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By Sanford "Sandy" Brown, Executive Director,
Church Council of Greater Seattle - click here to learn more
If you’re lucky, you’ve discovered news junkies’ favorite “political” TV show – “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” on Comedy Central. This cable “fake news” comedy show is not for everyone – particularly if you’re offended by crude humor. I’ve come to like it because of the way it pokes fun at every political figure of every stripe. It seems to understand that laughter is a great gift in a scary world.
The other
day Jon Stewart, appeared on CNN’s “Crossfire” with hosts Tucker
Carlson and Paul Begala. To the surprise of many, Stewart ditched his usual comic demeanor and tore into his “Crossfire” hosts. “I should come here,” Stewart said, “and tell you that it’s not so much [your show] is bad, as it’s hurting America. So I wanted to come here and say . . . stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America.”
Any fan of Stewart’s show would know there’s a very savvy man beneath the comic exterior. Some seemed dismayed that a comic would ambush two well-known political/journalist types like Carlson and Begala. But I’d say Stewart has a point. If I understand him, he’s tired of the politics of polarization in which we debate and debate and debate, but never discuss.
I know a little something about debate. I was a high school debater in my time, and I know debate is about scoring points against your opponent so you can win. My debate coach taught me to build arguments with evidence and to score points through “clash.” When we were done, we waited for the judge to tell us who had won. It was about winning or losing.
I watched a Presidential debate recently at the Moore Theater with several hundred other people and saw a similar kind of debate. In this political debate each side was presenting its opinion while trying to stay “on message.” Members of the audience, some of whom were a little tipsy from their after-work drinks, treated the contest like a football game, cheery wildly, hissing, booing, and clapping at the end, glad their candidate had “won.”
I experienced the same thing a few days later when I debated Tim Eyman over Initiative 892 on KCTS. Tim clearly had been told what to emphasize. He wasn’t there to listen to me, that was clear. His objective was to get his talking points across. I went back to the tape of the 20-minute debate and counted seven times he repeated the words, “level playing field.” Even though he gave me a friendly slap on the leg when the debate was done, I was pretty sure he hadn’t listened to anything I had said.
The problem with debates is that they’re no substitute for a good old, honest discussion. Because there’s no real listening involved, debates only help us make red states or blue states, but not united states. Sure, debates like Crossfire or the Presidential series certainly have a role, but let’s not confuse ourselves, they’re not the answer. I know we’ll only find the answer when we learn to listen as well as we speak.
This is the more excellent way, the Christian way. To be honest, the church has plenty of examples of how it has messed up and resorted to vilification of its enemies rather than openness to their perspectives. But God challenges us to be people who listen and love first, and ask questions later.
So many times Jesus was criticized for having dinner with tax collectors and sinners. Shouldn’t a righteous teacher make a clear statement by not associating with the wrong crowd, he was asked? I guess Jesus felt he could win them over by listening and by love. If Jesus ever concerned himself with staying “on message,” it was probably a message something like this, “Love, love, love.” It was his most powerful tool.
Which brings us back to Stewart’s plea: “Stop, you’re hurting America.” Sure enough, none of us benefit in the long run by shooting from our trenches. We never learn, we never grow, we just become better fighters. It may make great spectator sport, but it’s not enough to build a nation. No, that would take real listening, real understanding, and real openness to new viewpoints. The secret is that the other side has been given part of the answer, too. And since they’re real people, loved by God, they deserve our attention.
With this election over, I hope we’ll be wise and loving enough to “bind up the nation’s wounds,” and start listening again. Let’s join with brothers and sisters who believed and voted differently than us and build a better nation. It’ll take a new form of discourse that values listening and loving as most important, and winning or losing as somewhere way down the list.
If Stewart’s right, we might need to laugh a little along the way.
From The Source - the newspaper of the Church Council of Greater Seattle
Reprinted with permission @ November 2004