Emails to a Middle Aged Curmudgeon

"On some grave questions, there is no difference to be split; one does not look for a synthesis between verity and falsehood; the sun does not rise in the east one day and in the west the next." - C. Hitchens

This, of course, is why it is a fool's errand to give credence to the smoke and mirrors arguments coming out of the Trump White House.  Half-truths, "alternative facts," off-the-cuff prevarications, and outright lies do not, and can not, constitute a governing philosophy in a Constitutional Republic.

Granted, the "reality challenged" have been growing in strength for some time...particularly within the entity which calls itself the Republican Party.  From the theocrats to the science-deniers, there are those who aren't willing to accept facts.  With the rise of alt-media, there is always a voice willing to support their world-views, no matter how disconnected they are from the world in which we actually live.

Isn't Mitt Romney looking much better these days?

This phenomenon is not limited to the current occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania...one can see examples of it right here in Howard County.  From the sad display over at Howard County "Hate Watch" to the vituperative No Sanctuary HoCo folks, there is a willful disregard exhibited toward reasoned debate.  Bluster and ad hominem attacks, with words as cudgels, are the order of the day with such sites.

It is difficult to seek to find a middle ground with those who possess such mindsets.  If one attempts to bargain in good faith and take the moral high ground, one might get submarined.

Perhaps it is a better use of time to wait until rational actors appear...real states-people and not poseurs.  In the meantime, one can look east every morning for the reliable sunrise.  That is a fact.

Stay tuned, as more will follow.

Contingency, Community and Waffles

Claiming “Otherness” is a useful thing in political campaign.  It helps establish the perception of a moral center around which one’s allies can rally.  It assists in the creation of an antagonist to further a narrative. “They” are not “of us.”  “Their” preferences are alien to ours.  “Ours” is the authentic vox populi.

While it is within the bounds of fair play to have a civil discussion, where debates among reasonable people are grounded in reality, it is quite another case to insist that one’s opinions are true simply because…well…one believes them to be true.  “Your plan cuts down more trees than our plan.  Why?  Because it is your plan and therefore it must lead to bad things!” When one side adopts a “final vocabulary,” as Richard Rorty might say, it inhibits the ability of such a population to consider the validity of different perspectives.  It is a signifier of a closed mind.

Political language is meant to persuade.  Words and numbers are combined to develop the most compelling argument for (or against) one particular position or cause.  Rhetoric is employed to communicate that argument to an audience.  It is hoped that the language will move that audience to make a decision and take an action.  That said, when language is twisted and debased... or when the “others” are termed “enemies,” that coarsens the discussion and weakens the foundations of democratic governance.

Imagine if two groups were discussing waffles.  One group describes a waffle as “leavened batter or dough cooked between two plates, patterned to give a characteristic size, shape and surface impression" (source: Wikipedia).  Another group describes them as flattened disks of steaming evil and those who consume them are bad, ill-intentioned people.  Where is the ability to find common ground?  How can productive communication occur?

Of course that is what former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and certain GOP operatives did in the 1980s and 1990s when they sought to turn the word “liberal” into a vicious epithet.  Sully the group and make their ideas unpalatable.  In the short term, it might have given Gingrich and his coterie some victories….but it helped usher in an era of distrust, of hyper-partisanship, of gridlock and bitterness.

I have no hopes that his legacy will yield in favor of a newfound spirit of respect and cooperation anytime soon, not in DC.  That said, I hope in our corner of the universe, in Howard County, we can find ways to talk with each other civilly, and not at each other angrily.  

At least we should be able to agree on the definition of a waffle.

Stay tuned, as more will follow.