Subscribe to Moronmeter!An Interesting Take on the Tea-Party Vitriol
I read Andrew Sullivan not because I agree with everything he says (I don’t), but because he usually has something interesting to say and does so in a thoughtful way.
Yesterday, he posted an email from one of his readers who attempted to provide a ‘psychological interpretation of the more ad hominem tea-party protestors.’
The ‘interpretation’ sums itself up nicely: “The right is projecting its shadow onto Obama. The same qualities that make him a saint to the left make him the devil to the right – he is easy to project onto.”
Basically, ‘the right’ can’t admit to themselves that America (and, by extension, they themselves, as Americans who supported Bush & the Republicans when they were in power) is ‘dark’ and flawed, so they project those bits onto others. All of the previous targets have fallen, either because they, well, fell (like the Soviet Union or Saddam Hussein) or they have just lost their effectiveness (like China, North Korea, Iran, or “terrorists”), so ‘the right’ has arrived at President Obama as a convenient target for hostilities.
(There is more to ‘projection’ than that and if you want to get a Wikipedia-ized overview of the psychological idea of ‘projection’, click away.)
I find this person’s take interesting for a couple of reasons.
First, it rings truer than the typical liberal mantra that we’ve been hearing for months: If you don’t agree with Obama (and/or think that his policies tend towards socialism), you are a racist. This has been stated by Paul Krugman, Philip Kennicott, and a host of others (oh, and just recently, after she realized there was a liberal bandwagon upon which she had not yet jumped, Maureen Dowd).
I don’t doubt that there are some ‘anti-Obama’ protesters for whom President Obama’s race is the major issue (I also don’t doubt that there are some Obama supporters for whom President Obama’s race is the major issue – it cuts both ways), but to try and pass off various protesters as simply being racist (or, if you are Nancy Pelosi, un-American – unless, of course, you support them) smacks of desperation.
Liberals complain that ‘the right’ can’t argue against the message on the basis of facts, so they attack the messenger, which is exactly what liberals do when they don’t address the protesters complaints, but simply dismiss them as ‘racism’.
Could the left be projecting its shadow onto the protesters?
Doubtful.
The left is too enlightened and intelligent for such immature and transparent psychological ploys.
When the left was having protests against President Bush, it was with dignity and logical arguments, not outlandish ad hominem attacks.
For instance, if you do a search Google image search for ‘Bush Hitler Protest Poster‘, you will not find 193,000 results.
The left is just above such puerile ploys.
The other reason that I find this person’s take interesting and what forms the money shot for me is this bit:
This will not end well. Now that Obama is carrying their shadow, only a dramatic event from outside could change it. (Or, they could gain awareness of their disowned dark side, and tolerating the inevitable pain of that experience, integrate into a healthy whole. This would require white, middle-class, middle-aged Americans – the primary protesters – to acknowledge that white middle class Americans are not all goodness and light and start taking responsibility for white privilege, their environmental choices, effects of class on economic status, etc. Don’t hold your breath.) The more those on the right deny their own failings, the more their internal unease will increase, the more the hatred to Obama will grow, and the more the need to do something will increase.
There should be no doubts about what the writer is getting at: some wingnut (or group of them) is going to take matters in his own hands.
I know that America has, at times, failed to live up to its potential and promise, but I also like to think that America can be (and will be) better than that.
Prior to the ’04 and ’08 elections, I read multiple postings in discussion forums and in the comment sections of different news websites, from what I assume were liberals, concerning the impending suspension of elections and the declaration of martial law, so that President Bush could hold on to power.
As far as I recall, those things never occurred.
What did occur were two elections with a mid-term election in between, in which the Republicans saw their hold on power evaporate.
Despite the dire warnings and rampant ravings of the lunatic left that the American system would fail and the people would be robbed of their rights, we had elections and change arrived.
In other words, the system worked.
Hopefully, all of these angry protesters will do what we are supposed to do in America when we want to make a political change – take matters to the ballot box and not into their own hands.
What happens after that, who can project, er, predict?
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