This morning I asked my friend, Erin why some people have a problem with political correctness. She told me, “They live in a different world than you and I do.” As we unpacked her statement over coffee and muffins, she talked about the fears people live with. Fear of losing their job. Fear of crime. Fear of things they don’t understand. Fear of change. Fear of the other.
If that is true, and I believe it is, then I understand the ravages of fear. Fear seems to give permission to behave badly. To lash out. To take a protective stance that may put others at risk.
Fear is the enemy within. It dehumanizes us to live in fear. It sucks out our compassion and generosity. We react from the reptilian part of our brain that either runs and hides or lashes out as we respond to perceived threats. And when we are afraid almost everything feels like a threat.
My spiritual tradition, Christianity, invites me to a unique response to fear: love. I admit it is the struggle of a lifetime. It is counter-intuitive. It is also empowering. To love in the face of fear taps into a power so much greater than myself. When I live in love even the fear of death is trumped. As my sacred text says: “There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18
The right plays on peoples’ fears and diminishes us a nation and belittles the concept of political correctness even though ‘political correctness’ is just a term for kindness and respect for those who are different. I can’t be kind if I live in fear. That sends me down another rabbit hole: Fundamentalism plays on people’s fear of hell doubles down with anti-political correctness. The thinking seems to be that if I am kind and respectful to those who are different from me in their beliefs or understanding of the world, I am putting my immortal soul at risk.
One the other hand, the left seems to fear truth-telling. I began to hear the term ‘alt-right’ to refer to white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other extremists, during this election cycle. I cannot help but wonder why we are using ‘soft’ terms to refer to provocateurs and proponents of violence and hatred. We need to name ultra right extremists for what they are. Not out of fear. Not out of some sense of vengeance or retaliation, but because hatred needs to be rooted out of our culture and identity. Hatred, like fear, is an aspiration of the far right that we need to take seriously and oppose vehemently.
If fear is the opposite of love and hatred is the opposite of compassion then let us choose not to hate and choose not to fear. Let us be the radical left that names and stands against that which threatens life and liberty and risks kindness and compassion to those who are different from us- by nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, or race.