I have family, friends and neighbors who disagree with me politically.
It’s never bothered me much one way or the other. I know what’s in their hearts, that they come to the conclusions they do on the issues from positions of good faith.
On the occasions we do end up debating, passionate arguments are made, we end up agreeing to disagree, and then we move on with no hard feelings.
That’s typically the way things work, although no doubt there are situations people have found themselves in where such debates have, over time, led to a loss of a friendship or the distancing of a loved one. It’s unfortunate, but it’s indicative of the times we live in.
I can’t for the life of me, however, think of a situation where I would view people close to me who disagree with me about politics in the same manner that CNN anchor Don Lemon revealed he did on a recent broadcast.
“I have many people who I love in my life,” Lemon told his colleague Chris Cuomo Thursday, looking somber. “And yeah, I come from a red state. I’ve lived in several red states.”
Lemon went on to tell Cuomo that he had lost all patience with his red state loved ones who he could not make see the light.
“I had to get rid of them because they’re too far gone. I try and I try and I try; they say something really stupid and then I’ll show them the science and I’ll give them the information, and they still repeat those talking points,” Lemon claimed.
The “CNN Tonight” host then compared his former friends to drug addicts. “I had to get rid of a lot of people in my life, because sometimes you’ve just got to let them go,” he said. “I think they have to hit rock bottom like an addict, right?”
“I had to get rid of a lot of people in my life, because sometimes you’ve just got to let them go.”
CNN’s Don Lemon
“And they have to want to get help; they have to want to know the truth; they have to want to live in reality; they have to want to be responsible, not only for other people’s lives, but for their lives,” Lemon ranted while patting himself on the back for his decision to cut himself off from his Republican friends for failing to see his version of “the truth.”
After telling Cuomo he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to be friends with such people again, the ever-gracious Lemon threw them a bone. “If they’re willing to come back and willing to live in reality, then I will welcome them with open arms.”
In other words, if they’re willing to abandon their political beliefs in order to win back Don Lemon’s “friendship,” he’ll grace them with his presence once again (presumably) with no hard feelings.
What a lonely life that must be. It smacks of a high degree of intolerance, which is ironic coming from a news anchor who used to preach about coexisting and being loving, tolerant, and compassionate towards one another, before he tested positive for Trump Derangement Syndrome.
At the end of the day, when we turn off the insta-news networks, log out of social media and put away our cellphones and tablets, we still have family members, neighbors and co-workers who we need to be able to get along with regardless of what our political differences are.
It’s a sad and miserable person who chooses to live in a bubble where only those who agree with their point of view are allowed in while all others are viewed as deplorables and undesirables unless they decide to fall in line with the herd.
For the sake of all that is still good and decent about this country, don’t be like the Don Lemons of the world. Seriously, don’t be.
Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
