LXIV: Caricatures and Mischaracterizations

It's the political season again (if there is ever a time without it), and we see, in full force, caricatures and mischaracterizations. I have no desire to get into the merits or lack thereof in the current political candidates, but I do believe that we need to think just for a moment about how we perceive others.

It is quite easy to go along with the crowd and just accept labels, half-truths, and caricatures of reality. It makes everything nice and neat and compartmentalized. "Liberals like to tax and spend." "Conservatives don't care about poor people." "Liberals are godless." "Religious conservatives just want to turn America into a theocracy."

This is not just about politics. "Liberals do not care about Biblical authority." "Traditionalists are sticks in the mud." How many other such statements could we make?

We live in a society that has been goaded into polarization and extremism, and it comes as no surprise to see plenty of people operating on false beliefs and assumptions regarding others.

Does anyone really think that Democrats want terrorists to win?
Does anyone really think that George W. Bush is the antichrist?

Why is it that so often we must resort to caricature, or false polarities, and not try to work on the substantive issues of the day?

Extremism is by no means restricted to politics; there's plenty of it in religious circles. Rarely is there an attempt to understand and intelligently discuss-- we just want to see what the person says, put them into the box into which we think they should go in our mental compartmentalizations, and provide our stock answers to their disagreement.

How is this productive? How is this an intelligent defense of the faith? What does the Bible say about such things?

The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly (Proverbs 15:14).

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion (Proverbs 18:2).

Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words (Proverbs 23:9).

What we see all too often in the political realm is sheer folly, according to wise Solomon. Political pundits are the definition of fools.

Too often, in religious discussions, we play the same foolish role. We think we understand when we do not really understand (and I have done the same on many occasions). We are quicker with answers than with questions; we think we have it figured out when we need to first understand.

Now, I am not saying that we must automatically agree; there is room for disagreement when there is understanding. What I am saying is that we're not going to get anywhere if we just relate to others on the basis of caricatures and mischaracterizations and just spew out pat answers.

We may feel threatened by "godless liberals," "denominationalists," "theocrats," "environmentalists," or whatever other subgroup you can think of, but in the end they're human beings, many of whom need to learn of God or understand Him better, and who just might be, on the whole, rather honest and hard-working Americans like many others. Demonizing those whom we oppose only helps out Satan and his demons, and does not accomplish the purposes of God.

ELDV