The Truth

I was going to title this one "Trump was Right" but I couldn't stomach it, even for the click-bait. And even now I'm thinking I might delete that line because it's so terrible to look at.

When Trump said that there were "fine people on both sides" of the Neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, people got really angry. And for good reason- because politically Trump was equating NAZIS with ... well- not Nazis. And that is a terrible thing to do as a president- and in general.

However, (ugh) I have to admit something. He wasn't completely wrong. And before you burn me alive, hear me out. NONE of us are perfect. I think I've talked about this before, the sort of black and white ultimatums we deal in when talking about people we disagree with (or who are terrible people). You can be a terrible person, have TERRIBLE values, and still act like a nice person. You may even do some very fine, nice things.

One of the sort of insidious trends of the neo-Nazi movement and other white-supremacy groups is to blend in. They wear khakis now. And here's the thing, most of them wore khakis before. They just changed the culture of the group to make sure that they started becoming less obviously deviant or different, or dare I say "evil." It's hard to look at a bunch of white guys in khakis and polo shirts and think- now there's a dangerous group. The reason for that is because our society has conditioned us not to be afraid of those guys. And they are using it to their advantage. Obviously there are people who have had experiences that taught them otherwise, but by and large, if you see a white dude with a clean haircut, khakis, and a polo shirt walking down the street, you won't even notice him. Because he looks "normal."

And that is the whole point, white supremacists are embracing their normal, and everyone is buying into it as evidence that they aren't that bad after all. Hmm- not so fast.

It's true- I bet you that a white supremacist has the ability to be a loving parent. I bet a white supremacist has the ability to do something nice for their neighbor. I bet a white supremacist has the ability to contribute to the community, give money to the poor, do good work in their career. Because a white supremacist does not exist only as a white supremacist. They are whole humans, with relationships, careers, and other hobbies. But it doesn't mean that they are incapable of doing bad things. Obviously, right?!

Let's go further. Let's take the actual Nazis. My Grandfather (Opa) was born and raised in Berlin. His mother was Jewish and his father was a journalist who was black-balled by the Nazi party. Opa had the privilege of perspective when understanding Hitler's special kind of terrible. Opa was able to escape to the United States, but some of his friends from school were drafted into Hitler's army. In fact, Opa was set to be drafted but managed to escape by being smuggled out of Germany before his number was called. It was privilege that allowed him to have even the means to escape! Men serving in the Nazi army were called Nazis. But not all of these men were serving by choice. Sure, they could have died rather than serve (likely the only option available) and then serving is about survival. After the war, the men and women civilians left in Germany were made to clean up the rubble as a sort of a punitive measure for their complicity in the Nazi reign. But I know one of those women was my great aunt, who had kept her daughter's Jewish ancestry a secret to protect her, and did everything she could to protect and care for my great uncle (her eventual husband and the father of her daughter) and my great grandmother who were Jews. Despite clear evidence of her help, she still had to do the punitive work. Because she was a German and she managed not to be imprisoned. Hitler came to power in 1933, and soon after the entire public school curriculum was rewritten with anti-semitic genetic lessons spread blatantly throughout. The war, and the Nazi reign, ended in 1945. So it would be possible for a child to have an entire public education based on Nazi curriculum, from k-12 grade. Do we blame them for believing what they are taught from 5-18 years old?

I'm not excusing anyone's behavior or lack of bigger resistance. (But seriously, what would you do in those situations in Germany?) I'm not even making the argument that there wasn't evil at work. I am just saying that it's never black and white. When we make sweeping judgments, we often miss a a chance at progress and possible solutions.

I AM mad that Trump said there were very fine people on both sides, but not because he was wrong, he was actually kind of right, but because it DOESN'T matter. Because life, history, politics, is not that black and white. Very fine people do terrible things and should be held accountable. Very terrible people can do wonderful things. The point is that we cannot depend on a tattoo or consistently terrible behavior to help us decide if someone needs to stop. This actually can be spread into the whole rape-culture problem too. Just because the rapist is a really wonderful student and all-star athlete, does not somehow make them not also a rapist. It can be applied to the issue of black people getting shot- just because he stole candy or made bad choices does NOT mean he is "bad" or deserves the death penalty without trial.

Our tendency to polarize people into "good" and "evil" creates an impossible situation. If you see only the good in people, then you sentence yourself to never holding them accountable. If you see only bad in people, then their lives are no longer equal to yours or others. It doesn't work. It's bad politics, it's bad theology, it's bad human-ing.

So yes- there are probably some really stellar citizens in that torch-bearing crowd. If you call for all Nazis to burn in hell, then you are no better than they are. THEY hate, YOU hate. So let's throw away the unhelpful unilateral good vs evil argument. Let's be smart. Let us hold every person accountable for the shit they do- no matter how much money they make you or themselves. No matter how many medals they have received. Let's also listen to the story of that kid in the gang. Yes- he did some baaaad stuff. Yes he should be accountable to that. But yes, he is a human and if you hear his story, you might actually learn something. At the very least you may learn that we are all human, we all make mistakes, and what we look like (and our financial status) often determines how we pay for those mistakes. It's not about good and evil- so stop that game.

The truth is- people are far more complicated than a litmus test for good and evil. If we allow ourselves to think and listen with more complexity- we might actually be able to solve some problems. We might be able to create peace rather than using evidence of an ounce of good or evil to slam the scale of justice down wherever we want it.