In my life time, I think real bullying entered politics with the National Rifle Association on behalf of the gun manufacturers. This was probably 30 years or so ago after Reagan and Brady were shot and a real movement to restrict handguns started. The NRA simply beat up the groups favoring gun control by spending more money than anyone could imagine and never relinquishing the podium. They used the tactic of the broken record that has since become so popular with conservatives: simply stating something, whether true or not, over and over again until people assume it must be true and come to accept it as fact. They also out-shouted everyone else in the debate, another tactic used by O’Reilly and Hannity and others afterward on FOX.
I’m sure Dick Cheney and Karl Rove watched this with great admiration because they soon adopted the same tactics in electoral politics. Clearly, history shows there was no justification for invading Iraq except that Bush II wanted to as did many of his Neo-Con aides so Rove and Cheney made it possible by lying, exaggerating and sticking to it in a loud, bullying manner. To this day, people like William Kristol have never been brought to account for foolishness like “we will be seen as saviors by the Iraqi people” and “we will have a safe base in the Middle East forever” and “this war will pay for itself with the oil money the Iraqi people will give us in gratitude”. In part, they have gotten away with it because people in the media are still scared to death of these particular talking heads, these bullies.
Rove made it clear that his only goal was to elect George Bush II. The ends justified the means, a bullying approach if ever there was one. He led the second campaign with a hate gays mantra despite his affection for his gay father. The joke about running over your grandmother to win election isn’t so funny when you see Rove and Cheney in action.
Soon nitwits from South Carolina were calling the President a liar during the State of the Union address, something that Cheney would have had a Representative “disappeared” for trying with Bush. And complete lunatics are still buying guns so as a society we have to deal with seven or eight mass murders per year.
And yet we wonder why kids bully kids in high school when their parents shout each other down in the public square, post rifle cross hairs on political opponents names and demand that we “reload” in our efforts to defeat the Democrats.
Like they say, Ta da da boom dee yay.
ReplyDeleteOf Snow & Guns, and the knights that go "Ni!"
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you've said, but what fun is that? It is common these days to take an aggressive position v. anything under the sun, but your take on guns, conservatives, and so on, corresponds with my own, so I am left with nodding my head sagely at your perspicacity, and praying that my evening class tonight is not canceled due to the inclement weather we are having. On the other hand, I would like to observe that the incivility and bad manners that characterize so much of our politics can also be found in the college classroom. In trying to maintain standards of comity in our discourse, I am often challenged by my students on the grounds that shouting down an opposing point of view is easier and more effective than bringing thoughtful analysis and information to a dialogue. My students by and large are turned off by the blowhards, yet they lack the imagination to discern alternatives. But, that's because they're students, and that's why they are in college: to learn to know better. As my dad would say, "I can deal with ignorance; ignorance is temporary. But stupidity is forever." People like Rove and Cheney depend on our remaining stupid. Shame on them, and shame on us for listening to them.