Partisan, punditry, propaganda
A close friend out Beal City way is a man with a good head on his shoulders. In other words, I don’t need to tell him what to think, because I know he has good reasons for the thinking he already does. Preaching to the Amen! choir, in this instance, makes little sense.
There’s any number of opinionated blokes and blokesses floating around the punditsphere from which my friend may glean information and supporting material for his well-founded belief system. He’s Catholic, well-read in Russell Kirk, and has a firm grasp of economics, works hard in the real world, and comprehends the importance of family, faith and friendship. Whereas, by comparison, I am but a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas, to quote Dennis Hopper’s “Apocalypse Now” photographer, who was, in turn, quoting T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
It would be silly, of course, to single out one specific friend as the target audience for my weekly blatherings
(yes, a noun, and a plural one at that, you confounded word processing program correction tool) in this real estate. It does grant me yet another perspective whenever I sit down to commit my brain droppings to the digital realm, however.
That perspective goes something along the lines of: “What do I have to say that hasn’t been said better elsewhere?” As well: “Am I adding a unique spin to the topic, or am I merely demagoguing an issue to fulfill my requisite column inches in this fish wrap?” Could I be setting myself up for allegations of knee-jerk, tribal thimble rigging?
In this day of innumerable ideological battles, it’s sometimes difficult to identify the ones in which my rhetorical dog truly has a fight. Every day it seems partisan jackals are drawn to one insignificant rotting carcass after another, howling their respective unadulterated outrage until they spot more tantalizing carrion elsewhere.
Take, for example, the cherry picking of information available of the events on Jan. 6, 2021. Every side leapt at the opportunity to further some specific narrative. Whatabouters brought up the riots rampant throughout the country in 2020 as somehow exculpatory regarding Bison Boy and his elk … er … ilk. On the other hand, from what we know, is there enough evidence to even remotely suggest the events in question posed a serious and permanent threat to our nation’s sovereignty?
In other words, cui prodest; or, who stands to benefit, a question famously asked by Cicero, Vlad Lenin, and
“the Dude” Lebowski. In other, other words, dear readers, all sides are attempting to play you with their shamelessly blatant propaganda for political gain. The liquid substance on your brogans isn’t rainwater.
It bears repeating: “Certs is a breath mint and a candy mint.” Some bad actors and foolish individuals caught up in disorganized mob behavior engaged in unlawful action on that fateful day. Justice should be served for actual criminal activity. True, events outside Washington the year prior were seriously understated, but have no bearing on the Jan. 6 riot other than exposing hypocrisy (but should be prosecuted).
But to assert a group of unarmed knuckleheads amid legal protestors seriously threatened democracy writ large on a permanent basis is simply hyperventilating pearlclutching likewise in the service of political gain. Anyway, that’s how I see it. Real conservatism isn’t an ideology. It doesn’t demand you take sides or choose between two evils.
As for my Beal City buddy, I’ve not been apprised of his opinions on the matter. Turns out, we find ourselves talking about relevant topics more often than not and usually in the company of our mutual priest friend.
Chief among those topics is the music I occasionally discuss in this space and who’s pouring the next bourbon. Politics takes the backseat.