Some months ago, I found myself at a very nice event in Seattle at a restaurant celebrating a special event in the life of some people I’m very fond of.
It was their anniversary, and there was a good sized crowd there celebrating with them. All of the people there were having a good time and mixing well, even with me.
If I hadn’t known better, it looked remarkably like any other celebration one might attend, except these were, for the most part, gay and lesbian couples.
I only mention that because if you just watch the news, getting along with others who believe differently than you, including family, isn’t possible, and such situations are always reduced to loud screaming about taking rights away.
Many of the friends of the folks who invited me knew my political views generally, and we still had a nice time visiting.
So, it is possible to coexist and disagree.
One person at this event, though, really stood out; flaming orange hair, long flowing dress slit to the hip and clearly not a woman.
At dinner, which was a sitdown type — very classy — I made a short toast about the people who invited me, and the dinner moved along. As the event broke up, the individual with the bright orange hair felt the need to come by and visit about many things — including politics. They also knew mine, which were pretty far apart, but we visited for some time, although longer than I wanted to.
I only bring this up, and the fact that the people there were gay, because we don’t have to hate each other just because we disagree. We certainly can, but it is neither helpful nor civil, regardless who does it.
Which brings me to our congresswoman’s town hall meeting recently at Centralia College.
I’m neither a fan nor a hater of Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Preez. I’d say I generally disagree with her on most everything, but I also think she’s a sincere person. So, the headline of The Chronicle’s April 24 edition “MGP town hall gets rowdy amid disruptions from audience” caught my attention, and I wondered why and who are the people who think it's civil to do that?
Actually, I really don’t wonder. Most of them fit a pattern — angry, entitled, selfish … I could go on, but you get the picture.
One photo shows a young person who was arrested (from Shoreline —not her district) but I wasn’t sure about the rest of the crowd. Regardless, she was there, taking questions and being shouted at while she was trying to answer.
That sounded like the overriding theme for the story.
This type of childish and unproductive behavior isn’t unique to this event. It’s happening all over the country, and many of the disrupters are thought to be plants and in some cases paid. Comments from attendees after the event was breaking up went from not feeling like she answered the questions to frustration with the disruptions.
I thought her answer to the SAVE Act requiring people to show ID was a good one (and unexpected by me). It's supported by 80% of Americans. If I was there and didn’t agree, I still wouldn’t scream at her.
Sadly, though, this boorish behavior permeates our society from elementary school to the workplace it seems, and the only way it changes is if we change it. It should not be acceptable.
On that stage that night was a Republican county commissioner and a Democratic representative, and they managed to be civil with each other, as they should be. Social media makes it easier to say things most would never say to our faces.
There are times and places for discourse, but shouting and disrupting an event where people came to ask questions and hear from their elected representative isn’t one of them. It's just selfish.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.
