“Michelle Obama has two Ivy League degrees, private school for her children, a third-of-a-million-dollar salary, a large home, and a U.S. Senator as husband and would-be President—and says she has hitherto not been proud of the United States. Rev. Jeremiah Wright has created a huge following in his Trinity Church, merchandises his lectures, enjoys nationwide recognition, and by all accounts is both well paid and popular—and chants “God Damn America.”…Is there a connection between success and furor at the United States?” — Victor Davis Hanson, who has more on this connection here and here.
Wow. Just wow.
Another testament to the monument of willing stupidity that is Victor Davis Hansen.
Hey, but let’s all play this game, ok?
First you pick two celebrities you don’t like for some reason. Any celebrity will do, since pretty much all celebrities are rich. I’m going to choose two guys I don’t particularly like mostly because I think they’re full of themselves - Sean Hannity and Keith Olbermann. They’re jerks.
Ready to play the Victor Davis Hanson game? Here we go!
Keith Olbermann has a college degree, private school for his children, a huge salary, a large home, and a wonderful broadcasting career, yet he is a jerk. Sean Hannity has created a huge following on his radio program, enjoys nationwide recognition, and by all accounts is both well paid and popular — and is also a jerk. …Is there a connection between success and being a jerk?”
See how fun this game is! It’s all about pretending to find some deep, hidden reason why people you disagree with politically are fundamentally bad people. And it’s easy to do! Just suspend your cognitive powers for a moment as you pretend two completely unrelated things are somehow related. Cool game!
You don’t think that there is something odd, ’something psychological’, with those who can be considered the most fortunate citizens of the richest country in the world also being the most critical of it? I do.
This seems to be a common theme with those on the left, not only are they the most privileged - Michelle Obama, Wright, Sharpton, Michael Moore, John Edwards and others - but their privilege seems to have created contempt, not humility. Something deeper is going on here.
You actually bought this HP? You’ve got to be kidding.
Gee… Where to start? There’s so much that’s just dead wrong here…
Well, to start with, your list of “the most privileged” doesn’t include Richard Mellon Scaife or George Herbert Walker Bush. Maybe their names were too long? My point (which should be obvious): The fact that you know a few names of Liberals does not convince me that liberals are the “most privileged”. Indeed, anyone who’s name you and I both know probably qualifies as “privileged” - conservative or liberal. And what about the fact that huge percentages of blacks and union-members vote Democratic each election? Doesn’t that tend to indicate that the least privileged have pretty strong Liberal leanings? But maybe introducing facts into Victor Davis Hanson’s fact-free argument is out-of-bounds.
And what about those on the left who have never expressed “contempt” towards America? I suspect it would be news if a sitting U.S. Senator were to express something like “God Damn America!”, but I’ve never seen that happen. I assume that’s because 51 Democratic Senators have a perfect record of not having any “furor” against our country. Right? It’s hard to argue that the vast majority of those on the left are not upstanding citizens.
Second, not only have you and Hanson not made any convincing argument that liberals are more privileged than anyone else, you haven’t presented any meaningful evidence at all (other than two anecdotes) that liberals are “more critical” of the U.S than anyone else. Neal Boortz, a conservative talk show host, for example, has a daily segment entitled “Government Outrage of the Day”, where he goes on and on about how awful the U.S. government is. Similarly, conservative pastors are fond of decrying promiscuity in the U.S. and the prominence and legality of abortions here. So there you are - I’ve now presented two very non-scientific counter-examples of conservatives! who are highly critical of the U.S. - which is precisely as many examples as Davis presented. So can I now claim that conservatives have a “furor” against the United States?
Third, when did “criticism”, “contempt” and “furor” become synonymous? Shall I scour the archives of your blog and report how many times you’ve been “critical” of the U.S.? Would that be an indication of your “contempt” for your country? Would it rise to the level of “furor”? Are you and Rev. Wright two sides of the same coin? I don’t think so.
