Sexual harassment occurs when an aggressor pushes unwanted sexual
attentions upon unwilling recipients. Any guesses as to what "political
harassment" refers to? An epidemic of political harassment rages
through modern society, escalating to outright political assault with
increasing frequency: often with tragic results both for unfortunate
individuals concerned and society at large. The full-fledged political
assault against David Koresh and the Branch Davidian community in Waco,
Texas in 1993 demonstrates how much grief and devastation political
harassment can wreak domestically, and how little protection US tax
dollars afford us against even the most flagrant and brazen forms.
The war on Iraq exemplifies political assault waged on an international
scale, and shows how immediately political harassment impacts us all.
Refugees around the world flee from political harassment: When
government wields the power to harass, and determines to do so,
'security' means escaping beyond its national borders or political
reach. Seldom an easy journey: often to an unwelcoming destination, to
create a life from scratch with little or no money or personal
possessions, assuming one does not meet with deportation. Does anyone
really want to live under a government with such an iron grip on power?
The political abuser seeks out a position of authority in which he
remains sheltered from criticism by his political inferiors; and his
subjects of attention frequently feel powerless to resist unwelcome
advances without suffering some form of punishment for resistance. As
the political abuser's authority usually involves some degree of public
trust or grants him predominance above and beyond the typical victim,
the abused may legitimately fear to confront the abuser or escape from
the abuser's predations.
Political harassment destroys on an equal opportunity basis: Men and
women; wealthy, middle class (what's left of it), and poor; people and
groups of all races, colors, and religious persuasions; young, and old.
Political harassment separates families, and loved ones; ruins careers,
reputations, and businesses; robs individuals and families of homes,
transportation and rightful uses of property; kidnaps children away from
their parents and kidnaps parents away from their children; leaves
parents powerless to protect children from damaging medications,
vaccinations, or educational practices; and cracks down on freedoms of
speech, assembly, and association. We have scant defense against
political harassment. Subjects of political harassment often have no
place to turn, and must suffer in silence without hope of ever receiving
restitution or amends, or even a simple apology.
The most politically oppressed people include users of "prohibited
substances," like marijuana. Drug use constitutes a measure of
self-medication for personal ailments, whether physical or
psychological. When a loved one's drug habit concerns you, you'll most
likely prefer to handle it discreetly. Gossip magazines galore abound
in the grocery store checkout line, full of personal distress stories
that probably should have been kept private. People who would never buy
a gossip magazine sometimes forget that a story appearing on the evening
news may display no more regard for a person's privacy than a gossip
magazine. Just because a story makes the front-page news does not mean
that it belongs there. Political harassment pervades society so
insidiously that even the worst cases often appear unremarkable.
Historically, politically harassed groups tend to breed agitators, gain
political strength, and respond with fury toward their oppressors when
they've acquired enough influence. Politically harassed groups of
yesteryear -- women, blacks, gays and lesbians, the humor-deprived,
Jews, and atheists -- have gained much sympathy from the public by
agitating for fairness, and achieved politically favored status.
Politically favored status encourages excesses of expectation, and
exaggerated claims on society's debt to the afflicted group that over
the course of time alienate the sympathies of former supporters, leading
to a backlash of public sentiment and a reversal of fortune. New
politically harassed groups arise at the hands of the old, and the
squeaky wheel of political misfortune turns again.
Gun rights advocates, smokers, Christians, boy scouts, home schooling
families, and drug users currently face ire on the front lines,
defending cherished liberties against jarring intrusions; even home
invasions by state and federal agencies hostile to personal liberties.
Conscientious parents dread the risk of losing children over state
mandated vaccinations, court ordered medications, or academic tests
intended to process politically acceptable standardized students.
