Politicizing The Fallen

This week…sadly demonstrated how little is sacred or off-limits to polarizers. The gesture of honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country was callously used again and again as an excuse to point fingers at “them.” As is often the case, the rancid game may have ignited with a single thoughtless, ugly incident or remark. But quickly, the pile-on began, with supporters, critics, readers and commentators playing along, pumping it up, accusing, cheering, whining, defending, attacking, labeling – trotting out the full arsenal of division, utterly disgracing the very ideals of freedom, decency and honor that the fallen had sacrificed and died for. These soldiers did not go to war for the cause of the right or the left, the red or the blue, but for cause of one nation, under God, indivisible. Polarizers demean everything they purportedly defend. And this past week’s school-yard squabbling over our country’s loss was particularly shameful. 

When reading these examples, check the above list and ask yourself: regardless of whether you agree or disagree, is this really advancing an intelligent resolution through the persuasive, rational arguments of advocacy…or simply fueling the fire of conflict through the divisive, emotional manipulations of polarization? 

Here are some of the week’s most polarizing articles, from the left and right: