Wearing Your Opinions On Your Sleeve

Would you like to talk about that?

We went to the local farmer's market on Saturday, and bought some yummy cherries at $3.33 a pound. That's a steal for Rainier cherries--yum! While we were there we noticed an older gentleman with a satchel over his shoulder. A placard attached to the satchel read: "PENTAGON IS EVIL." My wife said, in a voice deliberately loud enough to be heard, "Jeez, some people don't have anything better to do." I was more discreet as I whispered to my wife, "He doesn't like five-sided shapes!" I don't think he would have gotten it if I had stood there with placards reading "SQUARE IS GOOD" or "TRIANGLE IS AMBIVALENT."

I find it strange to use the locale of a farmer's market to peddle one's political point. Perhaps he was prepared to pass out pamphlets pulled from his pouch. OK, enough alliteration, but why would someone think that a public gathering like a market is the proper venue to vent one's spleen on divisive issues? I love a good debate; however, people who stand around with large placards are not generally willing to discuss the issue in a rational manner. Their vehicle of expression is usually to shout, rant and automatically disagree with anything that is said. And as Monty Python pointed out:

M: An argument isn't just contradiction.
A: It can be.
M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A: No it isn't.
M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
A: Yes it is!
M: No it isn't!

Unfortunately, the level of political debate these days is too often more along the lines of simple contradiction, veering dangerously close to getting-hit-on-the-head lessons. Did that man at the market really want a serious discussion of the issue? Is there anything I could have explained or pointed out that would have changed his mind about the Pentagon being evil? I don't think so. I suspect he had already made up his mind and nothing could shift him. Now I don't have trouble with people who have a firm conviction of their beliefs, but I do have trouble with people who, once they've made up their minds on a political subject, refuse to acknowledge any evidence that they could be wrong.

Incidentally, whenever there is a public gathering, why is it that the most common placards and opinions to be seen express leftist sentiment? Other than people at ball games with "Go Team" and "John 3:16" quotes, when you see people holding up signs or plastering bumper stickers to their cars, they're almost always leftist slogans. Maybe it's just that I live in a very blue state, but I don't think so. Back when I lived in a very red state, the right-wing political bumper stickers I saw were almost always limited to two per car: one for a specific political candidate, one for a pro-life sentiment. And they were discreet. Even in this red state, when I came across a car sporting leftist political bumper stickers, they were usually in-your-face and all-over-the-place--cars held together with multiple slogans like "Somewhere in Texas there's a village missing an idiot," "Where are the WMDs?", "Frodo has failed! Bush has the ring!", etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam. In any case, what I sense from the plethora of bumper stickers is not a willingness for rational debate, but a shouting match. You don't get rational thought or reasoned argument from a bumper sticker; it's the printed equivalent of a shouted slogan. I don't see there being much opportunity for discussion; all you get is the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says.

I find very little debate on issues and ideas coming from the American left. If you watch the talking-head shows on TV where there are two pundits discussing a liberal vs. conservative theme, notice how often the liberal interrupts, talks over or shouts down the conservative whenever he or she is speaking. It's an easy tactic to deny one's opponent the ability to express a thought by shouting that person down. I've suggested elsewhere that the political left doesn't really believe in freedom of speech for everyone. Based on their actions, I believe that they want freedom of speech for themselves and the force of law to shut up everyone else who takes a contrary position. How much longer will it be before leftist "discourse" becomes outright getting-hit-on-the-head lessons for conservatives?

Date Posted: 7/14/2008 10:00:00 AM
Tags | Email