Peter Gay: A lack of civility — from both sides – The Sun Chronicle
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Did you tear up while reading the story on the bottom of the front page of Wednesday’s paper? (“Let’s Go Brandon owner blames closing partly on Google,” Front Page, July 27)
I did not, although I did consider asking Alexa to play some violin music as I turned to the continuation of the article on Page A2.
In case you missed it, the store that sold “F*ck Biden” (there is no asterisk on the flag) and “Let’s Go Brandon” flags is going out of business.
“We had all the liberals attacking us on our Google page,” owner Keith Lambert told this newspaper. “We had so many complaints … Google took the page down.”
I almost stopped reading the story so I could grab a tissue.
Only Lambert knows how successful the store has been but I do know that there have been at least two customers.
One is the guy who rides his bicycle up and down routes 1 and 1A in North Attleboro proudly displaying the first of the two flags mentioned above.
The second is the person who rides his pickup truck around town with that same flag and another with the words, “Don’t tread on me” mounted in the truck’s bed.
I have to believe that the people willing to be that crass are at a minimum, even in a conservative community like North Attleboro, so it’s highly likely that the Let’s Go Brandon store simply ran out of customers willing to display their lack of class. It’s called saturating the market, Keith.
The lack of civility that has me worried about the future or this country isn’t limited to the right, however.
While walking down Commercial Street in Provincetown during our vacation last month, a man walked past us wearing a shirt that read, “Fck SCOTUS.” Once again, there was no asterisk.
That same reference to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was also written on the bottom of a sign held by a high school-aged girl marching with fellow teens in Attleboro last month.
I was disappointed with not only the person wearing the T-shirt in P-Town and the teenagers upset with the court, but also this newspaper for publishing a photo of the sign the girls were carrying and another with a different four-letter word not appropriate for this space clearly visible.
It’s important to note that the T-shirts, flags and signs are indications that the division between the left and the right in this country is soaring, perhaps at its highest point since the Civil War.
It was why I am optimistic for the first time in a long time after reading a story about former Republicans and Democrats forming a new political party called Forward.
Targets of the party would be moderates and “the common-sense majority,” according to a story on the CNN website.
“Today’s outdated parties have failed by catering to the fringes. As a result, most Americans feel they aren’t represented,” David Jolly, Christine Whitman and Andrew Yang wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.
People who know me know that I’ve been calling for a third political party strong enough to be on par with Republicans and Democrats. It’s obvious the primaries that determine the two major candidates for president are chosen mostly by party loyalists, leaving moderates like myself having to choose between the less of two evils, something I’ve had to do in the last two presidential elections.
I suspect the country’s two major parties will finally unite as a result of Forward’s announcement.
The goal of their pact won’t be to pass bills that benefit our country, they’ll be measures to make it virtually impossible for the new party to gain a foothold and challenge their dominance.
When will the Let’s Go Brandon store close? I don’t know, but I am tempted to step inside before that happens.
Having watched a portions of the Jan. 6 hearings and disturbing testimony from those who were close to our former president, I finally have a reason to make a purchase.
I’m not optimistic they’ll have what I’m looking for, however.
What are the odds they’re selling shirts and flags with the president’s picture accompanied with the words “Lock him up?”
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