Why The Vitriol?

Friends, dear readers, fellow Cranachers, let us restore the high level of discourse and welcoming spirit this blog is famous for! We’ve got FW, longtime voice of forgiveness who has always held us to the Eighth Commandment, making some of you thinking he’s not the real FW. We’ve got two Anons confusedly arguing different sides, mixing us all up about who’s saying what (do give yourselves different names, please!). We’ve got TK alarmed at our rhetoric. Let’s pause, catch our breath, consider that politics is transient and that we have a citizenship in Heaven, and sing a round of Kum-bah-yah.

I wonder if we could discuss WHY politics in this cultural moment stirs such vitriol.

For example, I do not recall ever seeing such knee-jerk HATE, that’s the only word for it, among liberals at the introduction of Sarah Palin. Nor have I ever seen such seemingly illiberal tactics in going after her. Setting aside the legitimate questions about her qualifications and positions, why was the first and immediate response, before even getting to know her, to try to destroy not just her but her family? I’d like to hear especially from those of you who are Democrats. I don’t want to get into another argument about her; I just want to understand what it is about her that stirs such negative passions.

We Republicans are guilty of this too, of course, in our visceral reaction against, say, Hillary Clinton. Why do we get so worked up?

We’ve discussed controversial theological points and complex moral issues on this blog and stayed friendly. Why do we lose it when it comes to politics? There may be good reasons, but I’d like us to think about what they are.