Demonization or Reconciliation?

Reconciliation is one of those lofty ideals that just seems unattainable by and large, doesn’t it?  It resembles forgiveness in this light, and almost always involves some element of forgiveness as a side note.  How is the black community supposed to move on from the tragedy of Trayvon Martin?  How are they supposed to teach their children that policemen are the good guys after that?  The only way is from a reconciliatory approach. 

It is much easier to instead demonize an entire group of people, be they police officers or another race or another political party.  It’s a sign of maturity though, to work together for the common good.  Individuals as well as nations don’t have to see eye to eye on everything of course, but we must come from a place of mutual respect and understanding. 

My dad reminded me the other day of how I said I had to stop paying attention to world news at one point because it was just too depressing.  There is a more insidious effect that watching the news can have.  If we’re not careful, the news can simply reinforce our biases towards another people group who we most likely have much more in common than we would ever know outside of actually meeting them face to face.

I encouraged my dad to watch the BBC or read The Economist since they’re not nearly as biased.  Fox News and CNN are two sides of the same coin, and we are foolish if we don’t see that.  My dad pointed out that Fox was the lone wolf, the only news station presenting the other side.  I agreed with him wholeheartedly, but was also quick to point out that they’re just as biased as the next guy albeit in another light.  I saw a hilarious clip of Jon Stewart that showed a Fox news anchor defending a family of four with an income of $250,000 as not being rich and the next week saying a teacher making $50,000 was too well off for their profession.  CNN has done such a good job at presenting itself without having bias that another intern this summer sincerely didn’t believe they were biased.

There are two extremes on the spectrum of dealing with another person or people group.  One is reconciliation and understanding; the other is demonization.  It doesn’t take too long of reading the news or trying to keep up with the politics of today to see which one our politicians are more likely to partake in.  They’re not the only ones though, right?  How many of us out of fear of actually confronting a person to their face will instead demonize that person to whoever will listen, albeit behind their back?  Which is a better way forward?  Will we take that first step towards reconciliation, or will we rally the troops to back us up and prove ourselves right at the expense of the other’s dignity and our mutual relationship?