Amid all the stories of Senator John McCain’s death, and people’s reaction to that, I was stunned to read that he’d been booed multiple times by Republican voters. One reason was McCain’s response to questions about his opponent in the 2008 election. McCain told people his opponent was a decent family man, and was booed by fellow Republicans.
Then there was a 8/27/l8 article, “In McCain’s Arizona, he’s not a hero to all.” these anti-McCain people weren’t Democrats, they’re Republicans – some of whom are hoping to be elected Senator. One possible U.S. Senator’s comments were gross trash talk insults.
When this abuse first occurred, John McCain had been a faithful public servant and military officer for over 40 years. He’d been tortured for 5 years. He’d refused to be released early from this torture. He was known for telling the truth, regardless of what others thought. He was/is admired by members of both parties. He always held the interests of America first, regardless.. Not good enough for some.
I can see disagreeing with McCain, being critical of him, perhaps reacting with silence to his response…..But, booing this man. Seriously? For asking people to treat his opponent with respect?
In 2008, John McCain was no ordinary American, whether he ran for president or not. He had a long track record – matched by few Americans in this nation’s 229 year history. In his 2000 run for president, McCain said: “I will not take the low road to the highest office in this land. I want the presidency in the best way, not the worst way.” When the Senate later released a report on the CIA’s “harsh” interrogation techniques [torture by most international standards], McCain said: this “wasn’t about our enemies. It’s about us. It’s about who we were, who we are, and who we aspire to be.”
So – why was John McCain booed? How did a 75-year old woman from southern Minnesota “learn” that Barack Obama was an “Arab?” How did a married couple “learn” that they should be “scared, scared of an Obama presidency?”
Former President George W. Bush: “John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order.” Senator Chuck Schumer: “As you go through life, you meet few truly great people. JohnMcCain was one of them.”John McCain: “It’s about us…who we are…”
So….who are we? Who have we been? Who are we now?
One possible thought: the Russians are winning the “Vocal Poison” war…….and they’re laughing at us. They created discord in the 2016 election….using our own demons and devils against us. They’ve already started in 2018. Americans disrespecting one of our greatest men, in public. They aren’t starting from scratch, they’re using our own falsehoods.
So…..how do Americans think they’ve “learned” some of these base falsehoods? An entire P.R. industry exists to spew out this poison. This is no secret. Why are people so ready and willing to believe the worst about fellow Americans, “the Big Lie?” Because they want to. Because they hear it often. Because it “sounds good.”
Various analysts are trying to establish why 1980-2018 America has evolved into what it is – why so vulnerable to poison. Lilliana Mason, in “Uncivil Agreement,” says “a reasonable consensus seems to be that, first, partisan polarization is at record-high levels; second, it exists not only among elites, but also among the mass public; third, it is increasingly driven by negative partisanship – dislike for the other party – rather than substantive issue-based differences; and fourth, it is the end product of a half century of geographic and demographic sorting.”
The last two items are the most alarming – not issues, but dislike for the other guy because he is the other guy, and the geographic/demographic sorting. For students of American history, this looks like the 1850’s prelude to the Civil War. And, of course, we’ve had a version of civil war – “the cultural war.” The Russians merely build off our “cultural war” to feed us lies we want to believe, which we then act on. And they won in 2016. They’ll win again – but only if we let them.
Mason talks about the social psychology of “identity,’ and belonging to a group – religion, race, class, occupation, home town, which provides an “us and a them,” two tribes. “When partisan opponents have less and less in common, politics becomes more of a zero-sum game: I see any political gain for you as a loss for me. Being right becomes more important than getting it right, since our sense of self worth is on the line.” For John McCain, mostly “getting it right” was the goal. That’s why he was so respected by his Senate colleagues – and for that he was booed.
Consider the following real situation. A Canadian climate change expert has just finished her talk on global warming. A woman approaches her and says: “It all sounds so logical. I wish I could support you. But I can’t. It would mean agreeing with Al Gore.” Logic says one thing, but she’d violate her political identity, and therefore “lose.”
So…again…..how do good Americans “learn” to dislike/hate somebody/something? Where do they get this “information?” And…..crucially, why do they believe obvious falsehoods? And often, violently believe the Big Lie, adamantly claiming they are not misinformed?One answer is “the echo chamber” that daily puts these lies out. It consists of one TV station, many talk radio programs,various internet sources, books, newspaper columns, and think tanks. Many “fact checks” have been done. The results are always the same – falsehoods are put out by one part of “the echo chamber,” then other parts pick it up, it gets quoted, often even the mainstream media repeat it. And…..you keep doing this.
