|
Concord Monitor columnist Ray Duckler has a very good piece in today's edition about the so-called "Town Hall" meetings on health insurance reform. He starts by describing the nature of the outbursts, quotes some New Hampshire stalwarts such as Walter Peterson and Dean Spiliotes, and ends with some inspiring words from Arnie Alpert, of the American Friends Service Committee.
This whole violent reaction to a much needed social program has gotten to me as well. I'm watching the craziness on the teevee and getting angry, until I realize that the teevee is whipping everybody up in a frenzy. It's "exciting" it gives "ratings". Meanwhile, there is no dialog between people as people. Without that, nobody will be convinced of anything. I'm not sure even with it, people will be convinced, but we have to try.
Duckler quotes political analyst Dean Spiliotes on the media's fanning of the flames:
It gives them a different potency than they might have had at some point in the past," Spiliotes said. "You had a couple of initial town hall meetings, a lot of aggressiveness and shouting, and that got replayed on cable news. The ability of these moments to go viral around the country can have a big impact on motivating others to get involved and in giving people a sense of what the tactics are."
|
|
Duckler opens his article with a description of a 15 minute "famer" who screamed at Arlen Specter during a "Town Hall" meeting in Pennsylvania. The man was totally confused, because his wife had over $2 million worth of medical care provided by the government. It seems this man fears Obama, not government subsidized health care.
Governor Walter Peterson, who held the corner office during the tumultuous late '60s and early 70s said,
We had vigorous debate on occasion, but not people trying to shout down other people," Peterson said from his home in Peterborough. "It's not how you can usefully carry on a debate."
For pointers on useful debate, or dialog, Duckler goes to Arnie Alpert of the American Friends Service Committee. He thinks the anger at the "Town Halls" has less to do with reaction to health insurance reform and more to do with having an African American President and the Republicans' fall from power.
Alpert describes an experience he had while holding a vigil against the death penalty. A large man with a large dog, who said he was a friend of the Briggs' family approached Alpert in an unfriendly manner. Alpert introduced himself and explained to the man what they were doing and also listened to his point of view. The man left the area with a slightly different attitude. With that hope, I would also add that the man was alone, not part of a mob. As we know, mob mentalities are different. Still, we can try to engage people in this way, although it seems increasingly difficult.
Alpert was at the Town Hall in Portsmouth
When someone comes up and starts yelling at you, you introduce yourself and ask for a name and have a chat with them," Alpert said. "This isn't really radical stuff. A lot of it is just common sense."
This was the approach of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other leaders of social change movements.
The teevee screamers, both paid and unpaid, seem to be winning the day and defining the discourse. We have to move back to the one-on-one and small group dialog where ever we can.
People have always been against new social programs. There was virulent opposition to Social Security, to Medicare, to all these things. Now we cannot imagine not having them. But back in the 30s and the 60s, there was not this steady media drumbeat and this balkanization via the internet, YouTube, etc. I don't watch Fox News and the people who watch that don't get their news from MSNBC. My teen-aged son asks, "Is there any news that is unbiased?" I have to tell him "no".
I am glad that Duckler quoted Alpert, because it reminded me that the only way to cut through this is communication and reconciliation. I heard this coming from the President in Portsmouth, but I wish it were also coming from other politicians from both sides of the aisle, especially the GOP.
|
