Beaks and Claws

What's this hippie shit?

I was a political cartoonist and essayist for the duration of the Bush presidency, so I was professionally furious every week for eight years. The pejorative “Bush-hater” always rankled me – presuming that my rightful outrage at that administration’s abuses was as arbitrary and irrational as misogyny or arachnophobia. And yet, looking back at my work from those years, even I am struck by its tone of shrill, unrelieved rancor. No wonder readers who met me in real life seemed surprised to learn that I was personable and polite; they must’ve been expecting someone more like Ted Kaczynski or the guy from “Notes from Underground.” Reading over my own impassioned rants now, my main reaction is: Jeez Louise, what a sorehead.

... One reason we rush so quickly to the vulgar satisfactions of judgment, and love to revel in our righteous outrage, is that it spares us the impotent pain of empathy, and the harder, messier work of understanding.

Odd. the reason I rush to the vulgar satisfaction of judgment is that the motherfuckers deserve it. Oh wait maybe I'm wrong. Here, let me attempt the impotent pain of empathy and the hard, messy work of understanding in regards to, say, Tom Coburn.

Hmmm... arggghhh...

Nope, not working, and I even still have to take a shit.

Extremism in the contempt of asinine mendacity is no vice.

Comments

[DrDick]

I do not think empathizing with a psychotic asshat is really very good for your mental health.

[Righteous Bubba]

This is all someone else's bum.

[SteveB]

Did you skip over this part?

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that all outrage is inherently irrational, that we should all just calm down, that It’s All Good. All is not good. The kind of piety that would have a schoolteacher whipped deserves to be mocked and vilified. My reasons for despising the Bush administration were sane and moral and patriotic. Outrage is healthy to the extent that it causes us to act against injustice.

[atheist]

I guess my reaction to Mr. Kreider's piece is more like, "so what else is new?".

Yes, there is a balance you have to strike between caring about politics, whether that care takes the form of anger or empathy, and caring your own day-to-day. And the correct balance is different for each person. If Kreider feels differently now than he did over the past few years, then that is fine.

[marindenver]

the reason I rush to the vulgar satisfaction of judgment is that the motherfuckers deserve it.

That's kind of where I'm at too. If you ask me people didn't throw ENOUGH at GW Bush. And they can't throw enough at the current right wing asshats right now. That's what our blogs are for fer crisake.

[marindenver]

And as long as I've gotten started on this:

it spares us the impotent pain of empathy, and the harder, messier work of understanding.

When did the wingers ever spare any empathy or understanding for the liberals when they were out of power? They continued to pile on throughout because it's a TACTIC with them. Then when liberals get the power back we get all "we should have empathy and understanding for them". NO! WE SHOULD NOT! Because it will not reform them and they will just laugh at it and use it as a lever to get a seat or two back in Congress and the next thing you know . . . they're back in power. Palin/(insert any other Republican whackjob) 2012. Feel any empathy for that? I don't.

[willf]

Maybe Kreider's problem is that he just can't cope with the heartbreak of not being funny.

[SteveB]

Because it will not reform them and they will just laugh at it and use it as a lever to get a seat or two back in Congress and the next thing you know . . . they're back in power.

Mock harder, people! The future of the Republic depends on it!

[marindenver]

Mock harder, people! The future of the Republic depends on it!

Thank you! We need all the cheerleading we can get if we're to keep our nation safe from the bedwetters. ;-)

[gil mann]

Maybe Kreider's problem is that he just can't cope with the heartbreak of not being funny.

He makes a living off that crap? Now I'm outraged.

I mean, even the best political cartoonists are rarely funny per se, but at least they've got some chops. Kreider's stuff wouldn't jump off the page of a 'zine.

[Batocchio]

If only we had labored to understand George W. Bush. He was a man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, yet he couldn't get anyone to notice.

If only someone - other than the State Department, or the Justice Department, or Congress - had told Cheney, Addington and the gang that what they wanted to was illegal, immoral, and harmful to the country. I have it on the best authority - David Broder's - that everything they did was in good faith. Let he who has not tortured, lied to start an unnecessary war, drowned an American city or destroyed the world economy throw the first stone.

[atheist]

Political Anger

I don't feel angry about the neoconservatives. To be honest, what I feel goes beyond anger. When reading statements by neoconservatives, I don't want to yell at them, I don't want to get even with them, and I don't want to attack them.

I want to appear to them like the motherfucking angel of death and explain to them in an inhumanly hollow voice that I have come for their soul and I want to point my bony finger at their heart and let them feel that what keeps their world together is now forever undone and I want to annihilate them, their soul, and their memory, and their flunkies, and their fake-ass "Think Tanks" and their jive-ass "newspapers" from this earth into the void for eternity.

Which I guess is an example of the attitude that Kreider is talking about. Sorry about that.

[SteveB]

If only we had labored to understand George W. Bush. He was a man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, yet he couldn't get anyone to notice.

Yeah, and if we would only apologize to the Muslim world for all the historical injustices they've suffered at our hands, Osama Bin Laden wouldn't want to attack us any more.

Look familiar? You're using the same argument the right wing has used to keep us in a state of perpetual war.

One of the tenets of Gandhian nonviolence is that, below the level of the leadership, who probably are just evil, there are whole layers of people can be won over to do good, if they're approached in a respectful fashion. And reducing the overall level of outrage in a society might help make that more likely to happen.

Gandhi also said that giving up your anger isn't a favor you're doing for your opponent, it's a favor you're doing for yourself. Because anger can actually make you less effective. I think we've probably all met people who are so outraged by the war and what humans are doing to this planet that they can't even talk to people about it. Who benefits from that?

It's a shame that this column got misconstrued as "don't criticize George W. Bush, ever", because that's not what he's saying.

[Batocchio]

Yeah, and if we would only apologize to the Muslim world for all the historical injustices they've suffered at our hands, Osama Bin Laden wouldn't want to attack us any more.

That's one hell of a straw man. Funny, we heard that again non-stop when Obama was attacked for his "apology tour." And while my comment was sarcastic in tone, I don't think you've addressed the content of it.

I think you've got a point, as does Kreider, but there's a great deal of truth to the line, if you're not angry, you're not paying attention. I don't know if you've read Angler yet, but many of the Bush administration's mistakes were not made in good faith. More to the point, perhaps, there are several very big messes to clean up. Some of those messes will be repeated if the old ones aren't addressed. If you personally can achieve Gandhi-like serenity about what's gone on and still is going on, I honestly respect that. You're also correct that anger can interfere with the effectiveness of activism. However, I'd say the biggest problem right now is a lack of activism, not a lack of serenity or forgiveness. I would also distinguish between hatred and anger. As Kreider himself says, "Outrage is healthy to the extent that it causes us to act against injustice." There are serious problems that need to be addressed. Issues of outrage fatigue and balance always come up for activists, and if that's your main point, I agree – although I still can't account for your first paragraph. Do whatever works for you, and I hope to see you at the next human rights rally, or whatever you consider the equivalent. Peace.