Shut Up, They Explained

One of the by-products of the terrible ordeal in Arizona is this notion that we should all be respectful and tone it down a bit when we discuss politics. Let me know how that works out.

The President urged us to do this at a ceremony that was initially thought to be a memorial service. However, this one came with t-shirts. I want to take this opportunity now to inform all my friends, loved ones, bill collectors, etc, that there will not be any “swag” at my memorial service.

There was a fear, at first, that the nut job that shot Congresswoman Giffords was some Tea Party activist that was inspired by (pick one) Sarah Palin’s PAC website, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or all three. Turns out he lives in his own climate and was inspired by of all things, a movie, instead of AM talk radio.

This didn’t stop some Noble/Pulitzer/Peabody prize winners for connecting the dots anyway and pretty soon we had a food fight about if it was okay to say Sarah Palin, a mother of about 400 children, inspired somebody to kill a nine year old girl but not okay to say the term “jobs killing”.

All of this is predictable as it is useless. There are some hurt feelings out there, but American History teaches us that Aaron Burr, a former Vice President, killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. I haven’t seen many duels out there lately. You might have noticed a Civil War; it was in all of the papers. President Garfield was killed by “a disappointed office seeker” (a guy that didn’t get a job). I won’t even mention the 60’s which seem like one long scream from one side to another.

That’s not to say that it can't get pretty nasty out there. There are a couple of reasons for it. One is the narcissistic nature of our culture. If the 70’s were “The Me Generation”, today is ‘THE ME ME ME ME ME ME ME Generation’. A lot of us think we speak infallibly in every breath.

Second, we are a competitive generation raised on sports and talk shows where winning is the only thing. Thus, people become competitive in arguments, worrying not about being factually right, but by winning the argument in their own mind. This usually involves a lot of loud talking, gestures, and some rhetoric hot as a Bunsen burner. This usually gets loud applause on shows where they are trying to determine who’s the Daddy of this baby.

Third, one side (usually the liberal side) wants the other side (usually the conservative side) not to be so stupid and to get with it. They are really impatient with us. “What do we want? (Fill in the blank).When do we what it? NOW!” They usually don’t try to persuade as they do try to bully and/or guilt the other side into doing “the right thing”. It is like a big brother and a mom merged and formed one big nag.

Someone is always making “too much money”. This someone is “you”, as the President said, but not “him” or Oprah. Now you have to watch not only your words, but the tone in which you say them, except, of course, when you are speaking truth to power.

Of course, my side has some explaining to do, Lucy. Some continue to hold on to this notion that the President is not an American. (Despite a story in the August 6, 1961 the Honolulu newspaper reporting “wise men surfing in from the East”). Others make themselves the final arbiter of what is and is not conservative. A person cannot be just 99% conservative or they will be tarred as a closet Obama supporter or worse, a Republican In Name Only (RINO).

My suggestions to make things just a little bit nicer when we argue politics: 1) Just remember you might be wrong. 2) It doesn’t make someone wrong if they disagree with you on a minor issue. It makes them stupid. 3) You can concede a point and you will not die.