Times These Days When You Simply Must Close Your Mind
COMMENTARY

April 29, 2021 by Leonard Pitts
Times These Days When You Simply Must Close Your Mind
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, leaves her office on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Thirty years ago, when I was still a music critic, I received a letter from a lady who informed me in no uncertain terms that I didn’t know what I was talking about.

This was after I‘d written about the origins of gospel music, a subject on which I considered myself, if not expert, reasonably well informed. But Minnie C. Howard, a church musician in West Palm Beach, politely sliced me up with such surgical precision that, though I was bleeding from a dozen rhetorical wounds, I could only admire the cutting.

So I did the only thing that made sense. I got her on the phone, and we had an amiable chat about my ignorance.

This sort of thing didn’t happen every day, but it happened. Whether the subject was music or, later, social issues, I would find myself, a few times a year, having an exchange with someone whose objections to something I’d written were interesting and well informed. I didn’t always change their minds nor they, mine. But I found value in an opposing viewpoint ably argued.

That hardly happens anymore. These days, I read critical emails with a finger hovering over the delete button, ready to consign them to oblivion the instant the writer reaches what I call “the stupid part.” Which is never long in coming: some asinine conspiracy, some wild untruth, some silly talking point, and into the ether it goes. It occurs to me that I have become something I once scorned: a person with a closed mind.

I regret that. One thing I’ve always prized was a willingness to hear the other side, to entertain its ideas.

But these days, the other side has no ideas. Consider that the GOP didn’t even bother to put forth a platform in last year’s campaign — reportedly the first time it has failed to do so since 1856. “The Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the president’s America-first agenda,” read the resolution it adopted in place of a statement of party policies and priorities.

No ideas. Thus, on the one side you have many of us grappling with era-defining challenges: climate change, immigration, aging infrastructure, poverty, pandemic and race, to name a few. Meantime, on the other side, many of us are more worried about Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head and the threat to America’s hamburgers. The only serious issues for which they show any appetite involve banning voters from voting and protesters from protesting.

I miss the days when it was possible to have a thoughtful debate on a substantive matter with a political opposite. The loss of that offers superfluous evidence that we have become a people without common goals, common facts and thus, common ground.

And Lord, what to do about that? You cannot reason with those who have abandoned the practice. And the unfortunate truth is that there are some things to which a mind should be closed: bigotry, ignorance, illogic and fear-mongering leading the list. So what is there to do except hope that time in the intellectual wilderness, a session in the moral woodshed, the ameliorating effects of progress, bring them back around?

May it happen soon. There are few things more dismaying, or that make me more anxious for America’s future, or that have greater capacity to drive me nuts, than dealing with some guy who thinks the Jan. 6 insurrectionists were patriots, but George Floyd had it coming. It’s mentally and emotionally draining. That’s why, as much as you hate it, there are times these days when you simply must close your mind.

If only to protect it.

©2021 Miami Herald. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A+
a-

In The News

Health

Voting

Opinions

Ensuring Equity and Innovation in Kidney Care: a Call to Action During National Kidney Month

When you woke up this morning, you probably turned on the light, maybe looked at your phone or went to... Read More

When you woke up this morning, you probably turned on the light, maybe looked at your phone or went to get a glass of water, all without much thought. Electricity, phone service and running water are all essentials that we give little thought to until they’re... Read More

The American Rescue Plan Is (Still) Worth Celebrating

Just three years ago, our economy was in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. Communities across the nation were reeling... Read More

Just three years ago, our economy was in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. Communities across the nation were reeling not only from the health implications of the COVID pandemic, but also from high unemployment, business closures and frightening economic uncertainty. Bold and decisive action was... Read More

Cutting Through the Generative AI Noise: What Business Leaders Should Do Now

No matter what industry you’re in, there are two things that every business leader cares about: revenue growth and cost reduction. These are the... Read More

No matter what industry you’re in, there are two things that every business leader cares about: revenue growth and cost reduction. These are the metrics that CEOs talk about ad nauseam during earnings calls. They are the keys that unlock higher business valuations, individual performance bonuses and the ever elusive... Read More

Shield Our Eyes: Lawmakers Across the Country Must Ensure Eye Surgery Can Only Be Performed by Medical Eye Surgeons 

Training and experience matter, especially when health is on the line. Just as one would rightly be concerned to discover... Read More

Training and experience matter, especially when health is on the line. Just as one would rightly be concerned to discover a flight attendant, rather than a pilot, flying their airplane, so too would most people be alarmed to find the person performing surgery on and around... Read More

Fentanyl Kills More Than 150 Americans Each Day, but Some States Keep Overdose Rescue Medications Out of Reach 

Today’s growing overdose epidemic is being fueled by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100... Read More

Today’s growing overdose epidemic is being fueled by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. In fact, it’s so lethal that only a tiny amount — 2 milligrams, about the size of a pencil tip — can... Read More

Jones Act Reform Is Not a Party Issue

Many political disagreements divide neatly along party lines, but the protectionist Jones Act isn’t one of them.  In Congress and... Read More

Many political disagreements divide neatly along party lines, but the protectionist Jones Act isn’t one of them.  In Congress and state Capitols across America, politicians from the two major political parties can be found arguing for and against the law, which requires that all goods shipped between... Read More

News From The Well
scroll top