"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
There's gonna have to be a different man"
David Bowie, "Changes," 1971
"Go right ahead. Publish it."
Ralph Bowman
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| Ralph Bowman |
I consider Ralph Bowman a poet. He offers a warning about something in the zeitgeist.
I read him the way I did Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, or Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man." Dylan's Mr. Jones is unhappy because he doesn't quite know what's going on, does he? But it is something.
Bowman was responding to two posts I wrote earlier this week about Democrats and Sunday school. Bowman sent me this:
Peter,
You have hit on it. I keep feeling watched and judged by my liberal church. Each member is GOOD. Educated in politics, environment, social work, school systems.
They know. They know MORE than you because they are convinced of their RIGHT over SIMPLE, their INSIGHT is DEEP and UNCLUTTERED. They understand SPIRITUAL They understand the DOGMA, they got the right take on THEOLOGY.They know the ORDER of the service. They do not CHAT. No SMALL TALK. They wiggle their hands instead of LOUD CLAPPING. They read the LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT as approved by the tribe.And they belong to groups that do GOOD WORKS. And have TRANS speak in the services. They are all white people who have kids who have INTERMARRIED with other RACES. All or most all are DEMOCRATS.
I had written that I respected Jimmy Carter and his presidency, but recognized that his dedication to doing the right thing was a moral virtue but a political liability. It is dangerous to be better than the people one seeks to govern, even if one genuinely is more Christian in every Sermon-on-the-Mount way. And maybe it's being genuine makes it especially uncomfortable for voters.
Progressive Democratic policy leaders are sure they are the good guys at the vanguard of social justice. Many Americans read it as holier-than-thou posturing. Too intentional. Too civilized and precious. Or maybe it is just change, but in an irritating "oh-for-Christ's-sake" way. Democrats have a moral majority vibe. Of course it is sensed and resented by the MAGA crowd. But people on the left feel it too.
That is the warning signal sent up by Ralph Bowman. The left has developed a Sunday school vibe and it is a turn-off.
Here is a strange thought. Maybe Democrats need to erase that vibe by choosing a scamp for a leader. A Bill Clinton type, with a little of the "bad boy" in him. (Does any Republican think Trump is telling the truth when he tells them he did not have sex with Stormy Daniels? They know he is lying, and they don't care.)
Here's a stranger thought; What if the GOP's trolling insults directed at Kamala Harris, the ones that made snarky allusion to the idea that her political success came from having provided sexual services to Willie Brown, were, in fact, a net positive? Maybe Americans are more comfortable with a hypocrite than they are with a moralist.
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I expierenced political correctness when On Facebook I referred to my daughter having a Chinese look. She panicked and was able to take it down quickly. I should have written an Asian look. My observation was not intended as negative in any sense, but apparently it would have been perceived that way by a certain age group. When I polled golfers of my age they were also clueless regarding my mistake.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t mind being corrected, but did think the moralizing was a bit much. People can go overboard on being politically correct and there’s a moralizing superiority quality that I do dislike.
The winner of our presidential election is an ignorant bully and wannabe dictator. The fact that slightly more voters went for the ignoranus makes it no less stupid. Are you suggesting that because it worked for Trump, maybe Democrats should be more like him? No thank you! No, I thank you! And again I thank you!
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of what Mom would say when I told her everyone was doing it: “If they were jumping off a cliff, would you want to do it too?” Just because a few more voters have decided to jump with Trump doesn’t mean we should do it. The only way we’re ever going to make things better is by doing the right thing.
Love is all there is, it makes the world go 'round
Love and only love, it can't be denied
No matter what you think about it
You just won't be able to do without it
Take a tip from one who's tried
---Dylan
It’s called “virtue signaling”. It’s a specialty of the woke left.
ReplyDeleteTake “land acknowledgments”. An Apache friend of mine says, “But they aren’t going to give the land back, are they?”
No, they are not. The land acknowledgments only serve to demonstrate the ostentatious supposed virtue of those participating in the ritual.
When I was teaching Computer Science at PCC, the incredibly woke administration was even telling us faculty to put land acknowledgments into our syllabi.
Yup, there's nothing quite so annoying to the far White as wanting to help the underprivileged.
ReplyDelete… especially when the supposed “help“ doesn’t actually help.
DeleteIf it didn't help, they'd still be on the plantation.
Delete