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The shallow calls for political civility

by Larry Horist
August 22, 2019
in Politics
12
The shallow calls for political civility

Perhaps the political class is starting to realize that we the people are sick and tired of the rhetoric warfare in which differences of opinion are consolidated into warring camps.  It is bad enough that politicians are victims of strategic character assassination.  As in any “war,” the people are propagandized into evil incarnate.

During World War II, we had to temporarily hate the German people, the Japanese people – and the same during the Vietnam War.  The fact that we have good relations with these nations today gives hope for our own contemporary people-to-people hatemongers will find tolerance and acceptance in the future.

In recent days, there has been a rising call for civility.  The family of the late Senator John McCain has launched a civility project to encourage people to reach out to what is unfortunately dubbed “the other side” in reasonable dialogue.  Even the strident talking heads on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” have been talking about toning down the rhetoric.

“Morning Joe” regular Eugene Robinson, of the Washington Post, said that no one on the left believes that all Trump supporters are racists – and assumedly not sexists, xenophobes, homophobes and all those other pejoratives so often heard emanating from the left-wing of the Fourth Estate.

Really, Eugene?

One of the mainstays of left-wing commentary has been the broad-brush branding of Trump’s supporters in the vilest stereotyping imaginable.  If Robinson were to watch MSNBC – and not only appear on the network – he would have heard several hosts and panelists saying that supporting Trump makes the person a racist by extension.  Folks like Donny Deutsch, host of “Saturday Night Politics” (one of the worst political talk shows ever conceived by the left), made their rejection of civility very clear.

You cannot – emphasized Deutsch – say you like Trump policies but not his personality (people like me).  You must take the entire package.  If you are a Trump voter, then YOU are guilty of everything the left ACCUSES him – no matter how outrageous the accusations may be.  This same theme was played out across the MSNBC line-up by folks like Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude,  MSNBC utility infielder John Heilemann  and any number of other pop-up panelists.

Attacking Trump voters and supporters was not limited to the biased panels of parroting pundits but was part of the Democrat presidential candidate’s playbook.  Beto O’Rourke led the assault on 40 percent of America to be quickly followed by such fellow struggling luminaries as Julian Castro, Tim
Ryan and Cory Booker.

Sorry Eugene, you just do not know what you are talking about.  Or maybe you are just knowingly peddling a propaganda narrative – as usual.

Political incivility is largely a one-way street.  Most of the venomous verbiage is directed at Republicans, conservatives and all those who disagree with the Democrats left-wing ideology – an ideology that is embraced and promoted in round-the-clock infomercials that the elitist east coast press passes off as news.

No, I am not absolving President Trump for his contribution to the acridity of contemporary political dialogue.  I have never liked his pugnacious style and name-calling.  I think he has done damage to the cause with his bellicosity.  The problem of maligning the right is much bigger than him, however  – and preceded his presidency.  Unfortunately, he has given credence to Democrat complaints and provided a false appearance of equivalency.

It does not matter what side of the political divide you take up residency, the one thing that seems to unify most Americans – and should unify ALL Americans – is a disgust and repulsion of the degradation of political discourse.  It is sad to note that false accusations, mendacious narratives and child-like name calling have supplanted serious political dialogue.

It has been evolving over the years.  Back in the 1990s, President Clinton called out the trend toward “the politics of personal destruction.”  Perhaps the beginning goes back to the mid-1960s, when “I like Ike” (President Eisenhower for those of you who went to school in more recent years) to “Tricky Dick” – a pejorative tagged on President Nixon by the Democrat he beat in the 1950 Senate race, Helen Gahagan Douglas.

One only need read and hear the words of our national leaders of generations past to see just how badly our current political language has been corrupted.  The words of our Founders, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and others were eloquent and poetic.

We are told by the mavens of the media that both sides – Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals – use coarse language and personal attacks as a means of satisfying and solidifying their respective bases.  The assumption is that supporters of one candidate or another – one perspective or another – relish the verbal mud wrestling.

That may be true – and even that is only “maybe” – of the fringe elements on the far left and right edges of the political continuum.  It is certainly not the attitude of the vast majority of Americans on the rational left, right or in the middle.  We are sick and tired of our national leaders communicating in ways that would bring parental correction if our children talked that way.

AND, we conservatives are particularly sick and tired of being maligned as cold, callous, heartless, inhumane, toxic human beings.

What is so hypocritical of the left is that they call on us all to be more civil while they continue to mischaracterize and malign those of us on the right with full abandon.  The shallow lip-service call for civility — that was allotted less time than a commercial on MSNBC — was followed by business-as-usual brand bashing of Republicans and conservatives – and of course, Trump.

One cannot expect civility unless there is honesty.  We can respect people with different opinions – even love them.  All options for civility end, however, when we are unfairly and viciously maligned and demeaned – not by just another person, but by the major institutions of our society as a matter of form.

Political civility is not a grassroots phenomenon.  It starts at the top and can only be stopped from the top.

So, there ‘tis.

Larry Horist

Larry Horist

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Comments 12

  1. Desert Fox says:
    4 years ago

    After listening to the demented dimwit obstructionist democrats for three years with their constant hateful unending bashing (along with the biased media) they are beginning to see that they lost their constituents with all of their constant bullying and ignorant rhetoric. I don’t think it will change.

