Remember Ronald Reagan’s “trickle-down economics”? A new policy has emerged that might be called “trickle-down hatred.”
From Donald Trump speeches, JD Vance interviews and right-wing media outlets, overblown or false stories of immigrant crime, jobs lost or culturally inappropriate behaviors have trickled down to treating innocent people in dehumanizing and dangerous ways. Trump’s remarks about immigrants have sparked bomb threats to schools and colleges in Ohio. They have trickled down to children of color in our own county being called racial slurs, bullied and threatened at school.
Such speech has fanned irrational fear and given permission to treat fellow humans as “less than,” including among Christians. I beg you, please re-read the book of Genesis. It says “God created man in His own image.” Let’s tone down the rhetoric that inflames fear of neighbor. Let’s engage our neighbor by asking the question, “What does God love about this person whom He made in His image?”
Maybe we can start a new trickle-down trend of seeing goodness in our neighbor.
