Understanding Terrible Creatures

NMB, Florida November 10, 2001 A.H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.

UNDERSTANDING TERRIBLE CREATURES
There is a very good article in the N Y Times ARTS AND IDEAS section today
on pages 13 and 15 about Peter Gay, a German Jewish refugee from Nazi
Germany who became a noted historian. I remember hearing about some of his
insights as a graduate student at Rutgers. The writer, Dinitia Smith, quoted
Mr. Gay in the closing sentence of her review: "To be able to understand
that someone you disagree with is not just a terrible creature but somebody
with whom you disagree." I thought this was reasonable and something to
think about.

I try to use empathy in dealing with people who are hard to understand. If
you put yourself into the shoes of the person who has used you harshly, you
might understand a little better why he did so. You still may not like that
person but he is not the "terrible creature" he appeared to be at first.

This is like doing away with prejudicial adjectives that modify other
words. Some people would object to being called a "creature". This could
be modified by a smile. But smiling when delivering a judgement of
"terrible" creature-hood puts the sentence into a different category. That
category is "attack", "besmirching a character", or just flapping a red flag
to put the subject into a rage.

I know that I have been hard on "conservatives". I consider, however, the
terms I use to be reasonable and just. I also make distinctions and define
conservatives as people who wish to protect our heritage and not necessarily
wishing to prevent progress. One of my readers last year angrily used
intemperate language and dressed me down as a "terrible creature", a
"liberal" and the implication was that she had too long endured the put
downs I had been inserting into my writings. She disagreed with me but went
further. She didn't just disagree with me but pronounced me to be a
"terrible creature." She commanded me not to send her any more of my
THINKING ALLOWED essays. My wife disagrees with me a lot but I never felt
she thinks I am a "terrible creature." I like to believe she thinks I am
adorable and a nifty thinker. Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10. "You bet!"