All weekend I've been mulling over a couple posts I read on Thursday, one from Pissed Off Patricia at BlondeSense about how "our side" is just "too damn nice," and the other from David Sirota on conventional wisdom about Democrats needing to seem more hawkish. At the same time, I've been trying to catch up on my comic book reading and noticing, as usual, that the less heroic the protagonists act, the less I'm apt to enjoy the story.
Patricia laments, "Everything that makes us liberal also makes us just too damned honest and nice. We don’t aspire to confrontations. We try to play by the rules. We aren’t comfortable telling lies. That, my dears, is why we are getting our liberal asses kicked daily. We are lying and cheating challenged. The game is no longer played by a set of rules, but we continue to obey the rules of the old game." She concludes, "Used to be that honesty and fair play was rewarded. Now honesty and fair play seem to result in getting your butt kicked royally and repeatedly. Meanwhile, the other team makes their own rules and breaks them on a whim. There’s no honesty or fair play involved, but they just keep on scoring. Is it time for us to come up with new rules or shall we just keep playing nice and getting our asses kicked?"
David believes "Democrats should not to try to out-hawk the Republicans – they should be focusing on articulating an entirely alternative foreign/military policy... a policy that says the pursuit of peace is actually a way to better secure our country, one that says being against war unless absolutely necessary is actually a good thing." Especially on days like today, that's pretty much my thinking as well. It's always more difficult and time-consuming to wage peace than to wage war, but the rewards are far greater, starting with the most precious of all, the refusal to take or waste human life. He concludes, "Instead of Democratic presidential candidates and self-proclaimed liberal pundits falling all over themselves to promise America Democrats will (as the GOP does) bomb, kill and maim anyone they please and send American troops to die for bad reasons, the party needs to have the guts to lay out an alternative... and stress the security virtues of actually preventing war."
Me, I think the "game" is bigger than that. I think most people, in their heart of hearts, want to be seen as "the good guys," want to live and let live, want to follow the Golden Rule - but many are easily roused and led to rally against their own best interests by people skilled at using inspirational words as misdirection to mask evil deeds. And I think what those of us who believe in truth and justice as the American way need to do most is keep pointing out the discrepancies between what people say and what they do - and remind our fellow citizens of all the good things "our side" has done for them over the years.
As PZ Myers reminds us on The American Street today, "simple-minded ideas can be easily expressed in soundbites and catchphrases. Jingo is always easier than nuance and depth, and has the advantage that it can appeal to people who actually don’t know anything about the subject being discussed. The real world, though, is complicated. When your goal is to respond appropriately and accurately to reality, sometimes you can’t just reduce it to a slogan—you have to try and educate." Well, yes and no. Remember, one of the 14 defining characteristics of fascism is disdain for intellectuals and therefore intellect itself, and many in this country seem to take pride in their ignorance. So I think education about all the things the Good Guys have accomplished for America during our proud history, all the things the Bad Guys want to take away, does need to be... well, while not dumbed down per se, at least entertaining and yes, easily expressed. And I still think people respond to messages like "Their side cheats. Ours doesn't. We learn from mistakes; they keep making them, and making things worse. They love to tell us how to conduct our private lives when theirs are anything but moral. They kill people, we try to save them. Whose side are you on?" if only we had the courage to keep spreading those messages.
And that's what it takes - not the courage to fight with weapons or insults (particularly ad hominem attacks which belittle the other side by equating them with women or gays, as falling back on homophobia or sexism is part of their game, not ours), but with truth and conviction and deeds. To realize that it's always harder to build than to destroy, to show people hope than to control them through fear - but to trust that people want to gravitate towards the light no matter how much the darkness is pressed upon them, and no matter how long it takes to press back, and act accordingly. To reappropriate and embrace words like "nice" as goals, not failures. To once again make it cooler to be the hero than the villain (which will in turn make my comics far more rewarding reading than many currently are). To remember that bringing laughter and light and peace and hope and joy into other people's lives is what it's all about, but that no calling could be higher, and no reward greater.
Patricia laments, "Everything that makes us liberal also makes us just too damned honest and nice. We don’t aspire to confrontations. We try to play by the rules. We aren’t comfortable telling lies. That, my dears, is why we are getting our liberal asses kicked daily. We are lying and cheating challenged. The game is no longer played by a set of rules, but we continue to obey the rules of the old game." She concludes, "Used to be that honesty and fair play was rewarded. Now honesty and fair play seem to result in getting your butt kicked royally and repeatedly. Meanwhile, the other team makes their own rules and breaks them on a whim. There’s no honesty or fair play involved, but they just keep on scoring. Is it time for us to come up with new rules or shall we just keep playing nice and getting our asses kicked?"
David believes "Democrats should not to try to out-hawk the Republicans – they should be focusing on articulating an entirely alternative foreign/military policy... a policy that says the pursuit of peace is actually a way to better secure our country, one that says being against war unless absolutely necessary is actually a good thing." Especially on days like today, that's pretty much my thinking as well. It's always more difficult and time-consuming to wage peace than to wage war, but the rewards are far greater, starting with the most precious of all, the refusal to take or waste human life. He concludes, "Instead of Democratic presidential candidates and self-proclaimed liberal pundits falling all over themselves to promise America Democrats will (as the GOP does) bomb, kill and maim anyone they please and send American troops to die for bad reasons, the party needs to have the guts to lay out an alternative... and stress the security virtues of actually preventing war."
Me, I think the "game" is bigger than that. I think most people, in their heart of hearts, want to be seen as "the good guys," want to live and let live, want to follow the Golden Rule - but many are easily roused and led to rally against their own best interests by people skilled at using inspirational words as misdirection to mask evil deeds. And I think what those of us who believe in truth and justice as the American way need to do most is keep pointing out the discrepancies between what people say and what they do - and remind our fellow citizens of all the good things "our side" has done for them over the years.
As PZ Myers reminds us on The American Street today, "simple-minded ideas can be easily expressed in soundbites and catchphrases. Jingo is always easier than nuance and depth, and has the advantage that it can appeal to people who actually don’t know anything about the subject being discussed. The real world, though, is complicated. When your goal is to respond appropriately and accurately to reality, sometimes you can’t just reduce it to a slogan—you have to try and educate." Well, yes and no. Remember, one of the 14 defining characteristics of fascism is disdain for intellectuals and therefore intellect itself, and many in this country seem to take pride in their ignorance. So I think education about all the things the Good Guys have accomplished for America during our proud history, all the things the Bad Guys want to take away, does need to be... well, while not dumbed down per se, at least entertaining and yes, easily expressed. And I still think people respond to messages like "Their side cheats. Ours doesn't. We learn from mistakes; they keep making them, and making things worse. They love to tell us how to conduct our private lives when theirs are anything but moral. They kill people, we try to save them. Whose side are you on?" if only we had the courage to keep spreading those messages.
And that's what it takes - not the courage to fight with weapons or insults (particularly ad hominem attacks which belittle the other side by equating them with women or gays, as falling back on homophobia or sexism is part of their game, not ours), but with truth and conviction and deeds. To realize that it's always harder to build than to destroy, to show people hope than to control them through fear - but to trust that people want to gravitate towards the light no matter how much the darkness is pressed upon them, and no matter how long it takes to press back, and act accordingly. To reappropriate and embrace words like "nice" as goals, not failures. To once again make it cooler to be the hero than the villain (which will in turn make my comics far more rewarding reading than many currently are). To remember that bringing laughter and light and peace and hope and joy into other people's lives is what it's all about, but that no calling could be higher, and no reward greater.
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