Fighting fire with fire
It has been asserted by numerous right wingers that we are in a war. That war is variously described as against the “islamofascists”, against the gays and lesbians, against the “liberals”, against the atheistic and godless, against those who desecrate “American values”, against those who want to destroy the “American way of life”. The cultural wars, devised and stoked by the likes of Newt Gingrich (hypocrite cum laude), Bill Bennett (hypocrite emeritus), Dick Cheney (hypocrite de jour), Ralph Reed, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson (and other religious hypocrites), Rush Limbaugh (hypocrite ne plus ultra) etc., etc. Examples are not hard to find.
All along the rap against liberals (whatever that means) has painted them as some radical bunch of cheese eaters who have no clue about the cruel new world. And, with a bit of navel gazing, self-identified liberals have been willing to admit that a fault they possess is to be open-minded, at least in the sense of admitting they don’t have all the answers for everything, and to be willing to listen and even debate the “other side”. Whereas, conservatives, bold, forthcoming, self-assured, and ruthless, protest they do possess all the answers and needn’t hear any countervailing arguments. Further, in this post 911 world, anyone who says otherwise is (fill in the blank) some variation of weak, stupid, naïve, un-American, unpatriotic, suspect. Case closed.
Well, maybe not so fast. If we are indeed in a war, which I do not much question, in terms of the emergence of a neoconservative movement bent on capturing and defining the domestic and foreign agenda of this nation for the foreseeable future, winning tactics must be employed.
It is amusing to hear the neocons and their ilk scream bloody murder when someone like a Michael Moore creates a message that fights back against the tide. Suddenly its unfair, and underhanded, and scurrilous, as well as all the other depredations hurled against “liberals”. Suddenly, well its time to play nice, to bring out all the decent checks and balances that (hitherto?) were supposed to characterize the American way.
We are in a war I fear. A war for the soul of the American experiment that has been allowed to become fat and lazy by decades of inattention and assumption that nothing like the excess of the Bush administration would ever really emerge or take hold. I’m not much of a warrior myself; I prefer to see things in relative terms, being hopefully aware of my own fallibility and inconsistency. And so I get a little uncomfortable with those who are out front, for a lot of reasons.
Having said that, I’m glad Moore’s film may prove to be an effective weapon to alert this sleeping country that the foxes are indeed in the henhouse and its time to clean house.
I'm basically apolitical in the sense that I don't a have a lot of respect for politicians of any stripe. Somehow the threat that the neocons have brought transcends ordinary political disagreements and even polarities. Appealing to that which is worst in all of us, and finding a resonance in a large number of people (are we all not capable of having our dark side pandered to?), the danger they present seems unique and powerful in my lifetime.
All along the rap against liberals (whatever that means) has painted them as some radical bunch of cheese eaters who have no clue about the cruel new world. And, with a bit of navel gazing, self-identified liberals have been willing to admit that a fault they possess is to be open-minded, at least in the sense of admitting they don’t have all the answers for everything, and to be willing to listen and even debate the “other side”. Whereas, conservatives, bold, forthcoming, self-assured, and ruthless, protest they do possess all the answers and needn’t hear any countervailing arguments. Further, in this post 911 world, anyone who says otherwise is (fill in the blank) some variation of weak, stupid, naïve, un-American, unpatriotic, suspect. Case closed.
Well, maybe not so fast. If we are indeed in a war, which I do not much question, in terms of the emergence of a neoconservative movement bent on capturing and defining the domestic and foreign agenda of this nation for the foreseeable future, winning tactics must be employed.
It is amusing to hear the neocons and their ilk scream bloody murder when someone like a Michael Moore creates a message that fights back against the tide. Suddenly its unfair, and underhanded, and scurrilous, as well as all the other depredations hurled against “liberals”. Suddenly, well its time to play nice, to bring out all the decent checks and balances that (hitherto?) were supposed to characterize the American way.
We are in a war I fear. A war for the soul of the American experiment that has been allowed to become fat and lazy by decades of inattention and assumption that nothing like the excess of the Bush administration would ever really emerge or take hold. I’m not much of a warrior myself; I prefer to see things in relative terms, being hopefully aware of my own fallibility and inconsistency. And so I get a little uncomfortable with those who are out front, for a lot of reasons.
Having said that, I’m glad Moore’s film may prove to be an effective weapon to alert this sleeping country that the foxes are indeed in the henhouse and its time to clean house.
I'm basically apolitical in the sense that I don't a have a lot of respect for politicians of any stripe. Somehow the threat that the neocons have brought transcends ordinary political disagreements and even polarities. Appealing to that which is worst in all of us, and finding a resonance in a large number of people (are we all not capable of having our dark side pandered to?), the danger they present seems unique and powerful in my lifetime.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home