In the ultra-divisive year of 2020, when relationships get broken up over politics and anger is the emotion of the day, last night’s spectacle of respect was a highlight of the year.
I watched the Pence-Harris debate last night in a state of virtual shock. After the embarrassing foodfight we saw last week between Trump and Biden, I guess I had forgotten about the power of civility.
We often associate shouting and bullying with strength. The debate last night showed the opposite. There were none of the personal insults, rude remarks, or attempts to bully we saw in the Trump-Biden slugfest.
Instead, both debaters made their points firmly but politely. Yes, there were interruptions, abuse of time limits, sharp attacks, and so on—but no one lost their cool. No one got angry. It’s precisely because they kept their tempers in check that they projected strength.
In the ultra-divisive year of 2020, when relationships get broken up over politics and anger is the emotion of the day, last night’s spectacle of respect was a highlight of the year.
If America lost last week in the Trump-Biden debate, America won last night in the Pence-Harris debate.
If we want to produce Jews who carry Torah in their bones, we need institutions willing to demand that commitment, and not institutions that blame technology for their own unwillingness to insist on rigor.
Jason Zengerle, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, and staff writer at the New Yorker wrote a new book about Carlson, “Hated By All The Right People: Tucker Carlson and The Unraveling of The Conservative Mind.”
The story of Cain and Abel constitutes a critical and fundamental lesson – we are all children of the covenant with the opportunity to serve each other and to serve God. We are, indeed, each other’s keeper.
A society that maximizes belonging while severing it from standards produces conformity, not freedom. A society that encourages mattering divorced from truth produces fanaticism, not dignity. Life and liberty depend on holding the two together.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.
What I Learned at the Pence-Harris Debate
David Suissa
I watched the Pence-Harris debate last night in a state of virtual shock. After the embarrassing foodfight we saw last week between Trump and Biden, I guess I had forgotten about the power of civility.
We often associate shouting and bullying with strength. The debate last night showed the opposite. There were none of the personal insults, rude remarks, or attempts to bully we saw in the Trump-Biden slugfest.
Instead, both debaters made their points firmly but politely. Yes, there were interruptions, abuse of time limits, sharp attacks, and so on—but no one lost their cool. No one got angry. It’s precisely because they kept their tempers in check that they projected strength.
In the ultra-divisive year of 2020, when relationships get broken up over politics and anger is the emotion of the day, last night’s spectacle of respect was a highlight of the year.
If America lost last week in the Trump-Biden debate, America won last night in the Pence-Harris debate.
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