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Through My Eyes... |
Health Care Town Meetings and “The Four D’s”
Sep 03, 2009
By Cornelia Spelman
Distortion, Disruption, Divison, and Derision
My sign read "Civility & Llstening to the Facts" and some TV station filmed the sign, as 1200 of us waited to enter Niles West High School for a recent Health Care Town Meeting sponsored by Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. But we all had to surrender our signs before entering, so I couldn't communicate that message during the many episodes of uncivil behavior exhibited by some of my fellow-citizens (I am not sure they were even constituents.)
The message of civility and attention to facts would've been lost, anyway, on those members of the audience whose only objective was to Distort, Disrupt, Divide, and Deride. I quickly realized it was not a matter of civility, but of deliberate intent NOT to help, solve, unite, or advance our common good. The Four D's are being encouraged, and celebrated, as if they were especially democratic rights, by "Mis-Leaders" like Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and others.
People who are angry and are encouraged to stay angry, and who have not learned how to constructively direct their anger or work with others to solve problems are not able to hear a message about civility and facts. Facts have nothing to do with their anger. Those angry people who crowd town halls across the country, who distort, disrupt, divide and deride, may have many individual reasons for anger, but what they share is the destructive desire to scapegoat and hate someone or something. This reservoir of anger and hostility is purposely ignited by Mis-Leaders. Igniting anger which results in destructive behavior is dangerous. The majority of us at the town hall meeting, believing in free speech but civil discourse, were alarmed by the shouted insults, interruptions, and bizarre, accusatory rants of the angry people. We should be alarmed.