Here’s the thing about fascism. It can be contagious.
Regardless of your opinion of our president, you can’t doubt that he knows how to provoke fear.
An immigrant’s fear of ICE.
A protester’s fear of arrest.
Republican lawmakers’ fears of mean tweets that could destroy their careers or threaten their lives.
The power in that fear provocation can be seductive. Just ask former El Paso County Commissioner Stan VanderWerf.
I worked with Stan a few years ago on a Census committee charged with driving participation in this bipartisan effort.
Stan’s a nice guy. But social media in the Trump era can bring out the worst in anyone.
Stan was scrolling through his Facebook feed when he came to a Trump-bashing post that had been shared from a friend of Rebecca Glesener Davis. He responded with a personal message.
“As you are the Advertising Manager of the Colorado Catholic Herald, I am surprised you would be so nasty on public media towards our President and me, a combat veteran. Perhaps I should share your comments with Bishop Golka and/or the Facebook page of the Colorado Catholic Herald.”
Rebecca forwarded that message to me, and I PM’d Stan: “Tell me you didn’t write this.”
The only cure is kindness.
I couldn’t believe that Stan would try to bully Rebecca about some political post – one that passed Facebook standards (low though they are). I was shocked at the implication that he would go after her livelihood.
Stan defended his response.
“As I recall, it was not an ‘I’m not a fan of Trump’ message. It was a vicious attack of Trump. So vicious that I looked her up and was shocked to find that she worked in the faith industry,” he responded. “I am often struck by how good decent people will completely lose their minds on social media. It is even more important that good Christians provide examples of decorum.”
Neither Stan nor Rebecca saved the message, and, apparently, it has been deleted.
I’m sure it had some harsh comments about the president, though it was reposted from someone out of state who didn’t know Stan, so I doubt it contained a personal attack on him. Rebecca said it did not.
Still, Stan felt the need to shame and threaten. Thankfully, it didn’t work.
“The Bishop is a great guy and I don’t think he’d care if Stan did call me out,” Rebecca wrote to me. “But I did tell my boss about it, and after she laughed for five minutes, she told me not to worry, lol.”
I haven’t seen the original offending post, and I don’t dismiss Stan’s observation that civility and decorum seem to be eroding, especially on social media.
Our president’s regular tweets are no exception.
But that impulse to respond with shame and threat raises a more urgent concern. We must not let our president’s bullying tendency spread to our local and personal levels. It can be a contagion more dangerous than incivility.
And the only cure is kindness.
When I told Stan that I planned to write this commentary, he sent me another comment:
“I find it amazing that many people with normal lives and respectable jobs completely lose their civility when it comes to politics. Use of social media does NOT disconnect us from our friends, communities, and civility. People of faith, especially, should show a little more grace.”
I couldn’t agree more.