  2. Brent Hibbard says:
    4 years ago

    Little Miss Omar said it the best we the people of the majority don’t count in the Electoral College because only the people in the cities count. I think not since the heartland is mostly countryside where most of the farms grow the food for the cities to eat.. Maybe Omar should think about that when all the goats go away she won’t have anything to eat anymore. We the people are fed up with there socialist views. That is what we are fed up with and them thinking we don’t have a voice on who is our president is going to be. Sorry for your little insecure ways and non educated ways it shows every time you open your mouth and speak

  3. Richard Wiltse says:
    4 years ago

    Sense the left has been viciously and vilely attacking our President from the moment he declared he was running I’ll give him all the leeway in the world. I’m glad he attacks back. I want to start grabbing these leftist punks myself and tear there heads lose of there shoulders and piss down the necks. This is war, and they started it. We will finish it.

  4. kenneth Leavell says:
    4 years ago

    While I agree with your premise, I disagree with your view of from whence the vitriol comes. Simply put, the hatred is promoted by the elite towards both sides of the political arena. It benefits them and only them to have us squabbling amongst each other. This enables them to continue with their clandestine plan to destroy democracy. Ultimately they desire totalitarianism with none but themselves dictating how society will evolve, or more to the point, devolve. Civility does NOT fit their agenda and if we do not keep our heads and cooperate they will have their way and we will ALL forever be their slaves. To be honest, it may already be too late. Perhaps it would benefit us all, liberal and conservative alike, to view them as ALIENS, Reptilians if you will because after all, they consider us all to be their inferiors and worthy of nothing better than servitude.

  5. Donna Smith says:
    4 years ago

    Larry, this was a necessary essay. The abundance of “us Americans” would stop all name calling and hatefulness IF the POTUS would stop. He is truly a toxic hideous person who spews mean words and harms the USA. Therefore, the hate we feel for him has nowhere else to go. Do you recall and agree that after 9-11 Americans loved each other! Remember how every car flew a flag? Every time you stopped for gas, as we alighted from our cars, we took time to hug each other. We were gracious in regard to driving, in the grocery lines and on public transportation. Now, daily, we are ill at ease wondering “what did he do or say today”. We actually say this sentence to each other daily! Politics did not run our social conversations, but it does now. We are ashamed daily. I am an international traveler and am very aware now that people say in a dismissive manner, “ya, she’s an American” instead of “ya, she IS an AMERICAN”. You have the writing ability to speak for us in a much more hard edged delivery than the “nice” piece you wrote (containing wonderful correct big words that “the base” do not understand). Please write “down” to us so everyone understands. America cannot continue with Donald Trump. The land is dying, the environment is dying, the family units are dying, the animals are dying, lying is now allowed, being stupid is allowed, buffoon toxic actions are allowed, stupidity abounds, cheating is chic, lack of character is becoming passé…..all because of one harmful, inconsiderate, pathetic, egomaniac, narcissistic, thin skinned, immature loser sitting in the Oval Office.

  6. Warren Abraham says:
    4 years ago

    You could not have said it in a better way. Now how do we get thru to the Politicians and President Trump that they need to stop and become more civil? Maybe we vote out the one’s that can’t get a long and put term limits in place.

  7. Philip Simon says:
    4 years ago

    Political campaigns can be civil or uncivil, it is the candidates, the party’s, and the issues of the times.

  8. Melvin Taylor says:
    4 years ago

    Tell that to the unverified negative news sources

  9. William Pouch says:
    4 years ago

    Great editorial. Right on the button,on all counts I live in New York City, a Democratic stronghold. The 3 major networks ABC, NBC and CBS so called news broadcasts are now. so biased as to sound like MSNBC or CNN.
    The bias extends to websites such as MSN, AOL ETC. which have become bulletin boards for the left newspapers to post their rhetoric.Many newspapers have become propagandists for the Dems. Leading the charge are the Washington Post, the New York Times. The Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and many other prominent left-leaning media outlets ensure that Never Trump pundits maintain relevance by plastering them all over our nation’s news commentary. I do believe this was always the plan of the Dems beginning from Nob2016 election until the 2020 election.

  10. James Howard says:
    4 years ago

    Larry Horist talks truth. Except for ‘rational left”. By their own definition there is no rational left. They do not recognize objective reality & do not accept objective morality. Leftists are Marxists of various sorts. They collude to perpetrate a story to cover their lies. It’s called ‘the narrative.’ Marxism-leftism is founded on lies & advanced by lies. It is the JABBERWOCKY of Lewis Carrolls “Thru the Looking Glass.”

    Learn why the left & Islam have so much in common & are allies.
    Narcissism has been an epidemic on the Left from the start. If you are involved with a narcissist it will destroy you (PTSD) unless you know all the sneaky tricks & lies & how to deal wIth them, if you are forced to, as in politics.
    YouTube has –
    Narc ology unscripted,
    Michele Lee Nieves,
    Surviving Narcissism,
    Why You Are Lonely. Stefan Molyneux,
    Alice in Wonderland & Thru The Looking Glass, Lewis Carol.
    JIHADIST PSYCHOPATH: How He Is Charming, Seducing & Devouring Us. JAMIE GLAZOV.
    TIPPING POINTS: How to Topple the Lefts House of Cards. LIZ WHEELER (news & commentary, OAN Network.)
    MAKING LOVE GREAT AGAIN: The New Road to Reviving Romance & Winning at Relationships. DEANNA LORRAINE.
    THE HISTORY OF JIHAD from Mohammed to ISIS. ROBERT SPENCER.
    See also: Bill Warner, politicalislam.com

  11. James Howard says:
    4 years ago

    Irrationality & subjectivity are foundational to Marxism-leftism and also to narcissism & hypocrisy. Leftists discard reason & evidence & embrace the purest sophistry they can achieve.

  12. Melvin Taylor says:
    4 years ago

    Tell this to the news media

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