Golis: To move on, Americans need to tune out the noise

Here’s hoping you’re enjoying our nation’s birthday. As Americans, we have much to celebrate and many reasons to be grateful for the blessings of history.

The country is on the mend, too. Vaccination rates are up, infection rates are down, and people are going back to work.

Still, this Fourth of July arrives at a moment rife with uncertainties. There exists an uneasiness borne of political and social discord, conflicting narratives and a year lost to a worldwide public health crisis. Some folks are frustrated and eager to turn every disagreement into a shouting match or a brawl.

Combine the toxicity of the moment with efforts by some states to disenfranchise large blocs of voters and we are left with questions: Will democracy endure? Will the country be OK?

Against all evidence to the contrary, some insist on believing (or pretending to believe) that the last presidential election was stolen and that the insurrectionists who invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6 were merely tourists.

These false narratives are promoted by people and organizations that find advantage in encouraging Americans to distrust one another. The deceptions become easier because new forms of communication empower people happy to make up stories to justify their world views.

The documentary filmmaker Ken Burns told the Washington Post that he is an optimist about the country’s future, but then he warned of the effects of “an age-old human virus of lying and misinformation and paranoia and conspiracy.”

“This is the pill that will kill us unless we do something,” he said.

And so we read the story of a grocery store clerk who is killed for asking someone to wear a protective mask. We’ve read other stories, too — of more hate crimes, of a flight attendant who was called a Nazi for asking a passenger to put on a mask and another who lost two teeth after being slugged by a passenger. What are people thinking?

In 2021, we’ve still got real problems — COVID-19, climate change, drought, wildfires, economic inequality. It doesn’t seem too much to ask Americans to stop hating long enough to acknowledge what’s real and what’s an excuse for keeping the country in turmoil.

Rather than debate strategies for helping people pay the rent and put food on the table, the dissidents would rather distract us with legislation to make it more difficult for people to vote or legislation to ban history books that provide an honest accounting of our past.

A Los Angeles Times headline last week read: “Summer dreams dry up on the Russian River, a paradise whipsawed by drought, flood and fire.”

“The Russian River area,” the story says, “holds a panoply of California treasures: majestic redwoods, ocean mists, summer sun, famed wineries, breweries and a casual, come-as-you-are culture that mixes highbrow with hippie and a bit of barn party. It also sits at the center of climate-related disasters.”

For folks who live in Sonoma County, this story is something less than a revelation.

From a fire that destroyed 5,300 homes to a pandemic that left many thousands of people without incomes to a long, hot summer of drought and dying vegetation, we know it’s been tough.

But people are persevering, getting up and going about their business each day. What keeps us together is the knowledge that we’re all here in this same small space, trying as best we can to cope with the same risks and uncertainties. People are finding ways to help each other through this difficult time.

On this Fourth of July, Americans could learn from that hometown example.

Today becomes a fine day to fly the American flag. Do it with pride, testifying that no single group of Americans owns a franchise on patriotism. There’s nothing patriotic, after all, about efforts to deny others the right to vote.

Here in Sonoma County, people go to their places of worship, coach Little League teams, volunteer at schools and at the local food bank, and perform all the other good deeds that define citizenship.

They also believe that America is at its best when people pull together, ignoring the demagogues who want to keep their followers angry and alienated.

It’s time to tune out the noise and focus on the things that really make America great — courage, compassion, humility, a sense of justice and a recognition that we are at our best when we look out for each other.

Happy Fourth, everyone, and stay safe out there.

Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat. Email him at golispd@gmail.com.

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.