{"id":24639,"date":"2016-07-14T05:45:20","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T09:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=24639"},"modified":"2016-07-13T22:15:56","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T02:15:56","slug":"a-national-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/07\/a-national-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"A national conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The shootings of the last few weeks\u2013of black suspects; of police\u2013have at least provoked what has seemed to be impossible: \u00a0a national conversation over race.<\/p>\n

We have black people defending the police; gun rights activists defending a black man shot by police; liberals questioning their extreme rhetoric; conservatives showing empathy for both sides. \u00a0Moving outside the usual categories is a helpful thing, if we are going to face up to our problems and do something about them. \u00a0So says conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg. . . .<\/p>\n

From Jonah Goldberg,\u00a0Dallas Shooting & Philando Castile \u2014 Opportunities for Humility | National Review<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

It seems almost ghoulish to look for a silver lining in the dark cloud that blanketed the nation last week. But I think there was one. The killings by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, quickly followed by the killings of police in Dallas, knocked the lazy certainty out of almost everybody.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

At least for a moment, antagonists on either side of polarizing issues could see beyond the epistemic horizon of their most comfortable talking points. Black Lives Matter activists thanked the police for their protection and sacrifice. Conservative Republicans, most notably House Speaker Paul Ryan and former speaker Newt Gingrich, spoke movingly about race in America. Gun-rights activists were dismayed that Philando Castile, the man shot by a police officer in Minnesota, had followed all of the rules \u2014 he had a gun permit, cooperated with the officer, etc. \u2014 and was still killed. Liberals who insist that rhetoric from their political opponents inspires violence were forced to consider whether rhetoric from their allies might have helped inspire the shooter in Dallas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was a welcome change. \u201cNational conversations\u201d are usually efforts to bully everyone into accepting a single narrative when the reality is that, in this country of more than 300 million, many narratives can be in conflict and still be legitimate.
\n[Keep reading. . .]\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The shootings of the last few weeks\u2013of black suspects; of police\u2013have at least provoked what has seemed to be impossible: \u00a0a national conversation over race. We have black people defending the police; gun rights activists defending a black man shot by police; liberals questioning their extreme rhetoric; conservatives showing empathy for both sides. \u00a0Moving outside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,600],"tags":[4636,4635,3870],"class_list":["post-24639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-crime","tag-black-lives-matter","tag-dallas-police-shootings","tag-race"],"yoast_head":"\nA national conversation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The shootings of the last few weeks--of black suspects; of police--have at least provoked what has seemed to be impossible: \u00a0a national conversation over\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/07\/a-national-conversation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A national conversation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The shootings of the last few weeks--of black suspects; of police--have at least provoked what has seemed to be impossible: \u00a0a national conversation over\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/07\/a-national-conversation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-14T09:45:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-14T02:15:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/07\/a-national-conversation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/07\/a-national-conversation\/\",\"name\":\"A national conversation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-14T09:45:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-14T02:15:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"The shootings of the last few weeks--of black suspects; of police--have at least provoked what has seemed to be impossible: \u00a0a national conversation over\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/07\/a-national-conversation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/07\/a-national-conversation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/07\/a-national-conversation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A national conversation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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