-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20010917.html
}}}>Begin
Is Rational Discourse Another Casualty of Tuesday's Attacks?
By Ben Fritz ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
September 17, 2001
A time of tragedy is inevitably, and rightfully, a time of emotion.
Just as so many of us are distraught, upset, and angry at the
terrorist attacks against the U.S. last week, so too are many
political pundits. We should expect no less, of course, as they are
Americans who, like all of us, saw their nation wounded and friends
endangered or even killed.
They have a responsibility, however, not to allow the nation to
descend into irrationality. Carefully reasoned, thoughtful political
debate is in fact most necessary now as we consider the best course
of action. An irrational political debate could lead to an
ineffective or even counterproductive response, and also do lasting
damage to the norms of American democracy.
This is why some of the political rhetoric of the past week has been
so troubling. Many pundits and editorial boards have given America
exactly what it does not need: inflammatory rhetoric, wildly
irrational political analyses, and extremely divisive attempts to
stigmatize political opponents as anti-American.
The inflammatory
Most inflammatory rhetoric came in the guide of "bomb now, ask
questions later" articles from writers apparently completely overcome
with anger. The word "irrational" barely even applies here, as these
articles lack even the pretense of rationality.
Among those making such purely emotional calls for revenge were
syndicated columnist Cal Thomas and the editorial boards of the New
York Post and Philadelphia Daily News. The words of the News were
easily the most chilling for those who believe logic and rational
argument are important in politics, as its argument came down to one
simple statement: "[W]e will remember your actions, and crave only
one thing: blood for blood."
The News never identifies who the "you" in this sentence is, however,
because we don't yet know, but it does prime its readers for
bloodthirsty vengeance: "REVENGE. Hold on to that thought. Go to
bed thinking it. Wake up chanting it. Because nothing less than
revenge is called for today." These words border on the
authoritarian and the savage. Many Americans support a strong
military response, of course, but The News's rhetoric encourages
bloodlust rather than carefully reasoned action.
The irrational
Some pundits actually did take the time to present evidence in their
analyses of last Tuesday's attacks, but failed to make rational
arguments. Instead, they allowed overblown rhetoric and shaky
reasoning to take them from the facts of the case to extreme
conclusions or prescribed responses not at all supported by the
evidence presented. Many of these illogical arguments could be found
on the pages of National Review Online, by writers such as David
Gelernter, William F. Buckley, and Michael Ledeen.
The worst, however, came from columnist Ann Coulter. Her column
abruptly transitions from a remembrance of her friend, conservative
writer Barbara Olson, who died in the plane that hit the Pentagon, to
a call to "invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert
them to Christianity." The "they" in this sentence is Muslim
terrorists, a group that Coulter simply assumes throughout her piece
is both culpable and easily identifiable.
Coulter's supposed logic for this extreme conclusion is that "Those
responsible include anyone anywhere in the world who smiled in
response to the annihilation of patriots like Barbara Olson." The
only people Coulter could possibly mean here are the group of
Palestinians shown on TV celebrating at news of the attack on the
U.S. Coulter's logic implies that simply celebrating a death makes
people responsible for it, regardless of whether they played any role
in it. And it is extremely disturbing to advocate military action
against an entire nation, or nations, based on the beliefs of some
people on the streets.
Soon after, Coulter moves on to the topic of airport security, where
her "Muslim hijackers" as "they" trope first rears its head:
Airports scrupulously apply the same laughably ineffective airport
harassment to Suzy Chapstick as to Muslim hijackers. It is
preposterous to assume every passenger is a potential crazed
homicidal maniac. We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the
ones cheering and dancing right now.
As I already stated above, however, it is not clear at all that the
ones seen cheering and dancing are the homicidal maniacs. Also
disturbing here is Coulter's assumption that "Muslim hijackers" are
easily identifiable. Some people of Arab descent, likely to be
Muslim, are identifiable, of course. And if Coulter simply means to
promote racial profiling, she should state that explicitly. Instead,
she absurdly assumes, with no evidence, that "Suzy Chapstick"
(apparently everyone who is not a Muslim hijacker) is easy to
separate from Muslims who intend to hijack airplanes.
The divisive
Besides the purely emotional and the irrational, a third tactic by
some pundits has been to try to promote unsupported and divisive
tropes while discussing the disaster. Conservative commentator Andrew
Sullivan is a chief perpetrator in this case, as evidenced by his
take on events in the Sunday Times of London (part one, part two):
The middle part of the country - the great red zone that voted for
Bush - is clearly ready for war. The decadent Left in its enclaves
on the coasts is not dead - and may well mount what amounts to a
fifth column.
Considered in this context, "what amounts to a fifth column" is an
irrational suggestion that liberals in this country will engage in
acts of terrorism against the United States, or help the terrorists
in some way. In reality, Sullivan is attempting to preemptively
define active political opposition to any part of this "war against
terrorism" as tantamount to treason - a frightening and anti-
democratic precedent. Thus, before most liberals have even taken a
stance against potential military action, Sullivan is attempting to
define them as having done so, and thus assume them as the enemy in
future debate.
Logic, now more than ever
At a time of national mourning, it may seem misguided to criticize
political discourse for irrational arguments. But we must set high
standards for ourselves in our politics, and not let irrationality
take over political debate and shape US policy. As our leaders talk
about going to war, it is imperative that the rational discourse so
vital to democracy doesn't become another casualty of last Tuesday's
attacks.
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This website is copyright (c) 2001 by Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer and
Brendan Nyhan.
End<{{{
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From
http://www.spinsanity.org/post.html?2001_09_16_archive.html
}}}>Begin
9/17 Brendan: The Taliban aid trope re-emerges
Don�t believe the hype about Bush administration aid to the Taliban.
Back in June, I showed how Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer
deceptively portrayed Bush administration food aid to starving
Afghanis as a "gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of
Afghanistan" to reward them for acting against drug production.
While the aid was partially motivated by the Taliban�s crackdown on
opium production, CNN and others have reported that it was intended
to avert a looming famine exacerbated by a ban on growing opium.
Moreover, the aid consisted not of cash, but $28 million in surplus
wheat, $5 million in food commodities and $10 million in "livelihood
and food security," a fact never acknowledged by Scheer, and was
distributed through international agencies of the United Nations and
nongovernmental organizations instead of the Taliban itself.
Nonetheless, in the wake of the attacks and the likely responsibility
of Osama Bin Laden, who has been provided refuge by the Taliban,
Scheer�s trope has re-emerged. Gerry Kamiya's September 13 Salon.com
story on Bin Laden calls recent US aid to Afghanistan a "reward" for
"condemning opium growing as anti-Islamic", implies that the aid was
distributed as cash and links to the deceptive Scheer column.
Filmmaker Michael Moore then repeated this claim the next day,
inflating the $43 million figure cited by Scheer into $48 million.
Scheer repeats the trope in a somewhat more limited form today: "Call
it what you will, even humanitarian aid, and funnel it through the
United Nations, but the effect is the same: to send to the Taliban a
signal that its support of Bin Laden has been somehow acceptable."
Of course, back in June, Scheer did not call it humanitarian aid or
acknowledge that it was not given directly to the Taliban.
In general, it�s fine to criticize the aid, as Michelle Malkin does,
for indirectly helping the Taliban regime. But readers deserve to
know that it was food aid to starving people rather than a cash gift
to a pariah government harboring a known terrorist.
[Email this to a friend]
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