Hence I was a bit surprised to see this today up at the Wisconsin State Journal:
I've searched the article and can't find a single quote from Scott Walker in which he uses bellicose terms. The only "war" seems to be that from the keyboard of the piece's author Clay Barbour. I have nothing against Barbour nor his use of the word "war" here but I think this illustrates that people who want political discourse in this country to "return" to some imaginary time when senators weren't attacked and no one ever tried to assassinate presidents in Milwaukee have a long row to hoe.
Even here in Madison, home to peaceniks in a state of gentle Scandinavian-Americans, politics is war as is any attempt to change anything.
Republicans draw battle lines to attack costs.
Redistricting is a battle.
Politicians don't have pockets or bank accounts, they have war chests.
Unions prepare for war against the Walker administration.
How do you deal with bullies in schools? Why, you start a battle against them, of course.
Fuck, you'd think every member of the Packers was Audie Murphy with all the battling they do. The Packers battle the Bears, the Packers battle turnovers, blah blah blah.
We have wars on drugs, obesity, autism – everything we want to change has war declared against it.
When was the last time you saw a headline like "Dems and Repubs Set to Amicably Hash Out Differences Over Health Care"?
So for all you Pollyannaish folks who want to make everyone all civilized, forget about it. Even the mild-mannered and eloquent William F. Buckley threatened to smash Noam Chomsky "in the goddamned face". Taking into account our discourse and Clausewitz's famous dictum, American politics is violent and has been since there was an America and probably will be until our collapse.
Glad someone pointed that out. There was also a piece in NYT yesterday that mentioned a blitzkrieg. It was not referring to WWII.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we could find all kinds of wonderfully warlike terms. Skirmishes, weapons, take-no-prisoners, etc. Walker "killed" the train. And so on and so forth.
ReplyDeleteThat's who we are.
I’ve always found the partisans in Madison to be particularly hostile and antagonistic, regardless of which team they choose. In fact, the culture war is more important to more people here than any place I’ve ever lived. I don’t think you picked the proper control group.
ReplyDeleteJason - I don't think that the culture war is relevant here. The subject is American political discourse generally, not any one element specifically.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_677815.html
http://www.journal-news.com/news/election/jim-jordan-has-large-campaign-war-chest-but-no-battle-at-hand-829034.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/07/16/2010-07-16_andy_can_run_a_24karat_gold_gov_campaign_with_eyepopping_stacks_of_cash_by_georg.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/16/pelosi-plan-pass-health-care-traditional-vote-riles-critics/
Just do some web searches with a bellicose term and either "Democrats" or "Republicans" and you will get countless news stories from a variety of sources.
Perhaps it's my memory but I don't find the partisans in Madison to be particularly hostile. E.g. - Unlike the rural WI area I lived in and Chicago, people generally don't bandy the term "nigger" around a lot. Nor "spicks". I also heard much more talk of using guns to "correct" problems up north than I have ever heard here in Madison. Partisans in Madison, as is the case everywhere, do and say some stupid things. But much of it simply consists of calling someone a Nazi or a socialist as opposed to calling for violence.
Sorry, I should have been more clear about my terminology from the beginning, but I don't consider any of this liberal/conservative, "I'm a this, you're a that, let's argue," stuff that makes up most of the national discourse to be political. It has some vaguely political underpinnings, but it's really about cultural conflict, not any substantive political issues. So I call that the culture war to distinguish it from discussion about actual public policy.
ReplyDeleteBut it's the passionate participation in that cultural conflict that I think is off the charts in Madison. And I think it's the line drawing and demonizing and anger inherent to that conflict that's to blame for pushing a vulnerable nutjob over the edge on Saturday, not any particular violent word or image that was used. The conflict itself is the caustic discourse that needs to be addressed, so it's really not a question of whether nigger is worse than Nazi.
I would like to point out that reporters do not write headlines.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Hesselberg
George - that's fine but:
ReplyDeleteA) the first sentence of the piece begins "Gov. Scott Walker is planning an all-out border war".
B) To me as a consumer of news it doesn't matter if the reporter or an editor writes the headline. You're all part of this entity called the Wisconsin State Journal which is part of the larger media.
Jason - I take issue with your fairly strict demarcation of what is political and what is cultural. They're intertwined. Any given issue may fall under your "cultural" umbrella but the reason why there is such a thing as a "culture war" is because one side or another attempts to force their preferences on everyone else - and that's political. E.g. - it's one thing to dismiss evolution and believe that Yahweh created Adam and Eve a few thousand years ago but it's something very political to attempt to teach that in a public school.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think "the passionate participation in that cultural conflict" is off the charts here?
And why do you "think it's the line drawing and demonizing and anger inherent to that conflict that's to blame for pushing a vulnerable nutjob over the edge on Saturday"? Do you have proof? Is it possible you're choosing a cause and effect scenario that fits your preconceived ideas?
I don't know why the guy did what he did. But I don't think anyone else really does either. There was a psychiatrist (?) on NPR this morning saying that the vast majority of people who attempt to assassinate famous figures do so because they feel marginalized and want attention. Perhaps that is Laughner's case as well.