Deep Political Thought of the Day
Judging from the reactions I’ve seen and read and heard (and in some cases felt) during last week’s DNC and this week’s RNC, so far, I would say that what Americans want, regardless of party, from our national politics is not reform, or hope, or change, or governance, or strength, or defense, or charity, or a hand up, or to be left alone, or moral leadership, or inspiration, or moderation in the pursuit of virtue, or religious inspiration, but, instead, to see our guy (or gal) hit their guy (or gal?) in the face, very hard, over and over again.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:41 am
I think you’ve put your finger on something there. I even sense it in myself, sorry to say.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:37 am
I am finding myself becoming a ball of rage just listening to the pundits. NPR is currently being banned in my house, just so that Mommy doesn’t go ballistic on anyone…
(Don’t worry, it’ll be back in service round these parts come Saturday morning.)
September 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
This is perhaps why I enjoy boxing so much. It is exactly what it is.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Well, when all of politics boils down to My Guy vs. Your Guy–we’re blue, you’re red–then, really, there IS no point to the whole game beyond making sure your guy hits their guy in the face.
And since our news media spend most of the time describing the various blows, day to day, of course that’s what we focus on. Millions of people now “care” about Hollywood box office receipts. Why? How on earth does that affect them? Well, it doesn’t. But that’s what gets reported, relentlessly. So we figure we’re supposed to care.
September 4th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
After eight years of being treated like a battered partner, yeah, I’d really like to see our guy smack their guy right in the mouth. Hard.
I have been struggling of late with the lamentations I am reading about how polarized our country has become. I think Andrew has a point. We are told about each phrase, each comment, each breath until it seems important. I would love to have a philosophical discussion with someone over policy issues, but after eight years of feeling unheard, unimportant and generally discarded, I’m hurt and angry and I want my turn to be on top of the mountain kicking the other guy in the teeth for a little while.
I do hope “no drama Obama” is of a cooler head than I am and is able to temper the rage felt by so many voters, or we will do ourselves some real damage when we cut loose. Governing like a sailor on shore leave is not way to conduct business, however tempting and cathartic it seems.
September 6th, 2008 at 1:10 am
“Make the world a better place punch Peter Sagal in the face.”
-from a popular sports talk radio show
I’m just curious how wide ranging your survey was that led you to this conclusion Mr. Sagal?
You’re one of the most intelligent and funny people in broadcasting yet every once in awhile you pop up with something like this and I have to ask myself if this you just trying to yank the collective American chain or if you’re really the calibre of jerk who believes what you wrote above.
There’s no doubt, no question, that many Americans feel pugilistic with regard to politics. Go figure. Twenty years or more of the media making every issue a “war” and every disagreement a culture clash and sure, I see things are more polarized than in a long, long time (I’m thinking a century or so). More than two decades of a media complicit with the most base in our government allowing them free platforms to say what they will. Your own show, as we have discussed here before, is a regular platform for some of the most virulent and egregious examples of this. When I posted a protest you thought it was reasonable to offer these people a place to humanize them. Humanize them? In what sense?
I don’t care to punch any of them but I do wish that rational human behavior was rewarded and anti-social behavior punished. And yes, if that punishment is as trivial as not being accepted as a guest on your game show then at least that’s one step in the right direction.
That said, I think, from my own little survey that most Americans in fact do not want to punch anyone or see anyone punched. They do want things to be different. They do want to feel as though they have some voice in the system. They do want to see government protect them better; more efficiently and effectively. I think there is a vast majority of Americans out there who want this and would trade a chance to punch most people (exception, dick cheney) in the face.
I think your statement trivializes an awful lot and I know you’re much smarter than that. But maybe it’s not a matter of intelligence and you just thought this was cute, bi-partisan, mean thing to say. Whatever the impetus for your statement was let me assure it’s wrong, from where I live, it’s wrong.
September 10th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Oh, Peter Sagal, you hit the nail on the head once again.