Strong Words and Strange Reasons

Hello:

This article explores the "grass roots political actions" proposed by some right wing Bush supporters in reaction to Jenna Bush's recent arrest.

http://monkeyfist.com/articles/758/

Cheers,
Bijan Parsia.



Strong Words and Strange Reasons
URL: http://www.salon.com/news/col/cona/2001/06/05/hypocrisy/index.html
By Bijan Parsia


   Jenna Bush, one of President Bush's 19 year old twin daughters, was
   "caught" trying to buy alchohol from a restaurant. This has upset
   some of Bush's followers.
   
     Americans have seen this mob thuggery mentality from Bush
     supporters before, most recently in post-election Florida. The
     "skills" of demonization, propaganda and pack assaults are
     nurtured by right-wing hate-filled press such as the FOX News
     Channel, talk radio, and certain Internet sites, including those
     named above. Eight years of vicious attacks on the Clinton family
     were only the baby steps of political warfare, it appears. --
     [1]American Politics Journal
     
   I didn't even know that Bush had twin daughters, much less that they
   have been having some run-ins with the law, until this flap. Much is
   being made of the restaurant and its employees (1) calling 911, (2)
   calling the press, and (3) being targeted by pro-Bush partisans for
   harrassment. Note, too, that Jenna Bush may fall afoul of Bush's
   "three-strikes" legacy, so there are serious issues and irony at the
   core of these incidents, or so it would seem.
   
   Let's recall one, not atypical, incident from the Clinton era.
   
     Though no tape of McCain's quip has yet emerged, this is what he
     reportedly said:
     
     "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
     Because her father is Janet Reno."
     
     -- [2]Salon.com
     
   Note the extreme, if casual, cruelty of this joke (old news, of
   course). In one way, it is "harmless"; there's no exercise of power,
   no manipulationg of the law, no face-to-face attack. But these are
   mere technicalities. The best that can be said is that most people
   not only are capable of such cruelty, but on occasion indulge it in.
   McCain, at least, apologized (although, somewhat inadquately):
   
     McCain apologized to President Clinton after news of the joke
     became public, but did not apologize to Chelsea Clinton or Janet
     Reno. "This is the bad boy," McCain said. "It was stupid and
     cruel and insensitive. I've apologized. I can't take it back. I
     was wrong, but do you want me crucified?" He added, "I will
     always maintain a sense of humor. Life is too short not to." --
     [3]www.wcla.org
     
   It is unwise to generalize from a single incident to judgments about
   settled character and not just because they risk error. There is a
   paradox of punishment: undue harshness tends to nurture that which
   it aims to correct. Ironically, this is a large part of what's wrong
   with three strikes type laws.
   
     We're dealing with animals. Posting someone's financial records
     on the internet pales in comparision to what the left has done.
     And it might make liberals think the next time they set out to
     destroy a person.
     
     I'm done playing nice. I shun government teachers and let them
     know I shun them. I used to tip UPS drivers at Christmas. Now I
     make a point of telling them why they get no tip and why I will
     report them if they so much as do a rolling stop. These people
     want to degrade and mock everything in which I believe. -- from a
     [4]FreeRepublic.com forum
     
   (Note: The particular animals in question are the people who turned
   in Jenna Bush for trying to purchase alcohol under a fake ID.)
   
   I've been trying for three days to figure out what to say about
   this, how to respond. One observation that strikes me every time I
   read this invective is how steeped in collective responsibility it
   is. Nastiness is measured against "what the left has done". Measures
   are taken to make sure that "liberals" will alter "their" behavior.
   All government teachers are shunned, and UPS drivers -- regardless
   of how they vote -- lose their tips and are harrassed. And it's
   "justified" because "these people" alledgedly possess horrid,
   personally targeted desires.
   
   There's a bit of tension between the "what we do isn't as bad as
   what the Democrats/Clinton/left/liberals have done" and "we're just
   doing what they've done...we've learned from their tactics" lines of
   reasoning. Whether the first is correct or not, the second certainly
   seems wrong. Selective enforcement, personal harrassment, mob
   threats and violence, lynchings, villification, firings, and so on
   are time honored tactics of the right, as is the claim that "the
   left" is unruly, uncivil, uncivilized, dangerous, riotous, etc.
   
   Could someone point me to any right-wing non-violence training? To
   major victories (in the U.S.) of a sustained, multi-year
   predominantly non-violent conservative protest movement? Heck, just
   point me to such a movement? The closest I can think of, off hand,
   is the abortion protests, especially clinic blockcades, although
   they don't seem to be mass-based and seem to rely a good deal on
   intimidation. Plus, as far as I know, they've never been fire-hosed
   or beaten by police.
   
   I hestitate to endorse generic arguments against political violence.
   I've thought a lot about rights to resistance and revolution, and
   there seem to be some compelling, clear cases. The problem lies not
   in the (to me) clear cases, but in the "perversions":
   
     Having determined these points, we have next to consider how many
     forms of government there are, and what they are; and in the
     first place what are the true forms, for when they are determined
     the perversions of them will at once be apparent.
     
     Of the above-mentioned forms, the perversions are as follows: of
     royalty, tyranny; of aristocracy, oligarchy; of constitutional
     government, democracy. For tyranny is a kind of monarchy which
     has in view the interest of the monarch only; oligarchy has in
     view the interest of the wealthy; democracy, of the needy: none
     of them the common good of all. -- Aristotle, [5]The Politics,
     Book 3, Chapter 7
     
   Once the "true forms" of government are known, the "perversions"
   will be apparent because the structure and nature of each form of
   government is very similar to the structure and nature of its
   corresponding corruption. Thus, when I read or hear eminently
   justified calls to violence, I wince because I know that the same
   language and reasoning can be, with the seemingly slightest of
   distortions, transformed into that which I abhor. Few things are
   more annoying than the rhetoric of revolution in the service of that
   same old oppression...
   
   ...except maybe the rhetoric of civility used to promulgate
   incivility.
   
   Where is the Bush White House? Why isn't he calling for his
   self-professed followers to leave the restaurant alone? The White
   House certainly has no qualms in protecting itself from
   "harrassment":
   
     After a reporter asked about Jenna's no contest plea at a news
     conference with Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman,
     Fleischer chastised the reporter and told him that his question
     had been "noted in the building" as stepping over the line. --
     [6]SunSpot.net
     
   One can think that the restaurant played a bit mean and still rise
   above that provocation, surely. At best, this is a missed
   opportunity to be "an uniter". What more likely to my mind is that
   this will be one more bit of evidence into the settled character of
   the President and the people he gathers around him.

References

   1. http://www.americanpolitics.com/20010605MiaLawrence.html
   2. http://www.salon.com/news/1998/06/25newsb.html
   3. http://www.wcla.org/98-summer/su98-15.htm
   4. http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b1dc3f10914.htm#21
   5. http://catalog.com/jamesd/arispol.htm
   6. http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.jenna31may31.story?coll=bal%2Dnews%2Dnation


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Posted on Monkeyfist at http://monkeyfist.com/articles/758