A Liberal
Dose
March 17,
2022
Troy D.
Smith
“It Feels
Like the World Has Gone Crazy”
The world seems to be getting crazier every day. It is
amazing the number of things happening now that most of us thought were
permanently in the past, or would have been dumbfounded fifteen years ago to think
we would ever see at all. Russia flat-out invading countries in a virtual
reenactment of the tactics and justifications of Nazi Germany. Having to
actually think seriously again about possible nuclear war. Anti-Semitism on the
rise -only this week I was invited to give a virtual presentation for a
community just outside Los Angeles where both the high school and local synagogue
have been vandalized and covered with swastikas. Racist violence on the rise
-against various minority groups. LGBTQ rights gained in the last decade now endangered. Women’s reproductive rights being rolled back
50 years or more. For that matter, the past few years I’ve been hearing many conservatives
talk about the sinfulness of birth control, not just abortion, something I
never remember in my life hearing any Christians -other than some Catholics -argue.
Freedom of speech coming under attack -with politicians actually dictating what
words or concepts high school teachers and even university professors can even
say. Perfectly innocuous -even highly educational and inspirational -books
being banned and burned. People furiously protesting against being asked to
wear masks or get vaccinated during a deadly pandemic. People storming the
Capitol to prevent the constitutional mandate of verifying election results, in
order to keep their guy in power… injuring over a hundred police officers in
the process and literally smearing feces in the halls of Congress.
It feels like we’re going backwards.
People are so intensely divided nowadays over political
issues, with rage bubbling right there on the surface, threatening violence and
even murder on their own friends and relatives (like the man recently convicted
in court for his crimes on January 6, 2021). Not just social media, but
traditional media like newspapers and radio, frequently feature “pundits” expressing
hatred for or even calling for violence against those who disagree with them. This
has, in fact, extended beyond politics and into the sphere of daily interaction.
People are a lot ruder than they were a few years ago, especially older people
-even my college students who work in restaurants have noticed it. I know that,
in past years, I always knew a large number of people -friends, relatives, co-workers
-with whom I could disagree about politics while both of us remained respectful
and cordial. That number has dwindled alarmingly. And, I admit, I am frequently
embarrassed by people who actually agree with me for the hateful and
condescending ways they talk to those with different views.
As an individual, I have a hard time reconciling all
this with the country I thought I was living in for most of my life. As a
historian, though, I know that there have always been strains of this
phenomenon present -they seem to be in remission from time to time, like an
aggressive cancer, but they always seem to show back up. There was plenty of
anger, division, vitriol, and violence in the Vietnam era. The 1950s, too,
while they may look like “Leave It to Beaver” in my imagination, had a lot of
violent, hateful people doing very cruel things to little children of color who
were just trying to go to school. Heck, 160 years ago, Americans were killing
each other by the hundreds of thousands in the Civil War.
I believe in working to move the country forward to
something better, not dragging it back to some imaginary “good old days” that
were really not that good for many. A lot of people have been trying to do the
latter -if you think all this is “making America great again,” you’re crazy.
I have always tended to be a peacemaker, and tried to
bring people together. Despite that, appeasement is not the answer. I say that
with deep sadness, not with anger.
--Troy D.
Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at
Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
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