Living in a Bubble

Although many things have changed since I retired from academia, one aspect of our lives has remained the same. Most of my working life was spent surrounded by political progressives, both in the workplace and in the neighborhood where we lived. Now we are still living in a "liberal" bubble where most of our fellow Bisbeeans share our outrageously radical views like gun registration is a good idea, people who cross the international border looking for work should not have their children taken from them, and that a president who is beholden to Moscow is not a good thing. These modest beliefs are not widely shared outside the Bisbee city limits, though.

A drive to nearby Sierra Vista will reveal clusters of Trump campaign signs and compounds of rusting RVs tucked away in the desert defiantly waving their "Don't Tread On Me" and MAGA flags. There is more than a little menace in these displays. After all, one must ask about the motivation of some people in shouting to the world their anger and defiance. Persuasion? Hardly.

Now that the dust has settled over the election fight, I find myself wondering about the safety of our bubble. There are more than a few people in Arizona whose sense of outrage finds expression in chest-thumping firearms display. A Hispanic female reporter for Telemundo who was broadcasting an election night vote count in Phoenix was surrounded by a group of gun bearing goons who wore no covid masks as they shouted insults at her. Rumors of a violent militia movement in Pinetop have also reached our ears. Even the campground host at our Parker Canyon Lake retreat opined that we would soon be under the rule of "President Harrison" because Joe Biden will resign in six months. (I called bullshit on that one; the host was unarmed at the time of this pronouncement.)

But this insular community we have joined can also be dangerous. Living in a bubble can definitely contribute to cultural myopia, a lack of empathy for anyone who feels differently than those we surround ourselves with on a daily basis. (Witness my reaction to the campground host.) All the same, how someone can clutch an assault rifle and shout Second Amendment slogans while simultaneously opposing abortion because it is "murder" is difficult to fathom. (As John Prine once said, "Now Jesus don't like killin' no matter what the reason's for.") However, if we are ever to heal this nation while moving forward from the Orange years, we must try to listen, and understand, the other side. For most Americans, the real test will be around the Thanksgiving table this year. Hopefully, love will prevail.