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Daniel Shays is Crazy

In May, 2004, the president of the Heritage Foundation gave the commencement address at Hillsdale College. He used the occasion to decry a sudden explosion of incivility in American political life, noting that a prominent liberal had written a whole entire book about Rush Limbaugh being a big fat idiot. Not only that, but there were a bunch of websites that stooped so low as to attack the High Holy President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief of America (PBUH):

"Further down the food chain, lesser lights take up smaller hammers, but they commit even more degrading incivilities. The Internet, with its easy access and worldwide reach, is a breeding ground for Web sites with names like Bushbodycount.com [and] Toostupidtobepresident.com."

With George Bush as president, conservatives were perpetually horrified by the terrible incivility of the day. A new senator declined to shake the hand of the commander-in-chief; Cindy Sheehan impolitely asked if her son had died for a reason. The horror.

The argument about incivility was a narrative of power, an attempt to wall off the public sphere. Those making the "civility" argument aimed, in effect, to create a free-speech zone in which dissent could be contained and suffocated.

The argument about uncivil behavior is still a narrative of power. Today, it's wielded by different hands. It still has the same purpose.

Posted on Friday, September 18, 2009 at 5:35 PM | Comments (0) | Return

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