Sunday, June 28, 2009
‘They’ aren’t as dumb as ‘we’ think
EDITOR:
Normally, I would not comment on an op-ed column (Vindicator: 6/21/09, J. Edward Hackett, Not all traditions are moral), but my friend thought Mr. Hackett had made some good points. So did I, at first. Then we discussed his article and we both were amazed that this educated man not only did not have any good points, but the points he made were seriously flawed.
First, Mr. Hackett has no clue as to why conservatives promote tradition. He ascribes to them motivations that fit his premise rather their profile and does it in a demeaning way, such as describing their view of history as television-ish or more to his point – boob-tubeish. “They discover history without thinking...” He writes. Yet, he is willing to misrepresent history in moral terms when in reality the lack of women’s voting rights and the 3/5ths Constitutional definition of African-Americans for representational purposes had considerable practical and, yes, moral validity. He commits the very intellectual crime he ascribes to conservatives.
His other argument against conservatives is their tendency to resist change based on the slippery slope theory. His dismissal is simple, “this type of talk ignores the possibility of a middle-ground.” Then, he fails to recognize that civil unions are the middle ground. It gives gays full legal rights while preserving the sanctity of marriage. In fact, his entire oped is riddled with his refusal to see the compromise aspects of the very historical solutions he rails against.
Finally, we wondered just who is this “we” he keeps writing about. He continually declares that “we” see history more thoughtfully and “we” accept compromise more readily and “we” conduct ourselves more morally. They, the conservatives, are simply not as thoughtful, compromising or moral as “we.” Yet, his op-ed, for all its pretensions, is not very thoughtful, misses the obvious compromises, and fails to define morality.
My friend and I didn’t quite see the superiority of this “we.” Maybe after he gets that PhD, he’ll do a better job in his next op-ed of convincing that lowly “they” of how truly lowly they are.
CINDY BARIE
Lakewood