Average Americans

In an article criticizing "liberals" for making fun of John Boehner's recent shedding of tears, Ruben Navarrette writes something that is silly, baseless, and insulting; something that politicians on the right are increasingly using to substitute for logic, real solutions, analysis, etc. He says, "Liberals make fun of Sarah Palin because, despite their declared affection for average Americans, they can't stand the sight of one." (http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/16/navarrette.boehner.crying/index.html)

Now, there are a couple of other problems with this article. The old "liberal" label is one. It is a classic personal attack ad hominem, an attack on the messager rather than the message. It is also innuendo. Navarrette doesn't stop there. He is also startlingly inconsistent, as he somehow manages to insinuate Bill Clinton's crying is cheap and contrived while arguing that the "usually emotional liberals" are wrong to criticize Boehner for crying when they usually laud crying as an attribute. Of course, the very issue seems a little trivial, and not worthy of commentary when there would seem to be more important things to discuss than how we should regard John Boehner's tears.

I'll give you something more worthy of discussing: "Liberals make fun of Sarah Palin because, despite their declared affection for average Americans, they can't stand the sight of one." Just reading it makes me angry. Conservatives have increasingly taken on this strategy. You label yourself an average American, and then when someone criticizes what you say you attack them for making fun of the thoughts of an average American. When someones asks you to describe what "big government" is, you scoff and call them an elitist who is trying to confuse people and you again refer to yourself as an average American trying to protect other average Americans. average American becomes a substitute for real argument. Why explain why you didn't know where Russia was, just call yourself an average American. Is the message that average Americans don't think through issues? Is the message that they don't need real explanations? Is the message that they aren't ever wrong? Is the message that people who disagree with them aren't average Americans? Is the message that they aren't real Americans.

Whatever the message is, it is certainly shallow and sickening. Shame on Ruben Navarrette for stooping to it, and shame on everyone else who does the same. We need to start to call people out for this kind of insulting nonsense. We need to make people give us arguments supported with logic rather than insults. We need to act like we are all Americans and all need to solve the problems facing us by working together.