The power of an appeal to decency @ The Paepae
“Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator; you’ve done enough,’ he cried; and as McCarthy showed that he was going to go on regardless, Welch added: ‘Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?’…
But this is precisely what I think we’ve lost, in the dissolution of all things decent that the awful democracy of the Internet has brought about, and shall never see again. Not in the same way. Moral authority—where is the Joseph Welch of today? How would he be heard, in what ways would his political enemies tear him down … And would a memorable “appeal to decency” matter one whit, in the 24/7 scheme of things?
The time and place, the setting for integrity is gone. The context in which it could possibly matter. TV was in its infancy then, newspapers in full swing.
Funny. We wanted to strip down authority, in the Sixties. It was so damn fun being a hippie, and you know, we were going to live forever … who the hell would want anyone over thirty getting in our way? Fun vs. The Suits. The Straights. Striaght then meaning nothing about sexual orientation; instead, it meant, Straight or Hip? Straight or Stoned? (You can’t imagine how funny-looking the straight folk were, then. Before hip was thoroughly co-opted.)
And now. Now that nothing can be believed, and no one is the Integrity Hero that Obama was hoped to be, we settle back into the terrible relativity of post-internet existence. It’s up to you, at long last, and only you.
A great anomie settles over the land.
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So many times over the years I’ve thought back to Joe Welch’s great statement of pain and amazement, not to mention anger. It had the power to utterly destroy tail gunner Joe’s career and the activities of HUAC simply because of the rarity of such outrage, it made him stand out and the public took notice.
The problem (and the benefit), with the net is there are no moral examples that stand out. The “democratization” of news and information has left us rudderless, adrift on seas of conflicting opinions and headed for the shoals of anarchy (boy can I drown a metaphor or what ;) ). Whether this, in the end turns out to be good or bad has yet to be determined. Anomie was a fine choice of word to describe where we are at Zo.
@Doug: re relevant metaphors…
Leonard Cohen Democracy
Pretty dark musings, Zo.
I’m sure we weren’t the only ones who could see before the election that Obama and his supporters were going to face an inevitable anti-climax. (Can I have the reality check, please?)
In the face of astronomic expectations, how far could one man and his team go towards fulfilling them? In a 100 days? or 1000? With or without a global meltdown as ‘welcome aboard’ present.
Obama’s biggest challenge as a (relative) Washington outsider is to properly, comprehensively get his team’s hands on the levers of power — not just the obvious ones. The separation of powers in the US constitution were set up to impede a despot or a second revolution.
Nevertheless, I cheer the reintroduction of a moral tone without Bush’s ‘evil-doers’ crap. Of course any agenda will be opposed by liars and demagogues. Of course.
Re Obama, I’m reminded of the quote attributed to Zhou Enlai, when asked for his assessment of the 1789 French Revolution:
- P
I agree with you completely. I loathe people who dis Obama for not being whatever it was they, personally, dreamt of … and the story has just begun, anyway. Of one thing I am certain—he is smart. I expect him to learn as he goes. I also never imagined he would immediately set everything right. There was that New Yorker article. One of his goals, as a black man trying to get elected fucking president: Make No Sudden Moves.
I hope you understand. It was writing. “Too early to say” indeed.
‘Managing expectations’ is a BIG part of the POTUS job description. Never more so.
Zo, I enjoy your writing.- P
PS “Make No Sudden Moves” — and Never Appear Angry.
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