As I mentioned in “C’mon People Now,” it seems there is a growing number of Trump supporters with buyer’s remorse – people who voted for Trump and were fired from their federal job; people who are facing loss of their livelihoods due to the on-again/off-again tariffs, etc.
I read an article this week with a disturbing twist: “Thrust into unemployment, axed federal workers face relatives who celebrate their firing.” (https://www.yahoo.com/news/thrust-unemployment-axed-federal-workers-130433303.html)
It is not surprising that the fired federal workers interviewed were heartbroken and dismayed at the loss of their jobs. What really hit them hard, though, was the lack of sympathy from their families. And, it wasn’t just lack of sympathy. Many were facing gleeful friends and family who reveled in their loss. One of the interviewee’s was disheartened that when she was critical of what the government is doing, her mother, who had been a federal employee, only says she still supports the president.
Harsh.
We are not just a country that is being divided between red and blue. We are being divided within our own families.
In some ways, this sounds a whole lot like a discussion on the Civil War I had with an 8th grader in the school where I teach. North vs. South. Brother vs. brother.
It would be interesting to compare the lead up to the civil war to the current divisions in our country. I don’t have time for that right now. But, one thing sticks out to me in both: the fight for the dignity of people.
I looked up human dignity on the internet. I was going more for a neutral definition than thoughts on application. I found this from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dignity/).
“Dignity is a complex concept. In academic and legal contexts, it is typically used in the couplet ‘human dignity’ to denote a kind of basic worth or status that purportedly belongs to all persons equally, and which grounds fundamental moral or political duties or rights. In this sense, many believe that dignity is a defining ideal of the contemporary world, especially in western society.”
“A kind of basic worth or status that purportedly belongs to all persons equally, and which grounds fundamental moral or political duties or rights.”
As a nation, we seem to be completely abandoning the concept of human dignity (that assumes we ever had a clear concept of human dignity to begin with).
Surprising since the last part of the quote states human dignity as being an ideal “especially in the western society.” Our own cherished “Declaration of Independence” alludes to the idea of human dignity, that all “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I reiterate that I doubt anyone feels the government couldn’t run more efficiently, cut out bloat. But, what is happening now is not improving efficiency, cutting bloat. It is just cruel. And, too many people aren’t just unsympathetic. They are taking joy in the pain of others.
That is just plain wrong.
Discarding people, which is what is happening, is inhumane.
If we can’t respect the human dignity of our own sisters, brothers, or even our own children, how are we ever going to respect the human dignity of others, especially those different from us.
In this age of Trumpism, I see little dignity in how we treat our fellow countrymen and, worse, our own family members. I believe there is nothing he can do that would make many of his supporters stop and think twice about him, even when his actions are a mistreatment of their own family members.
I know I am repeating myself and I will likely keep doing so. Because this is important. If there is nothing someone can do to make you think again, you have lost perspective.