I’ve read that in World War I the French and German troops, who spent their days shooting at each other from trenches, would often sneak out at night to a nearby pub to hang out and have drinks together. They had no issue with each other, mostly just farmers drafted by their respective governments to fight the war.
The generals on both sides, learning of this, immediately put a stop to it. Fraternizing with the enemy! They needed the troops to hate each other to best support their war efforts.
One key to war is the dehumanizing of the enemy. In WW II our soldiers killed Japs and Krauts, subhuman species. On the other side, their soldiers were taught that they, both German and Japanese, were of a master race and had a right to kill those lesser peoples in their way.
I read a story a while back about a man who had a wife and two kids. He was a dentist, and they had a reasonably good life. But he was drafted and found himself in the jungle, carrying a gun that he was not that familiar with, looking for the enemy, who could be anywhere in that jungle. Waiting to kill him.
He was Japanese. He had no gripe with us, but he was sent out to try to kill our Marines wandering around in that same jungle.
In Vietnam, we killed commie gooks. But Mohammed Ali famously proclaimed he had no grudge against the Viet Cong.
Up until relatively recently, Democrats and Republicans didn’t hate each other. Sometimes they married. They had family get-togethers. Maybe some didn’t want to discuss politics, but it was no big deal what party affiliation a friend or neighbor had.
Now that’s changed. Trump said Democrats are “very sick and deranged people” who want to “erase your vote.” Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters “despicable.” My Facebook feed, filled mostly with my Progressive friends, follows her lead and is full of posts decrying how stupid, how racist, how xenophobic Trump supporters are.
(I’ve been kicked off two Progressive threads for suggesting that maybe those who voted for Trump had some real issues that lead them to that choice. No, no, and no, they’re despicable and that’s the end of the conversation, and I’ve been called bad things in upper case letters for my view.)
My brother-in-law is a Trump supporter, and a nice guy, and not stupid, and not a racist, and can talk intelligently about, say, options for immigration. He’s a pleasure to talk with.
Fraternizing with the enemy. Our leaders don’t want us doing that, each wants it’s base to be riled up and mad at the other. And for that to happen, it’s important that we don’t get to listen to opinions from the other side. How perfect is the internet for keeping us in our own camps, building up our hatred for “them.”
Fortunately, at this point in the game, we’re not being asked to kill each other, just vote for our team.
Hands Across the Hills is an organization trying to bridge the gap. They’re from Western Mass. and had an open forum Oct. 13 in Leverett with people from rural Kentucky. Check out their website https://www.handsacrossthehills.org/ for details.
Dennis Merritt is a resident of Shelburne Falls.