Thunder in the Heartland

If it were a movie, I'd call it "Thunder in the Heartland." That low, rumbling noise is coming from Martinsville.\nIt all began with Martinsville Assistant Police Chief Dennis Nail's letter to the Martinsville Reporter-Times, in which he ruminated on all the things that just plain tick him off. An article WHEN from the Associated Press quotes Nail: "It offends me when I have to give up prayer in school. Once again because it might upset Hadji Hindu or Buddy Buddha ... When I look around I see no Mosque, or fat, bald guys with bowls in their laps. I see churches. I'm offended when I turn on a television show and without fail a queer is in the plot just like it's a natural thing."\nOf course, Nail's spicy rhetoric has occasioned a flood of response. Once again, the bedraggled citizens of Martinsville are lining up on opposite sides of the fence. Some are actively affirming the town's image as a haven of bigoted sentiment, with a town meeting participant quoted in the Times-Reporter suggesting that "all homosexuals should be put on a boat and sunk." And then there are the Martinsvillers whose mantra seems to be that "it's not really that bad." \nLet's not rehash the Martinsville debate because that's not nearly important as the legitimate concerns of people like Dennis Nail.\nThat's right, you heard me. I think Mr. Nail is definitely on to something. And it's not just the jazzy alliteration he's got going with "Hadji Hindu or Buddy Buddha." No, his whole concept of intolerance is gripping. Astonishing in its clarity and insight. I mean, why not insist that all school children pray to the Christian God, and while you're at it use television to portray homosexuals as the fiendish freaks they really are? Or better yet, eliminate "the gays" from primetime altogether.\nOf course I'm just kidding. And of course I don't agree with anything that Nail has to say (even though I am genuinely amused by his inventiveness with derogatory names). But then what do we do with his comments? Call him bad! As in, "Oh, Mr. Nail, you are a bad man, and your views are bad. Thank God we are not bad, like you!"\nNope. It's so tempting, but oversimplification has bedeviled the champions of a tolerant society for too long. So often, when people who champion diversity hear a bigot, they decide that it's acceptable to turn off their ears. I've experienced this countless times, watching the most educated individuals fall into a trance, endlessly repeating a string of useless phrases: "Oh, that's just wrong ... so terrible ... can't believe there are people like that left in the world ..." \nThat's why we have such a long way to go. If only the open-minded were also the open-eared, we might begin to hear that low, rumbling thunder. It's the sound of people who feel threatened. It's the sound of people who think they are trying to defend a way of life that seems under attack. They don't feel like the American tent is getting bigger; they feel like they're being pushed out in the rain to make room for Hadji and Buddy. \n And while we may not agree, it's worth the effort to listen to their fears. Fears have a funny way of turning into hate or even violence. When people take offense at the very idea that the Sept. 11 attacks are a reason to listen more carefully to those who hate America, I can't help but hear thunder on two fronts. Listening to Dennis Nail is not to agree with him. It is an effort to understand the people on the margins, and to diffuse their anger before it gets even uglier. Likewise, we cannot turn our ears off when it comes to the current international situation. It's never as simple as "We're good, you're bad." Listening to each other is the first step to reaching beyond an oversimplification. The challenge is hearing each other over the thunder. And I don't mean the kind of thunder that comes after lightning.