The Art of the Hissy Fit
By Digby , TomPaine.com. Posted October 25, 2007.
Unlike the Democrats, Republicans have mastered the art of throwing
hissy fits as a political tool to control political dialogue.
I first noticed the right's successful use of phony sanctimony and
faux outrage back in the 90's when well-known conservative players
like Gingrich and Livingston pretended to be offended at the
president's extramarital affair and were repeatedly and tiresomely
"upset" about fund-raising practices they all practiced themselves.
The idea of these powerful and corrupt adulterers being personally
upset by White House coffees and naughty ***ual behavior was
laughable.
But they did it, oh how they did it, and it often succeeded in
changing the dialogue and titillating the media into a frenzy of
breathless tabloid coverage.
In fact, they became so good at the tactic that they now rely on it as
their first choice to control the political dialogue when it becomes
uncomfortable and put the Democrats on the defensive whenever they are
winning the day. Perhaps the best example during the Bush years would
be the completely cynical and over-the-top reaction to Senator Paul
Wellstone's memorial rally in 2002 in the last couple of weeks leading
up to the election.
With the exception of the bizarre Jesse Ventura, those in attendance,
including the Republicans, were non-plussed by the nature of the event
at the time. It was not, as the chatterers insisted, a funeral, but
rather more like an Irish wake for Wellstone sup****ters -- a
celebration of Wellstone's life, which included, naturally, politics.
(He died campaigning, after all.) But Vin Weber, one of the Republican
party's most sophisticated operatives, immediately saw the op****tunity
for a faux outrage fest that was more successful than even he could
have ever dreamed.
By the time they were through, the Democrats were prostrating
themselves at the feet of anyone who would listen, begging for
forgiveness for something they didn't do, just to stop the shrieking.
The Republicans could barely keep the smirks off their faces as they
sternly lectured the Democrats on how to properly honor the dead --
the same Republicans who had relentlessly tortured poor Vince Foster's
family for years.
It's an excellent technique and one they continue to employ with great
success, most recently with the entirely fake Move-On and Pete Stark
"controversies." (The Democrats try their own versions but rarely
achieve the kind of full blown hissy fit the Republicans can conjure
with a mere blast fax to Drudge and their talk radio minions.)
But it's about more than simple political distraction or savvy public
relations. It's actually a very well developed form of social control
called Ritual Defamation (or Ritual Humiliation) as this well
trafficked internet article defines it:
Defamation is the destruction or attempted destruction of the
reputation, status, character or standing in the community of a person
or group of persons by unfair, wrongful, or malicious speech or
publication. For the purposes of this essay, the central element is
defamation in retaliation for the real or imagined attitudes, opinions
or beliefs of the victim, with the intention of silencing or
neutralizing his or her influence, and/or making an example of them so
as to discourage similar independence and "insensitivity" or
non-observance of taboos. It is different in nature and degree from
simple criticism or disagreement in that it is aggressive, organized
and skillfully applied, often by an organization or representative of
a special interest group, and in that it consists of several
characteristic elements.
The article goes on to lay out several defining characteristics of
ritual defamation such as "the method of attack in a ritual defamation
is to assail the character of the victim, and never to offer more than
a perfunctory challenge to the particular attitudes, opinions or
beliefs expressed or implied. Character assassination is its primary
tool." Perhaps its most intriguing insight is this:
See: http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/66062/
|
