Bad "fashionism"

Here's an example of fashionism: Gore calling his critics "brownshirts."

Quite aside from the general inadvisability of calling your political opponents fascists, you'd think that if Al Gore wanted to call someone a fascist, the last synonym he'd pick from the thesaurus would be "brownshirt," considering that he was famous for literally wearing a brown shirt. I'm just distracted into thinking about that whole Naomi Wolf/alpha male business again. He's lost control of his imagery in more ways than one. (Via Glenn Reynolds.)
Extreme hyperbole is something I've seen for decades, but it used to be largely restricted to the far fringes, and limited to places like Berkeley. But when a former presidential candidate does this -- at a time when we need less ad hominem rhetoric instead of more -- it's very disheartening. Because it serves as a sort of official confirmation, at the highest levels, that civility is gone.

Maybe bloggers can start a civility movement at the bottom, a sort of grassroots effort of the kind James Lileks discussed earlier:

Look. We don't have to agree on the big hard issues, but we can certainly agree that we share common values that set us apart, and that it profits no one to identify the opposition as something outside the American experience. Liberals are not Communists. Republicans are not fascists. We have a nice window of opportunity here where we can come together by choice, instead of being thrown together by events. I say we get a head start on national unity, and turn on anyone who floats the Nazi analogy. Shun 'em. No links, no reviews, no radio interviews, no newspaper pieces, nothing. From now on, the Nazi parallel buys you bupkis. This means that the right doesn't get to parade around the mutterings of high-profile wackjobs as illustrative of the heart of everyone who votes D, and the left doesn't get to do the whole "he's wrong in his overheated critique, BUT" dodge. Enough. ENOUGH! For Christ's sake, enough!
Even though I'm a First Amendment absolutist, I tend to agree, and I know I'm far from perfect. I engage in too much hyperbole and I say things I regret. But when you call people names -- especially saying they're evil or Nazis because they don't agree with you -- you're cheapening your own cause, and lowering the quality of political discourse. And you're also violating the basic rules of logic.

I can't say I haven't done it, because I have. (I can be real nasty, and I don't like myself when I catch myself doing it.)

I just wish people would try. Is that asking too much? And when you try and fail (as we will), there's always a thing called an apology.

In any case, I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. But as long as there are some who at least try to remain civil, logical, rational, there will be hope for the growing, uncivil minority. (I hope.)


EXTRA THOUGHT: Of course, that leaves satire....

Some people don't like satire or sarcasm at all. Yet I think it's a less malicious, less heavyhanded, less sanctimonious way of making a point than screaming that someone is evil or a Nazi. And while it's true, as Lileks says, that liberals are not Communists, what do you call Communists who are not liberals? It strikes me that calling them liberals is about as fair to liberals as calling Nazis conservatives would be to conservatives. Humor helps!

posted by Eric on 06.25.04 at 09:22 PM





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I was flipping through the channels at my parents' house the other day (they actually have cable!) and I caught Dick Morris being interviewed (may have been Bill O'Reilly, but I don't recall) who beamed about Gore's antics. He said that Gore was always their "attack dog," as the VP should be, and that he's still very much acting in the role of true VP while Cheney has simply become like a chief of staff. He believes Cheney will have to become like Gore and make vicious verbal attacks on Kerry if Bush wants to keep his job.

Varius Crispinus   ·  June 26, 2004 10:36 AM

Dick Morris is very astute; one of my favorites. There is a difference between the ideal and reality, of course.

And as I said, I am hardly in a position to be setting examples. (I just think Lileks has a point....)

Eric Scheie   ·  June 26, 2004 12:10 PM

This Dick Morris seems to be an interesting fellow, or so I heard once (he was once rumored to have had S&M with a prostitute -- if so, my kind of man!). I'd sure love it if Cheney started acting like a real VP, i.e., my favorite ever, i.e., Spiro Agnew. "...nattering nabobs of negativism..." The _style_!

Yes, I agree with you that we should call liberals liberals and conservatives conservatives, Communists Communists and Nazis Nazis. Anybody who thinks the United States of America is the same as the Third Reich is an idiot. We are still only the Weimar Republic.



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