A Matter Of Concern
Posted on September 9th, 2008
by Daniel Larison |
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Perhaps I’m being too sensitive, but I cannot help but think that it isn’t healthy for a political movement to keep telling itself that if only America were tough enough, and if only it were run by “concerned parents and citizens,” all our problems would be solved, and we’d be moving back in the right direction. Because the fact is that there are lots of concerned parents and citizens on the left who feel like the country is going in the wrong direction, and have very different ideas about how to reverse that trend. ~Conor Friedersdorf
I second that, and I would add that the combination of being tough and concerned will get you nowhere, and will probably result in calamity, unless your concerns are grounded in reality and you understand the difference between toughness and bellicosity. I might go a bit farther than Conor and say that it isn’t particularly healthy for a political movement to take advice on life and politics from celebrities, and it cannot say much for the state of conservative publishing houses that they are promoting books written by Chuck Norris. I mean, what’s next–relying on radio entertainers for advice on how to vote? Oh, right. What might be even more depressing than the publication of such a book is the realization that a political book with Norris’ name on it would probably sell like hotcakes.
Filed under: politics
“What might be even more depressing than the publication of such a book is the realization that a political book with Norris’ name on it would probably sell like hotcakes.”
For me, this is the key part. How do you build a society and cultivate a culture when the people want no part in honest intellectual discourse? The most troubling part about America is how very few people are concerned and do something positive about it. Most will say “I am a concerned citizen/student/parent/whatever” and then turn around and buy Norris’ book and think that it is some sort of conservative intellectual study of America. I just don’t see too much changing since the Neo-cons and liberals have such a stranglehold on modern politics in the public arena.
It already is selling like hotcakes over at Amazon. And I second Philip. The fundamental problem really is the laziness that keeps us from having an honest intellectual discourse. Most people simply don’t want to do it. Sean Hannity or Keith Olberman told them such and such and they said it confidently and there afraid so, so be it! Honest… arguments… don’t… compute with most people. It causes the server (the brain) to crash.
Americans want strong leaders. Unfortunately we do not seem able to discern between the strength of the bully and the strength of the leader. In that the latter is often more intellectual in nature, the bullies tend to label the leaders as weak and effeminate, the media propagates the story reflexively, and the masses buy into it.
I wish more Americans thought for themselves instead of waiting for their favorite anchor to tell them what to think.