Fourth: The silly repetition of Michelle Obama’s gaffe is just that - silly. Either she mis-spoke, or she was misunderstood - it’s irrelevant - because she promptly clarified her position. To pretend now that her stated position (she is proud of America) is somehow not her true position on the basis of one gaffe is just too dumb for words. I’m about 90% certain that VDH is not so dumb that he believes that Michelle Obama is an America-hater. VDH is being willingly stupid here - he just wants to score political points.
And I noticed VDH didn’t bother to quote Michelle Obama word-for-word. I wonder why?
So… Contrary to what VDH says:
1. Many Conservatives have plenty of “furor” against America.
2. Many Liberals hold no contempt for America.
3. Many Liberals are among the least privileged.
4. Many Conservative are among the most privileged.
5. Criticism is not always a bad thing.
6. Even the sparse evidence presented by VDH in the case of Michelle Obama is wrong.
What VDH got right:
1. Wright is a Reverend at Trinity Church.
I think we are misunderstanding each other. My point is not that all liberals have contempt, or are critical of the USA, or any of that. My point is not that only liberals are rich…or only liberals are critical, or others don’t have a right to be critical. etc
My point is much simpler than that: why is it that those people that have received the most blessings this country affords, turn out to be, many times, the most critical? Doesn’t that strike you as, atleast on the surface, counterintuitive?
For example, it has been my experience that some of the most appreciative citizens of this country are precisely those that immigrated here, from a country much poorer and one that provided significantly less opportunities. This makes sense to me…after all, it takes living in another country to fully appreciate what is so great about this country.
Yet the same dynamics don’t seem to work with those who have become exceedingly wealthy and/or privileged. I’m merely pointing that out.
Btw, as an aside, here is a video of Michelle Obama’s comments, I don’t think VDH has taken them out of context. And while she may have ‘clarified’ her statements later, its important to remember that given her political calculus (her husband running for president, the backlash her comments caused, and the sincerity of her original statement), I’d put more weight on her original comments than her later ‘clarification’.
HP,
Those, like you and VDH, who enjoy parsing sentences may want to consider this:
When my first child was born it was the first time in my life that I was ever really, really, really happy. But that doesn’t mean I was never happy before that, does it? Similary, if today is the first time I am really proud to be an American, it certainly doesn’t mean that I have never been proud before, does it? It just means that today is the first time I am extremely proud.
“Really” can mean “extremely” as well as “actually”. Get it?
Or you may want to consider this:
If we analyze Obama’s statement the way VDH wants us to, then the speech marked the first time in her “adult life” she felt proud to be an American, therefore she may have had many moments of pride during her pre-adult life. This seems trivial - why even bring it up? Only to make the point that if we are to analyze each and every statement the way VDH would want us to, then we can only conclude that VDH is a liar. After all, VDH claims that Michelle Obama, until the day of the speech, declared herself to never have been proud of American - which is demonstrably not the case.
But, when it comes right down to it, if you want to believe Michelle Obama is anti-American based on a badly worded, and quickly retracted, extemporaneous moment, well… Enjoy that fantasy.
Good point! Damn ESL classes, I completely missed that.
And your totally right - based on what she specifically said, VDH did misinterpret her.
Kudos to you, HP, for being open to correction. But let me take a different take.
China isn’t great about human rights, right? Suppose a rich Chinese individual didn’t like that. So what? Is he supposed to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses simply because he’s rich and got rich in the Chinese system?
There are a lot of rich people in America. This is a rich country. Maybe it makes us wealthy to impose dictators on foreign countries so they export their goods to us cheaper than what they would cost under free market conditions. We did this in Iran. We caused the death of over a million Iranians. We got our wealth. We got our oil profits. Maybe we’re better off financially. Doesn’t mean I’m proud of what we did.
Just to clarify though, I love America. This is a great country. If I were to say I’m not proud of America it would be that some policy makers, often unbeknownst to the American public, have done some pretty awful things. I would mean it in that sense, not in the sense that America itself is a bad country. I think it’s too bad that many Americans are not aware of what their policy makers are doing, but I regard Americans as generally good people.
Yes, Kudos to you HP!