One consistent message: “LIberals are responsible for racism, slavery, and the Ku Klux Klan. They admire Mussolini and Hitler, and modern liberalism is little different from fascism or, even worse, communism. The mainstream media and academia cannot be trusted because of the pervasive, totalitarian nature of the liberal culture.” And, as David A. Walsh reports in “In Their Right Mind,” from Washington Monthly’s July/August issue, the above ‘liberal conspiracy’ “often is used to justify similar behavior on the right. The Russia investigation is not just a witch hunt, it’s a product of the real scandal, which is the Hilary-Russia-Obama-Fbi collusion, so we must investigate that.” Any one with a rudimentary knowledge of history, the above claims are 180 degrees reversed from the truth of what actually happened.
In 1980, televangelist James Robison said he was “sick and tired of hearing about all the radicals, and the perverts, and the liberals, and the leftists, and the communists coming out of the closet,” and called for “God’s people” to fight back. Walsh relates Pat Buchanan’s 1992 National Convention speech in which Buchanan segued from the Cold War right into the “cultural war,” the “religious war…for the soul of America,” suggesting the fight against liberalism, feminism, and the “gay agenda” was a continuation of the Cold War. Do you “need” enemies? Do you “need” somebody to hate?
If you grow up in a home that believes this, or you constantly hear these messages over TV-radio-internet, then, for at least some people, you might discover why John McCain could get booed. Because, in any way, to compromise with the evil “them” would undermine the crusade. To defend “them” would be to weaken the crusade to defeat “them” and “bring America back” again. It might also explain why 2 plus 2 equals 4 facts are irrelevant, and “alternative facts” are ‘true.’ It might explain why, if a politician is on “the right side” of your issues, then you can allow him/her to have obvious personal failings and troubling history.
That might bring you up against John McCain: “We live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil. We are the custodians of those ideals at home, and their champions abroad. We have done great good in the world. That leadership has had its costs, but we have become incomparably powerful and wealthy as we did. We have a moral obligation to continue in our just cause, and we would bring more than shame on ourselves if we don’t. We will not thrive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent. We wouldn’t deserve to.” [10/17/2017]
McCain again: “Its about us. Its about..who we are..” So – who are we? Do we follow “our better angels”…or our demons? If we can boo John McCain, who are we? Republican Senator Ben Sasse: “Our nation aches for truth-tellers. This man will be greatly missed.” Can we handle the truth?
What is “the truth?” Would we know the truth if we heard it? In an environment of “alternative facts,” have we already entered the realm of “Big Brother?” If so who/what is “Big Brother?” Perhaps Big Brother is somebody we listen to often. Perhaps he is somebody who cleverly tells us what we want to hear, and makes millions so doing.
Perhaps Big Brother has been slowly poisoning our collective minds. If Big Brother can convince one that liberals were responsible for slavery and the KKK, then he can convince you of anything – like a man who endured 5 years of torture isn’t really a hero. Maybe He can convince you that global warming is a hoax. Maybe He can convince you that cutting taxes for billionaires will actually help YOU? Maybe He can convince you that the solution for 30,000 annual gunshot deaths can be solved by more guns? Maybe He can convince you that “the government of the people, by the people, for the people” is really your enemy. Maybe He can convince you that black is really white?
On the streets of Philadelphia, September, 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention left Independence Hall. A woman approached Benjamin Franklin with a question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin’s answer: “A republic, if you can keep it.”Have we “Kept the republic,” or have we lapsed into a “monarchy”….a “monarchy” where the “king” is a collective group of billionaires? John McCain tried to prevent this, he was sabotaged. He tried to tell us the truth, but now he’s gone. Do we want, can we handle, the truth?
In the last 40 years, we have listened to charlatans who sold us snake oil, and we booed the truth teller. And we believed the Russian trolls. America was the hero of the world in 1945. Are we still the hero of the world in 2018? America still holds the hopes of the world – the question is, will we honor those hopes? Can we honor those hopes if we continue to accept the flagrant lies Big Brother pours into our ears each day? Can we continue as a democratic republic if we willingly accept the lie that half of us are traitors? If we continue to only vote against something, what are we for? Do we build a stronger country on love and hope, or on fear and hatred? Who are we?
With Justice For All 