Mourning Doves

A mourning dove sits on top of the roof making an owl-like hooting noise.  Wikipedia tells me he is trying to attract a female or trying to draw his mate to the nest.  I wonder if he ever gets tired?  Hoot, hoot, hoot, all day long – and he really means it!  It doesn’t, however, make any difference to me or anyone else passing by.  He can hoot his little lungs out, but we’ve heard it all before.

Sometimes you hear people compared to sheep.  One person makes a new discovery or decides what’s cool or uncool and the rest follow along without taking time to evaluate how it affects their lives.  Lately though, I think people are becoming more like mourning doves.  Instead of hoot, hoot, hoot, we hear things like “Build a wall” or “He’s a bigot.”  They’ve already done the sheep thing, following the lead of a few in Washington who then depend on them to pick up on the mourning dove routine.  You see, the sheep only get to vote every couple of years, but the mourning doves get to hoot all day on whatever rooftop becomes available.  They really mean it, but we’ve heard it all before.

Two problems come from this behavior.  The first is the violence and the second, the lack of closure.

When a flock of mourning doves comes together to hoot for their particular cause, they never seem to notice that baboons have infiltrated their ranks, pretending to be doves.  Baboons are not doves and are not satisfied to sit and hoot.  They are fighters that often must display their dominance through physical force.  All would be calm if the exchange were confined to the doves hooting.  Everyone chants their mantra and goes home.  But the baboons will have none of it and take the first chance they get to lash out at the rival troop.  That gives the baboons hiding in the other flock an opportunity to engage in something more stimulating than hooting.  Chaos ensues.

The second problem is the lack of closure – nothing gets solved by chanting at each other and especially not by fighting in the streets.  These are not nuanced arguments based on data.  These are hoots (with a few creative variations) based on anecdotes and personal prejudices with no room for compromise and no appetite for debate.  We are right and you are wrong! – Hoot, hoot, hoot.  We are moral and you are not!  God is on our side!  And they are so busy hooting; they don’t even realize how much their behavior has in common.

The whole thing sounds pretty uncivilized, but this seems to be what America has come to.  People would rather be right than have a relationship or get anything done.  It’s not about finding a solution; it’s about shouting down or defeating the other side because they are evil.  And proving we have a truly representative government, Washington reflects the same behavior.  They don’t engage in physical fighting themselves, though we’ve seen it happen in other countries; but they delight in the chance the violence gives them to point fingers.

Unfortunately, from time to time the hooting is rewarded when it becomes loud enough to intimidate a company or lawmaking body.  Occasionally the decisions turn out to be right, but not because they are based on clear thinking.  So this normally unproductive, but sometimes risky dynamic continues.

(For perspective, here’s a definition from Wikipedia: “Jihad is an Arabic word which literally means striving or struggling, especially with a praiseworthy aim.”  We are right; we are moral; you are not!  Hoot, hoot, hoot!  Scary.)