretty much all the world’s problems, including but not limited to: war, terrorism, racism, poverty, global warming, religious bigotry, and covert actions by the CIA. I’ve also resolved intellectual conundrums such as free will vs. determinism, grace vs. works, creationism vs. evolution, the existence of God and the Illuminati, and whether the glass is half empty or half full. Of course, by the end of the hike, as fatigue and hunger set in, my thoughts turn to cheeseburgers, and I forget my grand schemes and solutions. I should write this stuff down.

So, on a recent solo hike, I had some thoughts on a variety of topics, beginning with a list of yard chores that needed to be done, then transitioning to SEC football, and finally settling in on America’s present debate over racism, police brutality, and two flags. For a change, I did write them down. So here they are…

Dear Liberals, you’ve long been critical of good ol’ Southern boys displaying their Dixie flags and wearing Southern-themed T shirts saying “Heritage, not Hate.” While I’m sure a few of them are outright racists, many of them are good people who are genuinely proud of being from the South. They claim that there is a lot more to the South than slavery and racism, and they are happy and proud to live here. But, dear Liberal, you won’t allow that. To you the stars & bars represent harsh, angry racism, and you are offended by such displays. The flags and T shirts are not allowed to represent anything other than what you believe they represent.

OK, fine, whatever. But now you are defending athletes who kneel during the national anthem. While many Americans see this as a sign of disrespect to America (everything from her imperfect democracy to the troops who have fought and died for our American flag), you and the kneelers claim it is simply a statement about lingering racism in America today, particularly police brutality – nothing more and nothing less. So, you are taking the athletes at their word. Their protest means what they say it means, and the opinions of those who are offended by kneeling during the national anthem don’t matter to you.

And yet, when it comes to those Southerners wearing the stars & bars and claiming “heritage, not hate,” you won’t take them at their word. According to you, their T shirts and bumper stickers don’t mean what they say it means; they mean what you (and those who are offended by it) say it means.

My dear liberal friends, it seems to me that you’ve constructed a nice, neat double standard as you pass judgments on the Southerners but not the NFL players. In my lexicon, that’s called hypocrisy.

Dear (Southern) Conservatives, maybe you are feeling smug and vindicated by my words…. Not so fast, my friends! [To be continued]