Jon Stewart: "No, you don't. All you do is scream the talking points at each other."
 |
A familiar way to dismiss a political argument is to identify it as a talking point. The accusation is levied against an argument made by an opponent. It also works to dismiss a point made by someone on one's own political "team." It identifies some unwelcome factual concession that exposes a weakness in the team's orthodox position, its ideological phalanx. Calling it a mere "talking point" for the other side is a quick repair job to the front line.
"Why that's just a Republican talking point," people write me in complaint when I write that Joe Biden is elderly and appears spacey sometimes. I also hear it when I write that high gasoline prices are a visible sign of worrisome inflation. I haven't written much in criticism about the sloppy American exit from Afghanistan, but if I did, I expect someone would identify that, too, as "just a Republican talking point."
Republican readers may disagree, but I think this blog is harder on Democrats than on Republicans. I don't think I have become a cranky curmudgeon Republican. I perceive that Democrats and Republicans have entered silos of conventional, acceptable thinking within their parties. People get willful blindness and stubbornness. They defend the indefensible because the idea they defend is "our" idea--within that phalanx. Because I care about success of good Democratic policies--especially during this Trump era--I work harder to "help"--as I see it--Democrats. I want them to stop doing and saying foolish, unpopular things. Just because a Republican says something is bad doesn't automatically mean the opposite is true. It might just be a fair point. It is almost certainly a point that hurts Democrats politically.
Some things are simply undeniable. I don't want to pretend to the contrary just because I prefer Biden to Trump. To my eye, and I have seen him up close a half dozen times, Biden looks and acts old and spacey. Nearly every Democrat admits this in some form, when they let their guard down and speak honestly. I don't need to "interpret" gasoline prices. They are posted right on the signs. Desperate people falling to their deaths from the landing gear of planes leaving Afghanistan make an undeniable image of a messy exit.
Biden's condition, gasoline prices, and Afghanistan are Republican talking points. If a Republican advocate is challenged on TV about Trump's insurrection plot, the response is the briefest pretense of comment on Trump and then a "what-about" pivot to the Biden's fitness, gasoline prices, and Afghanistan. Republicans don't want to talk about Trump's coup plot. They want to talk about their issues. But the fact remains that the three points are genuine points of political vulnerability. Properly understood, they are advice. Maybe Biden needs to announce he isn't running in 2024. Maybe Biden should demonstrate more visibly that he is trying to reduce gasoline prices. Maybe Biden should make conspicuous changes in the intelligence and generalship teams that handled the Afghanistan exit.
We are seeing how toxic the "it's just a talking point" attitude is for Republicans, too, when we see how powerfully Republican loyalists dismiss Trump's sedition plot. It is, indeed, a Democratic talking point. The more we learn about his plot, the more dangerous and tawdrier it is, yet Trump is demanding that his stolen election story remain inside the GOP phalanx of acceptable thought. Apparently a majority of Republicans believe their pivot and think the coup effort wasn’t real. Republicans are cleaning house in primaries, getting rid of people who dare acknowledge it.
Talking points are intended as weapons but they are also gifts. They tell parties what they need to fix.
[Note: To get this blog daily by email go to https://petersage.substack.com Subscribe. The blog is free and always will be.]
7 comments:
It seems this makes for a great discussion about the “Emperor has no clothes” social psychology. One aspect is our pride and fear of thought of being wrong. In Chuck Klosterman’s book “What if We’re Wrong” he outlines sometimes funny and often tragic stories of how societies basing their reality on “truths” that ultimately turned out to be terribly wrong. Many well-read commenters here occasionally cite some of these. I remember back in the late 80’s touring the Auschwitz concentration camp. It was shocking to the senses to contemplate how such a thing could happen. But we saw artifacts that showed how quickly supposedly humane and civilized people could do unspeakable things. I think we are being disabused of the idea that we moved beyond that; that we are evolving to become a better species. We are all vulnerable to deception, and as they say… denial is the first sign. It takes courage and humility to overcome- and why I applaud Peter for writing.
As with "conspiracy theory", "talking points" is a grossly overused trope designed in many if not most cases to avoid or outright reject debate on the merits.
They are overbroad constructs as typically employed, meaning NOT that they don't ever capture either crazy, unfounded notions or reflexive sloganeering, respectively.
They are "overbroad" in that they also capture propositions which are neither, and may yet be perfectly sound but which are simply inconvenient and/or as yet unsettled.
On "this blog is harder on Democrats"? That's so, in the way that a parent or coach takes the pre-favored kids aside and says, "I'm harder on you because you're better".
For me, the telling observation concerning Stewart and Carlson redux is how irrelevant Stewart is today. (And today, it's simply, "All you do is scream the talking points").
Some points need to be addressed. Calling them ‘talking points’ doesn’t diminish their urgency. The erosion of our democracy is one example. Climate change is another. Then we have gun violence, women’s health, affordable education and universal health care. These are all critical issues dismissed by Republicans. They’re more concerned about ‘wokeness,’ critical race theory and ensuring they win elections regardless of the outcome.
Meanwhile, the “stolen election” delusion continues to flourish. Republicans are living a lie. It’s dismaying that conservatism has degenerated into an embrace of Trump madness, voter suppression, opposition to Black history and an obsession with other people’s sexual preferences. Hopefully the 'talking points' raised by the Jan. 6 Committee will result in at least a few more Americans being 'woke.'
In general, I think you underestimate your readers, that we lack critical thinking skills and don't understand media and political realities. Also, in general, you seem to overlook the positive things about President Biden. Maybe trying too hard to play devil's advocate or to appear "fair."
Joe Biden will be forced out of office by the Democrats in February 2023.
Dear anonymous,
Flesh out those comments in more detail, please, and make it a longer guest post or comment.
1 How do I underestimate readers?
2 Biden has done many good things. But he is old and spacey and inarticulate. He accomplished stuff notwithstanding that. But if you want to argue that Biden is highly competent and successful, please cite some evidence. That would be a great post.
3 I don't mind Republicans ding self destructive things, e.g. hanging onto Trump. Be stupid. Defend sedition. Go ahead and lose. I don't coach Republicans to abandon Trump. He is the easiest candidate for a Democrat to beat. The world knows to be wary of Trump, so if he wins we have political antibodies in place. But he will lose, I suspect, but Republicans may nominate him anyway. They aren't listening to the talking points. Democrats sort of are, when the allow it.
Again, write a guest post, please.
I agree with you on point 2; the President is showing his age, exacerbated I'm sure by the pressures involved in having possession and the responsibilities of that position in our increasingly fragile Government.
I don't want to see him run again, but I also think for him to declare now, that he will not be a Candidate in 2024 would encourage the wolves of both Parties to go after him with entreated fervor. Not all the enemies of the Republic are in the Republican Camp.
Post a Comment