Okay, sure, I know that liberals call people names
all the time. Hillary Clinton said that half of Donald Trump’s supporters were
in a “basket of deplorables.“ That was an awful thing to say. Anyone who would
say such a thing probably deserved to lose an election. Still, calling people
names seems to have become central to conservative talk.
President Donald Trump has mastered childish name-calling.
Think about the phrases that he has added to our political lexicon: “Lyin’,
lyin’ Ted,” “Little Marco,” and “Crooked Hillary.” “Rocket
Man” is in a class of its own. Trump did not, of course, invent this
hideous discourse; he just heard what conservatives were saying every day and outdid
them. Right-wing radio host Rush
Limbaugh’s show of November 21 referred to “modern-day feminazis and their
wuss male supporters.” Two radio hosts referred to a Sikh politician as “turban
man.” (They were suspended.)
Now, name-calling is political talk’s lowest form.
The ideal of republican government is for us to debate about issues and
character. Name-calling does not advance that agenda. How do you debate someone
who only wants to call you names?
Why is this happening? I can only speculate. Here
are some academic-type hypotheses:
1. Maybe people call each other names because they
don’t know how to make rational arguments. This is an important conclusion of
research conducted by my friend and colleague Andrew
Rancer and his co-authors. They define an “argumentativeness trait” as a
personal inclination to give reasons and evidence for your points, whereas a “verbal
aggressiveness” trait is an inclination to engage in personal attacks instead
of making arguments. They concluded that people become verbally aggressive
because they lack debating skill. People who receive simple instruction to
learn how to prove a point use less verbal aggression. All things being equal,
training people in argumentation, debate, philosophy, and related humanities
fields might help them to argue more constructively.
2. Here’s a more speculative answer. Conservatives don’t need to make policy
arguments. That’s because people don’t always know where their traditions
come from. Liberals always want to plan new things and examine cause and
effect, as the conservative theorist Richard Weaver pointed out in his wonderful
book The Ethics of Rhetoric. In contrast, conservatives
argue from definitions, broad principles, or the simple weight of tradition. We
often forget where our traditions come from, which means that we can’t always
explain them. Scientists Robert Boyd and Peter J. Richerson explain this in Culture
and the Evolutionary Process. Unfortunately, when they are unable to
articulate their traditions, traditionalists might respond to disagreement, not by talking about long-forgotten lessons, but
instead by calling people names.
Tradition can be good. Generations pass something
of what is learned to the next generation. That is called tradition. We don’t
have to figure things out from scratch; we can learn from people who came
before us. Liberals often overestimate how skillfully they can solve problems
or create new social ideas. Oddly, conservatives don’t always appreciate how
important tradition is, which is why they sometimes call people names.
So:
3. Calling people names is a low form of talk.
Insecure people get a burst of sick joy when they run someone else down, but
they don’t advance their argument and will never convince neutral observers.
4. If you are a conservative, you don’t need to
resort to name-calling. Just say that you believe such-and-such because it is a
tradition. To prove your argument, show that it is a real tradition that has
served us well for many years. Explain that to change something that works is risky. Don’t try to beat the liberals at point-by-point
analysis; that’s their game, not yours.
5. Yes, many traditions are long-forgotten, and traditionalists
do not always know the reasons that we do things the old ways. That’s why we
call it “tradition.” That’s OK. What traditionalists can do is to study history.
P.S.: Years ago, I published an article about how
the argument from tradition can be valuable. To read it, go to scholar.google.com and use Harpine + tradition as
your search words.
P.P.S.: It’s good for Americans to learn their
traditions. Some of the most satisfying years of my youth were spent reading
hundreds – no, thousands – of pages of the writings of our nation’s founders. If
you want to know our traditions, there is no substitute for going to the
source. Instead of calling people names, our noble conservative friends might click
on these links:
P.P.S.: Finally, readers who want to read Trump’s despicable
“Rocket Man” speech can find
it here. And here is the debate transcript of one of the many times he
called Senator Ted Cruz “Lyin’ Ted.”
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