Standardized tests, administered on behalf of the mind-processing
industry: an official stamp of approval for a child's developing mind,
like a USDA stamp on a side of beef! Smokers discover that freedoms to
travel, to socialize, and to live day to day without incessant
infringements upon personal liberties are relentlessly closing in like
the walls in old horror movies: as smoker's freedoms shrink, the
authority of smoke-snatchers to stigmatize and vilify smokers expands
exponentially. Hitler would approve. Glen Allport succinctly sums up
'for your own good' rationalizations as "the 'I know you want it, baby'
excuse for coercive behavior."
Political harassment erodes good will. People who experience political
abuse tend to become future political abusers themselves, in an ongoing
and socially devastating cycle. Some survivors of political abuse
withdraw and sink into depression, or display outbursts of
uncontrollable rage. They may turn to substances to suppress anguish;
over-eating and other self-destructive habits commonly manifest in a
politically abused adult. Young people picked on for nonconforming
political preferences express feelings of alienation, anger and
resentment. Politically bullied youth appear more likely to skip
classes or get into trouble, exhibit aggressive behavior, and even
attempt suicide: they frequently find it difficult to make friends,
adapt socially, survive academically, and develop self-esteem.
Clearly, without cultivating awareness of this terrible social scourge,
as well as increased sensitivity to the harm it inflicts, our generation
will pass on the torch of a troubled world to the next. Will the
children inherit a world beset by problems with eroding social and
political boundaries, and an alarming absence of respect for personal
sovereignty and individual dignity? Will they live their days in an
iron maiden of minute regulations and cold relations tainted by
political prejudice, raised in the shadows of cruel institutions, as so
many have done before them? Does a more bitter or intractable division
exist among us than the purely political, unnatural and inhuman, liberal
VS conservative stalemate? The less your neighbors' politics can
control you, the less it matters what they believe.
Political harassment can take many forms; a person may suffer the
indignity of having his wallet pinched, and if provoked into slapping
back, may pay a severe price for acting in self-defense. The person may
be subject to insulting comments and suggestive remarks regarding his
political orientation or associations. Political abuse takes more
threatening forms, and refusing to submit to aggressive political
advances can result in the loss of life or liberties, parental joys and
responsibilities, financial health, social standing, happiness, pride,
professional practice, or earning abilities. On the other hand,
agreeing to submit to unwelcome political advances may incur the same
penalties -- if to a lesser degree.
Political abuse makes victims or accomplices of us all, directly or
indirectly, and the conspiracy of silence has gone on far too long
already. Political solutions perpetuate the problematic cycle. As long
as dark corridors of power remain, political abusers will discover and
exploit them, lying in wait for the next vulnerable quarry to scurry past.
Do we interact with other people as political beings, or human beings?
Do we require laws that some expert wrote to dictate our terms of
congenial relationships, trades, and agreements, or might we do better
to find honest and reliable witnesses amongst our peers? Do we choose a
God freely to bless our marriages, or allow the state and its
insufferable, smothering regulations to remain as a dark canopy over the
nuptial bed? Do we hire licensed lawyers, proficient in pretence and
versed in verbosity, to preside over disagreements: or bar the
courthouse door, choose judges by drawing lots, with drinks on the
winner and handshakes round the room afterward? Do we cultivate a
community atmosphere by relying on ourselves and forming cordial,
respectful relationships: or by farming out peace-keeping duties to
authorities whose tendency appears to wax more remote and unaccountable,
as they become ever wealthier, their fees more outrageous, and their
scruples cheaper, as their services become more suspect and treacherous?
We won't pave the way to peace with political differences, but with
human similarities. Politics represents a 'civilized' way of stoning
the social outcast and the taboo breaker. Peace built upon politics
will survive about as long as a house built on sand.
Jesus had it all right, I think: "turn the other cheek;" "love thy
neighbor;" "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you;" "he who is
without sin, cast the first stone." Peace needs solid rock to build a
home on, and what have we each, but our own stones to offer? If we
could only cease throwing political stones at each other; voluntarily
lay them down, and mortar them together firmly with a calm spirit of
acceptance and respect, love and forgiveness, how many stones would it
take to finally provide a dwelling place for peace?
Will we ever know?
