Friday, November 05, 2004
Well, so much for unity
As I said, I'm all for playing nice. But not to cretins like Jane Smiley.
Smiley's main contention in this much-discussed piece at Slate is that Bush was elected because Americans are really stupid. Her piece has all of the stereotypes- Bible-thumping, gay-hating, NASCAR-watching, sister-impregnating morons make up the red states. Charming. One part of me wants the left to keep saying things like this, because as long as they do, we will keep beating them in elections. Another part of me, though, realizes that it just contributes to the division of the country, keeps radicalizing our politics, and this is not a good thing.
Smiley's piece is unintentionally revealing:
First of all, the rest of her article asserts that Americans are so stupid that they do whatever the evil masterminds (read: Karl Rove) tell them. Now she says that they won't let anyone tell them what to do. Which is it?
But the unintentionally telling part?
She thinks that being "teachable" means letting other people tell you what to do. The fact that I don't like other people tell me what to do (except for big-haired preachers and evil capitalist masterminds) means I'm unteachable.
What the liberals are so mad about is that they know (it's seared, SEARED into their brains) that they are our superiors, and yet we refuse to let them order us around and tell us how to think. Even from the most reasonable sources on the left, I am hearing very little right now about the possibility that the left lost the election because their ideas are wrong, or that they did a poor job of explaining their ideas or even that their ideas are out of touch with America. No, they lost because a) the election was stolen (again) or b) the electorate is stupid and/or evil.
This is an ideological position well on its way to total irrelevance. Keep telling America how stupid and evil they are, and see how many of them vote for you.
Smiley's main contention in this much-discussed piece at Slate is that Bush was elected because Americans are really stupid. Her piece has all of the stereotypes- Bible-thumping, gay-hating, NASCAR-watching, sister-impregnating morons make up the red states. Charming. One part of me wants the left to keep saying things like this, because as long as they do, we will keep beating them in elections. Another part of me, though, realizes that it just contributes to the division of the country, keeps radicalizing our politics, and this is not a good thing.
Smiley's piece is unintentionally revealing:
The history of the last four years shows that red state types, above all, do not want to be told what to do—they prefer to be ignorant. As a result, they are virtually unteachable.
First of all, the rest of her article asserts that Americans are so stupid that they do whatever the evil masterminds (read: Karl Rove) tell them. Now she says that they won't let anyone tell them what to do. Which is it?
But the unintentionally telling part?
She thinks that being "teachable" means letting other people tell you what to do. The fact that I don't like other people tell me what to do (except for big-haired preachers and evil capitalist masterminds) means I'm unteachable.
What the liberals are so mad about is that they know (it's seared, SEARED into their brains) that they are our superiors, and yet we refuse to let them order us around and tell us how to think. Even from the most reasonable sources on the left, I am hearing very little right now about the possibility that the left lost the election because their ideas are wrong, or that they did a poor job of explaining their ideas or even that their ideas are out of touch with America. No, they lost because a) the election was stolen (again) or b) the electorate is stupid and/or evil.
This is an ideological position well on its way to total irrelevance. Keep telling America how stupid and evil they are, and see how many of them vote for you.
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