If we ever hope to heal the stark divisions that are plaguing our nation, we have to start recognizing that those who hold views different from our own can still be people of goodwill. We have to stop attributing bad motives to everyone and everything we disagree with.
This Easter holiday provides us with a good example of that.
Today is Easter. To millions of people in the United States, and around the world, today is the holiest day of the year. A sacred day.
The President also issued a proclamation declaring today as the 2024 Transgender Day of Visibility.
People opposed to the President’s action took to social media and other forums to denounce them and him. Just as one example among a great many, a Republican member of Congress posted “There is no length Biden and the Democrats won’t go to to mock your faith, and to thumb his nose at God.”
Likewise, people in favor of his action, quickly jumped in to demonize the denouncers. A Democratic strategist posted that those who expressed concerns about the proclamation were “part of an ongoing effort to bully, harass, demean, and demagogue trans Americans for simply trying to live their lives.”
Both sides seized the opportunity to create division.
But neither side posted the whole story.
The whole story is that the specific date of Easter changes from year to year, it is not a fixed date. But the Transgender Day of Visibility always lands on this date, March 31, and has since it was first created in 2010.
The Transgender Day of Visibility was not specifically set for Easter Sunday. The days met simply because the date of Easter changes from year to year.
It would have been wise for the President and other advocates of the Transgender Day of Visibility to move the date. Doing so would have prevented an easily forecasted backlash, and would have been a net positive for effective advocacy.
But the fact that they did not does not mean that they acted in bad faith. They made a poor decision. There is a vast difference between these two things and while it is perfectly reasonable to point out a bad decision, it is not reasonable to automatically ascribe bad motives to those who made it.
Likewise, when people communicated about their dismay at this sharing of dates, that does not mean that they were coming from a place of bad faith. Instead of attacking their motives, minds could be changed by the offering of a true, honest, and measured explanation about how and why both are taking place on March 31st this year.
When thinking about politics, it is important for us to remember that votes are garnered and money is raised when a politician or group is able to spark outrage. It works better than anything else. Politicians, and all those special interest groups out there want us to be angry. It’s how they get us to support them, it is how they raise money.
We can beat the system by just jumping off the outrage bandwagon. By seeing that good people can disagree. By recognizing that a whole lot of things aren’t evil, they are just stupid.
It is one of humankind's most unfortunate instincts to assume the worst in people instead of the best. It's hard to fathom how many tragedies have occurred because of poor assumptions....