I had a very strange experience the other night which pretty much left me speechless--very unusual for this liberal, opinionated, somewhat socialist, progressive leftie mom. But I was just so surprised at the words and the context, I'd like to know other people's reactions to it, especially now that I've had a chance to process it.
My family was attending a Family Game Night at our church, where I also work. We were supposed to have been at Family Camp this weekend, but our camp was in the middle of the big Station Fire earlier in the month and the forest is still closed to civilians so no dice this time. When we're at camp, after the kiddies are abed, the adults get together for a cutthroat game of Scattergories. We pull no punches, will vote down bad answers ruthlessly, use blue language even if the Pastor is playing.
So this night we were playing wish-we-were-camping Scattergories in the fellowship hall.
Most of us had played together before and we really were playing softball, I swear. One player was new, Dave. I don't really know Dave except to see him in church and know that he was trying to recruit for a Discipleship class that didn't get off the ground. But, hey, all are welcome!
We get to the second round, N is the letter and the category is "Villains/Monsters." Okay, I'm a DFH, my answer is "Nixon." Clever enough, everybody knows my proclivities (except Dave), everyone votes it okay except him, but that's totally cool. He says to me, "I don't like you." Which I took in a joking way, the way you don't like when someone has a cleverer answer.
The next round is the letter D. One of the categories is "cold things." Dave's answer is "Democrats." Okay. Really? I'm sure I looked incredulous, but that was the end of it for me. I knew after Nixon we didn't fall on the same place in the political spectrum, as it were, but this is a mixed liberal/conservative church and I'm used to it, no problem.
The issue came next. I said, "Really?" And he said, "Baby killers." Just like that. Right into my eyes. Like I am some horrible person. Way over the line. And we play with ruthlessness, but not malice.
I was, as I said, struck speechless. I am perfectly willing to interact with anti-choice people and would not deny them their right to worship or socialize with me or my friends. I would never insult them or say hateful things to them, regardless of how much I disagree. I might argue vociferously, and I have, believe me, at this very church where I work, for progressive points of view. Sheesh, I initiated and carried out a whole month of work and events for the International Day of Peace last weekend (with lots of help and support from the staff and many others). My opinions are strong and always ready for prime-time.
Bullies are familiar, but hate speech is new to me.
I feel for all of my fellow Kossacks and others who experience this kind of attack often. Many, many people have it worse than I do every single day, I know. But this was my first time. There are Christianists everywhere, I guess.
I saw this video this morning at Just an Earthbound Misfit and it expresses my feelings perfectly about this sort of thing. It's about 10 minutes so skip if you like, but I think it really hits the nail.