My wife and I just spent a week with friends in Millsboro, Delaware, a lovely small town 15 minutes by car from the Rohovoth shore.
One morning our host went to the store to buy bagels and the daily Washington Post. While standing in the check-out line he struck up a friendly conversation with a middle aged woman standing behind him. After a few moments she said, “You are a very nice man!”
Everything changed, however, when, reading the paper’s headlines, he said, “We’re in a real mess – aren’t we?”
She asked, “What do you mean?”
Pointing to the paper, he said: “Trump’s erratic handling of the economy, his racism, white supremacy, and misogyny are changing the country for the worse.”
“You are a very bad man,” she barked.
Stunned, he said, “But you just told me I am nice.”
“You aren’t.”
My friend’s interchange with his neighbor is a reflection of the sorry state of civility and ethics in our nation. One moment he was a “nice man” shooting the breeze with a stranger in a supermarket check-out line, and the next he was the despised and demonized “other.”
One pillar of evil is when we become an extension of ideas and not individual human beings embodying the complexity of thoughts, feelings, backgrounds, interests, and values that we all share.
The President’s base relishes its hatred of the other at his political rallies as Trump stokes their hatred of his opponents and gives succor to the crowd’s lower angels. But we Democrats demonize Trump supporters as the despised “other” as well.
We all need to check ourselves and keep from falling into this dehumanizing trap not only for our own sake but for the sake of the soul of our nation.
Rabbi John Rosove's Blog 
Thank you. How quickly we judge. It reminds me that I need to look past the outsides and into the insides for the common goals
Thanks for this John. Your comments are my exact beliefs about what I call Abstract Morality — a morality of principles so abstracted from life that they leave no room for life’s gorgeous complexity. And, those systems all fall into anti-morality.
And again, this morning I watched MSNBC for a while. The hosts of the show were discussing the election and one of them made the point that Trump’s base is so loyal to him that nothing could shake their commitment. Unlike, she went on, Democrats who are open to discussion and hearing opposing views.
Not more than five minutes later they were onto the topic of racism and white privilege. And, they interviewed a Republican political consultant who challenged their view that he suffered from white privilege. He argued back. And then the host said that for him to argue back showed that he had white privilege. Open to opposing views?
We live in interesting times.
I am so sorry to hear the very bad news about Rabbi Knobel. I am volunteering to help support his family. Once he is fully recovered I want to pay him a visit. And this week I need to talk to folks about how we proceed on the World Union elections.
Wally
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I’ve encountered this reaction a number of times and I find it very very sad. I pray for a change in our relationships of fellow Americans. Steve STEVEN KRELL & CO. LLPTax & Business Advisors11263 CANTON DRIVESTUDIO CITY, CA 91609(323) 654-2933Cell (310) 612-1332