Posted on 03/28/2010 7:13:13 PM PDT by SpareChange
Rote Rage: My Two Cents On Tempering the Debate
By David J. Aland 28 March 2010
You know the scenario – a driver does something stupid on the road and you honk your horn, only to get half peace sign in return. In most cases, that’s the best case, as some drivers feel that being called out entitles them to retaliate. In some cases, even guns are drawn. We call it “road rage” and the fact that few of us actually are outraged by road rage is a sign that we have somehow accepted it as yet another manifestation of modern life. How wrong we are.
There’s something more than vaguely dysfunctional when a toxic response by someone who has been called on their poor behavior is somehow normal, and yet it seems to be the norm for political discourse these days.
E. J. Dionne published a polemic against the State Attorneys General who are constitutionally challenging the new health care bill(s), calling them “nullifiers” (a term which has a rich historical context, but was more likely chosen for its similarity to “deniers”). On Saturday, Colbert King took it a step further by insisting that the Tea Party was the ideological offspring of the George Wallace era “anti civil-rights alumni.”
Never mind that this is all too often the default response: “if you disagree with me you must be fundamentally defective and beneath my dignity.” That kind of intellectual sloth has been present on both sides of the debate, and is precisely part of what cheapens the political discourse, but it certainly seems to be the preferred response of the Left these days.
Don’t like health-care reform? You must be a bigot. Don’t understand health-care reform? You must be a yahoo. Don’t want health-care reform? You must be a Republican. Don’t want to be ignored? You must be a “teabagger.”
It’s one thing for the paid television rabble rousers to employ that kind of dismissive rhetoric, but too often lately it’s our own representatives who have taken to calling their constituents names. It may sound high-minded, but it’s really only high-handed. And it should come as no surprise that most Americans don’t cotton much to being condescended.
But if members of the Left are concerned about the state of political discourse, they have no one to blame but themselves. Through years of nutroots calling the President “Bushitler”, and the alleged statesmen comparing America to the Nazis and others equating Guantanamo to a concentration camp, the level of political debate has been cheapened irrevocably. It’s a little late to lament the loss of civility when incivility has been your norm for so long.
What the Democrats either fail to understand, or understandably wish to ignore, is that the ire of the public has been raised. This President and his Party have backed legislation and a legislative process that is literally the antithesis of almost everything that Candidate Obama campaigned upon. Forget transparency and bipartisanship – the health care reforms recently enacted include things that the President once swore never to include. No one should be surprised to find out that there are citizens who feel betrayed.
Consider: In a society where 25% of the voters pay almost 90% of the taxes, it should be a no-brainer to understand why the other 75% of the populace would be more than happy with legislation that further picked the pockets of the taxpaying minority. But, in fact, this stew of health care reforms were opposed by a majority of Americans, by as much as (depending on the poll) half to two-thirds of the voters. Nonetheless, the Democrats (and only the Democrats) shoved the legislation through by narrow majorities, all the time crowing that they were abiding by the “will of the people.”
It should therefore come as no surprise when the people object. The reflexive impulse on the Left to simply declare the people as uninformed/stupid/yahoos does the Left no credit, and the organized attempts to discredit the opposition are amateurish at best. If anything, it merely reinforces the impression that our lawmakers are no longer concerned with what concerns their constituents.
There is an opportunity to raise the level of dialog, but it is not a bilateral opportunity. The Speaker, the Majority Leader, and the President will either reach out to the disaffected voters, or will ignore them at their political peril. Calling them names will no longer suffice.
Improving the political discourse resides in the hands of the political majority. Thus far, they have proven themselves unable or (more likely) unwilling to do so. Their rage is rote, not real, and it does none of us any good.
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David J. Aland is a retired Naval Officer with a graduate degree in National Security Affairs from the U. S. Naval War College.
Is that what it called Rote rage or was that a flupah?
Had to read the article to see if it was about road or steroid rage. : )
Scooby Doo speak: Rote row rage.
Rut rowwwww.
I HATE rote rage......having to memorize vulgarity and hand gestures....drives me Crazy!
Agree.
Now is the time to articulate how we would fix this fiasco. Calmly.
All of our emotional energy will be for naught if we do not get the desired results in November.
The best revenge is SUCCESS.
My theory is this: they know this bill is unpopular and don’t care. It is their belief that over time, Americans will be happy with their new found “right” to health insurance coverage.
They have also calculated in the loss of moderate or conservative democrats in the mid terms. Obama wants Republicans to hold one or both houses so he has an enemy to demonize in the media. That way, he can be in full campaign mode for 2 years prior to 2012. That is also why the “benefits” don’t start until after the next presidential election - he is banking that voters will want to vote for these benefits to be put into effect.
“Now is the time to articulate how we would fix this fiasco. Calmly. All of our emotional energy will be for naught if we do not get the desired results in November. The best revenge is SUCCESS.”
Sometimes, though, you have to yell really loudly to be heard thru the “Cone of Silence” our representatives have placed over Washington D.C.
