The Open Matt Project

Radical Thought

I've been saying for the past few months now that the real enemy we face is radicalism.

Before one gets all jumpy about "those radicals" you know of, it's important to define at least generally what the spectrum of beliefs is composed of so you first have some idea of how to gauge where you stand in relation to the others. This scale definitely exists, it's just not being used. To some, I am a raging right-winger. To my raging-right winger friends I am a friendly liberal who will soon learn the error of my ways. It is a matter of perspective, but not infinitely so.

Each of us have positions and we fight for them based on real-life realities and issues. The implementation of abortion, education, foreign policy, gun control, hate crimes, and other mechanics of society are all axis around which our perspectives spin.

For example, the abortion issue revolves entirely around discerning the point at which each person believes a valid human life is created. The spectrum goes from the instant the sperm hits the egg to some time after the baby is born. If you ask a "pro-choice" supporter if it were ok to have an abortion while the mother was in labor, about to give birth - most would say no, and the few that said yes would likely be asking if the mother's life was in danger. If you ask a "pro-life" supporter if an abortion is ok in the first few hours, say, using a morning after pill, you would find many saying yes. The real test of where a person stands isn't on a point marked "pro-life" or "pro-choice" but rather where they believe a life begins. It's often surprising to discover exactly where one stands in relation to others who are supposedly of like mind, as it is often much more variable than one would expect.

A critical and common point to made is that anyone whose point in time lies later than your point is, from your perspective, a de facto baby-killer. That's a harsh condemnation - and covers a lot of people. As if that wasn't bad enough, everyone else on the spectrum whose point is earlier than yours considers you a baby-killer. It's true that the battleground is a woman's body, but the casualties are high-stakes targets - babies and women's rights. Isn't everyone for babies and women's rights?

Yet we find the very framework of today's dialog polarized into ever-narrowing camps that inexorably favor radicalism - a leaning towards one extreme or the other in an effort to escape the terror of being pinched by both sides while simultaneously being rewarded by righteous concurrence. Is it any surprise that there are so few politically limber people, who as such are willing to be seen in varying degrees as the enemy by a majority of people? To be both baby-killer and womans-rights-crusher? To be warmongering oil fiend and simpering peacenik? To find one day that your friends politely tolerate you and strangers find you too perplexing to invest in? Isn't it just so much easier to pick a side and suffer the assaults of one enemy while at least enjoying the comforts of like-minded compatriots?

But this choice is no choice at all. To simply pick a side in order to avoid scrutiny, rejection, or fatigue is to surrender the degrees of one's integrity that form the core lifesblood of a working democracy. How can one vote one's conscience if it has been surrendered to a mob? What kind of choices - what kind of leaders will we have to choose from if we submit our wills to the loudest and most convenient constituancy? Sadly, the answer looms over our future, casting a shadow of despair over victor and vanquished alike.

Yet the solution itself is found within the problem. To recognize the extremities is to recognize the limits of the spectrum. To see the span of ideology allows us to take a position while at the same time naturally respecting the positioning of others. We don't have to like them or agree with them but by better understanding our relationship to them, we can better understand how to work with and around them without engaging in either mutual deconstruction or foolish sacrifice into a common bonfire of lockstep radicalism which can only ensure a totality of dissatisfaction.

I am afraid in my life not of the terrors that exist but the terrors we create. I believe what we have in common will prove to be a better engine of change than our differences. I urge you to put down your hate and your disgust. Put down your accusing finger and offer your hand. Take a moment by yourself to explore, unafraid, your own mistakes and falibility and find the strength to ask for help in overcoming them. Leave your righteousness behind and strive to find and do what is right.

Before it's too late.

Posted by Matt at October 18, 2004 03:45 PM

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