If Politics Could be More Like Basketball: A Review of David French's Talk for Oregon Humanities on February 2, 2021

By Joshua Bell

David French is a fan of the Memphis Grizzlies. Ja Morant, the rising young star for the Grizzlies, is one of his favorite NBA players to watch. But that does not prevent him from also enjoying the play of the Portland Trail Blazers’ All-Star guard, Damian Lillard, or from respecting and getting along with fans of Lillard’s team. Sports can get fans riled up and cheering for their team, while booing the actions of the other. But fans, by and large, are drawn to the game itself, as well as support of their hometown team. Fans can dislike another team, but they rarely hate other fans. The love of the game supersedes this. But why is there not a similar result with politics? Instead of seeing others as rivals and supporters of a different cause who hold an equal love of the game, why do so many see others as their enemies?

On January 6th, a group of pro-Trump activists stormed the Captial in an apparent insurrection attempt. In the perspective of many of them, they were trying to save the country from an evil which Trump had been fighting against. This kind of attitude is seemingly becoming more pervasive in American discourse, with battlements drawn between two increasingly entrenched sides along with mounting distrust of the other. And, in French’s words, to many ideologues, “Dissent within your side isn’t disagreement, it’s betrayal.” The “in-group dissenter” becomes an object of hatred, and is no longer accepted due to their ideological heresy. This further alienates those who do not find themselves firmly in either camp.

French deeply understands what it means to be an “in-group dissenter.” An unapologetic conservative, over the past four years he found himself in the awkward position of being a strong critic of now former Republican president Donald Trump. As a response, he and his family received not only death threats from Trump supporters, but racist photoshops of his young adopted daughter, who is black, depicting her in a gas chamber as well as slave fields. This kind of behavior, he says, is evil. But simple disagreement is not.

In his lively discussion with Oregon Humanities’ Adam Davis, French did an excellent job sharing his personal journey away from being a participant in toxic partisan rancor. Although his views have always been and remain conservative, he looks back with regret at a time when he equated left-wing Americans and radical Islamist terrorists, saying they were both threats toward America itself, and that he felt “called to combat both.” Today, he sees this kind of talk as harmful, as it treats ideological opponents as enemies to defeat. In a refreshingly honest statement, he said that fighting in the Iraq War showed him that true enemies are the people who want to harm you, not those who disagree about policy prescriptions.

Some of the important pieces of advice French offered to the audience were being willing to admit that one could be wrong, along with genuinely attempting to understand others. If you want others to listen to you, the first step is to listen to them, and treat them with respect. After all, people are not likely to change their views by being aggressively lectured on just how wrong they are. Additionally, he emphasized that it is important to keep politics in perspective. The idea of the “Flight 93” election, where it is figuratively necessary to storm the cockpit in an attempt to prevent imminent disaster, is harmful. Politics is important, but the election of a politician one disagrees with does not signal that America has failed. He followed by saying that if the plane is merely encountering turbulence and has not been hijacked, and people storm the cockpit, even more damage can potentially be done. He also adds that people need to remember to forgive others when they are wronged. Giving and accepting apologies will lead to desperately needed healing.

Josh Bell is a 2020 George Fox Graduate and a member of the Civility Reading Group.