Stereotypes

As I write this, I’m sitting at my kitchen table in semi-rural community in Northern California. The woodstove is glowing orange behind me, and I just finished filling the wood box. In the 25 years we’ve owned a home (or at least paid a mortgage), we’ve heated entirely with wood – most of which I’ve cut and split myself. Yesterday morning, I had fried eggs (from our chickens) and homemade bread for breakfast. Last night, we ate leftover lamb shanks for dinner – from lambs that we raised. Later this week, I plan to make a pot of venison stew from a deer I shot several years ago. And (don’t tell my wife) I just ordered a new hunting rifle.

And I’m a lifelong Democrat.

I’m troubled by my community’s – and my country’s – increasing inability to see shades of gray. I’ve worked my entire career in agriculture. I raise sheep commercially. I hunt. I fish. I currently own two hunting rifles (you can tell my wife that I’ll sell one of them to pay for the new one!), one shotgun, and a 22 rifle. Stereotypically, most of my friends and acquaintances probably assume I’m also conservative politically. I’m not. I’m “cursed” with the ability to see – and appreciate – the gray areas in our politics and culture. I suspect some of my conservative friends also see the world in shades of gray.

I’m a Democrat because I believe that society, through an elected government, should help those who are less fortunate. I believe that the color of my skin and the genitals with which I was born give me privileges that have never been enjoyed by women or people of color – and I believe that’s fundamentally wrong. I’m thankful for the job I have and I’m glad that some of the taxes I pay help those who are less fortunate than I am.

For most of my life, though, I’ve lived amongst, worked with, hunted and fished with, ranched with, people who have a different political perspective. For the most part, we’ve been able to talk respectfully about our different perspectives. We’ve been able to tease each other about our political affiliations. We’ve stayed friends.

I’m realizing that stereotypes are ubiquitous – and damaging – regardless of who holds them. I have been incredibly troubled by the actions and words of President Trump over the last four years – no more so than in the last week. I was horrified by the images of violence from the U.S. Capitol – a building I’ve had the chance to visit as a tourist and as an agricultural lobbyist. I have struggled with the idea that many (most?) of my ranching friends voted for Donald Trump. And I fear that I’ve stereotyped the President’s supporters based on the images I saw on television on January 6, 2021 – just as liberal voters are often stereotyped, too.

I hope we can move past our divisiveness. The best of our leaders (of both parties), in my opinion, have tried to appeal to our common American-ness, even when we’ve disagreed. I’m hopeful that President Biden will try to govern from this tradition. I hope that I can articulate my perspective on national politics in a way that’s respectful of my friends who feel differently; I also hope they’ll respect my ideas. I fully realize that for some of my “virtual” friends – those who only know me through social media – will not embrace this perspective, and will likely “unfriend” me. And I should note – unfriend is a troublesome word.

Stereotypes, I think, are a way to put others in a box. I’m a gun-owning sheep rancher who drives a big truck – I must be Republican. You’re an urban banker who wears loafers to work and wouldn’t know a backstrap from a flank steak – you must be a Democrat. I hope we can get past these assumptions. I hope we can have real – and respectful – conversations about what we believe and why we believe it. Maybe we’ll each change our minds a bit.