Fuck Civility!
So tired of the flood of articles warning liberals that if they don’t stop insulting wing nuts, then we are going to lose the midterms. You know…you might have an opinion that angers wingnuts and motivates them to vote in large numbers.
It’s important to look at how wingnuts approach the political discourse, such as it is.
First of all, they already vote in large numbers. Treating Trump supporters like they are on morally defensible ground and are objectively morally sound is unsound at best. Imagining that Trump supporters are weighing evidence in their minds as they see events unfold is also unlikley. They are not receptive to reason or logic, rather to tribalism. A well fashioned argument won’t convince them to stay home. Look at how wingnuts fight on Facebook. They don’t really win any of the arguments, they mostly throw shade. They are fanatics who believe that Obama was born in Kenya and that Hillary had a pedophile ring in a pizza parlor. They are amnesiacs who can’t remember the reasons why we are in the Mideast ( W) and they have forgotten who was at the helm during 9/11 (W) and they don’t remember that the Great Recession belongs to their party. They forgot who killed Osama Bin Laden just like they forgot who gave them the weekend, paid vacation and healthcare.
They haven’t forgotten a single detail of each conspiracy theory they’ve ever authored and further embellished on from Hillary’s email to Benghazi.
Wingnuts will repeat every single claim they hear on Fox as if they have been thinking about it all their lives. Tucker Carlson: “Oh immigration is a problem the Democrats never fixed, so Trump will fix it.” Next hour, old Cletis Clampett on Facebook: “Oh immigration is a problem the Democrats kicked down the road, so Trump will fix it.” This is coming from people who couldn’t find Honduras on a map with two hands and a flashlight. Do you really want to hold your temper on a Facebook post because you are afraid of angering this kind of scholar?
Next, Democrats do this all the time. They succumb to the Tyranny of Evenhandedness. Let’s argue politely. Let’s not name call. Think about that: Let’s not name call, after Trump called local allied island nations “shitholes”, and public figures who disagree with him “low IQ”. And other nasty epithets.
Consider the meme: Clinton lost because she called wingnuts a basket of deplorables. No, we lost because the districts are gerrymandered and Democrats don’t vote generally in large numbers. It wouldn’t have made any difference if she called them deplorables or gave Trump a shoulder massage. Besides, they are deplorables.
If we win and sweep midterms, then great. And if not, then at least we know a blue wave is in its inception. But why should we be silent when Trump defecates on the traditions, the infrastructure and the levers of government? He calls Mexicans rapists and filthy diseased people. He calls immigrants animals. He calls rivals “losers” and “low IQ”. His toothless followers eat it up and here we are saying “Hey don’t be soooo mean!!!” He is kicking everyone in the balls and we are going to fight by the Queensbury Rules?
No, my friends. The right wing didn’t win all this power by being cordial. They did it being unapologetically bigoted and racist. They gained power by cheating, ignoring the law and visiting violence upon people. They won by weaponizing messaging. They called Michelle Obama an ape and made fun of John McCain for being captured, and dissed Gold Star parents just mourning their child and they praised and supported Nazis. Was that playing nice and fair? Is it decent for a president to physically mock a person with cerebral palsy?
We should be, by all means, just like Winston Churchill when he was railing against appeasers who were afraid to anger the Nazis. Here is what he said to the House of Commons on June 4th, 1940:
“We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. “
That’s how we should look at this.
We should fight and be outspoken and when we see wingnuts being offensive we should hold them to account. Trump divided us into two teams. One that is based in morality, peace, love, the assumption of innocence and they are primarily the much flawed and imperfect Democrats. Another team is militaristic, authoritarian, fascist, and willing to dismiss actual information sublimated to ideology and they are generally the remainders of what used to be the GOP. You can argue that I am being judgmental, but Trump last year praised White supremacists. Was that judgmental? He regularly visits nasty brutish insults against any critics. Please don’t tell me this is not an effective tool for the right. This is a fight for what kind of country you want. Do you want a Democracy? Do you want leadership that comports itself like leaders or do you want to debase every institution we have come to respect? This is a fight for the country you want.
No voter is going into a booth saying “I want to be like those well-behaved Democrats.” The right may win this November. And your politesse won’t help us.
Was the Civil Rights Act get enacted by Black people marching calmly with well phrased sentiments?
No? They were loud and they were angry and they defied authority.
And they won.
Did Gay people win their rights by unfriending? No, they got out and protested and stayed true to it. Their protests were moving, and they were clever and funny and relevant. They still are.
Use the tools of democracy. Make a phone call. Write a letter. March in a rally. Write your feelings down in social media environments. And by all means vote.
If you could ask the Jews and Roma and Bolsheviks who were murdered by the Nazis what they would have done differently, if you could ask the opponents of Hugo Chavez when he was just coming to power, if you could talk to the Italians during the 1930s watching Mussolini, they would tell you one thing: Get off your ass!
Now get off your ass and fight.