There is nothing wrong with righteous anger. Jesus used a lash in the Temple. If we have a national, secular temple, it is the Capitol building. It’s hard to argue it hasn’t been infested by the money lenders.
Had to read the article to see if it was about road or steroid rage. : )
Scooby Doo speak: Rote row rage.
2 posted on March 28, 2010 10:17:19 PM EDT by Global2010
I HATE rote rage......having to memorize vulgarity and hand gestures....drives me Crazy!
Improving the political discourse resides in the hands of the political majority. Thus far, they have proven themselves unable or (more likely) unwilling to do so. Their rage is rote, not real, and it does none of us any good.The writer's use of "rote" has reference to the fact that it is routine SOP for the Democrats to respond to opposition by going ad hominem on those who oppose them, in order to evade having to engage in debate on the merits.What the writer leaves unsaid, and what I consistently insist on making explicit, is that the Democrats are able to get mileage out that tired tripe, whereas the Republicans cannot, and seldom or never even try it. For the simple reason that the Democratic Party exists in symbiosis with Big Journalism. It now amazes me to realize how long it took me to even identify that fact, let alone analyze the obvious reasons for it.
Big Journalism is in the business of selling the "sizzle" of objectivity and important information - and delivering the "steak" of pandering to our jealousy and base instincts. They claim the mantle of "the public interest" when they are merely delivering superficial and negative fluff systematically designed only to interest the public - which a different matter entirely. Big Journalism can be understood and referred to as a single entity for the simple reason that the newspapers were homogenized by the economics of the Associated Press, membership in which is expensive and the value of which must therefore be maximized. In consequence of which, the various organs of Big Journalism are like the various teams of Major League Baseball - competitive is delivering their product, but cooperative in promoting that product. It is always essentially the same product. So it it nothing to marvel at when journalists say that journalism is objective - of course they would say that. But that claim is self-negating, for the simple reason that subjectivity is the opposite of objectivity, and subjectivity is nothing other than a belief in one's own objectivity.
So the question is not "Why would journalism be in symbiosis with the Democratic Party," the only question is why a politician would not be in symbiosis with journalism. So it appears that the Republican Party, flawed as it is, must actually have some principle which separates it from the symbiosis with journalism which is enjoyed by Democrat politicians.
Journalism and ObjectivityWhy the Associated Press is Pernicious to the Public Interest
The Market for Conservative-Based News
Why Broadcast Journalism is Unnecessary and Illegitimate
Seriously, at this point in the game why is anyone concerned about what guys like E.J. Dionne writes or says? Same goes for Friedman, Krugman and all the other Democrat mouthpieces. The corrupt MSM is in collusion with the Democrats and IMO the sooner we ignor them and fight the good fight without worrying about them the better.
The corrupt MSM will NEVER be with us or even give us a fair shake. We have to understand and get over this and press ahead with resolute determination.
The reflexive impulse on the Left to simply declare the people as uninformed/stupid/yahoos does the Left no credit, and the organized attempts to discredit the opposition are amateurish at best.
The amplification of the ad hominem serves them well after the king of the collectives/collectivists has been exposed as a deceiver. Playbook. Present the lie. Pound those who question it.
When the Commander-in-Chief taunts/pounds those who question his lies we are in serious trouble.
The time is right to stop the progressive movement once and for all. they have been creeping in for years and we have a golden opportunity to stop it cold. The shining city will do so again as soon as the haters and looters are stopped - by whatever means it takes.
Minutes after making my point, I come to the next article that interested me this morning...(opening sentence)...
They’ve gotten what they wanted, and now it’s time to castrate their opponents by smearing them all as terrorists. And “let us be clear,” as the Obamessiah would state it; that is exactly how they intend to paint you.
from the thread/article...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2482130/posts?page=1
Meant to include you in the “To” Dave.
And to dovetail your point, my point c_I_c...
AP to Breitbart: Prove Tea Partiers AREN’T Racist
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2482166/posts
BTTT
The gradual rise in recent years of Talk Radio, FoxNews(off and on) and probably just as important, the internet, is THE difference. "Our" side is now better able to get our conservative message out and it drives the moonbats insane, actually, more insane. Their news is being exposed as the unmitigated progressive, collectivist BULL$H!T it is. Their ONLY recourse is to bark louder and longer, increase the shrillness an octave or two and attack the conservative messengers. Their use of the touchy-feely, warm and fuzzies as a weapon is beginning to lose its punch. "Conservatives are meanies" just doesn't stick as well as it used to when so much of America is now able to actually see these meanies on the tube and on the web and to their surprise, they're just like the people next door.
Conservatives haven't raised the level of vitriol in the discussion, we are just now and FINALLY able to get on the playing field. The enemy can't stand the competition, since they realize in their little black hearts their ideals can't stand up to scrutiny and the light of day.
BTW, click the link on THIS THREAD for a cute and interesting AND somewhat related video.
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