Yesterday's trip to the "big box" down the road was unavoidable, and so was the hardening of my conviction that we've become a meaner, ruder, more self-aggrandizing nation in the last seven years. People shoving, blocking aisles as they chatted on phones, ignoring rules and spoiling products along the way.
It's not the first time I've noted how really rude people are getting, how they resemble the gangs of "alpha kids" that terrorized the nerds and thinkers in high school.
And it's hard not to relate those changes to the Republican rule. A stretch? The survey says: "No." In the past few years this nation has become more paranoid, more rude, and gang mentality has increased. Have you noticed?
Try to follow reasonable traffic laws, wait your turn in a line, or find a customer service employee who knows their job. It's likely you'll get a nasty reaction. Or better yet, try to respectfully disagree with someone who tells you there's a "war on Christmas" or that Candidate X is "evil, immoral, of questionable sexual persuasion..." Disagreement is no longer allowed about things that matter, only about the trivial and mundane--and then the loudest horn or loudest shout wins. Model behavior, it seems, has become "plugging your ears" (either literally or figuratively) and singing "La La La" (particularly with the Republican chorus) as loud as you can. Where does this all come from?
The Bush administration has given a new meaning to the term "bully" in "bully pulpit." This is a country where our highest administrators are usually considered role models--"most admired." Challenge a lie, and we spoil your wife's career (and endanger the lives of her employees.) Threaten the profits of one of the gang (say, tobacco companies) and we cut off your kid's health insurance. Break the law of "omerta" and you never work again.
Even they see it. I clicked past Cal Thomas yesterday who was opining that the current ill fortunes of the Republicans, the DeLay-ish redistricting and gridlock, could never have come about but for the "partisanship" (aka discourtesy) of the Democrats. Digbyexpands on his observations by describing how the Republicans have structured all their actions around preventing government from functioning, now more than ever.
They are organized around the principle of being insurgents --- outsiders --- victims
I would never base a diary on a quote from Cal Thomas. But it seems the psychology is well researched. In a summary of studies on the differences between liberal and conservative temperaments, psychologist Jay Dixit finds the sorts of differences that have spread like a plague in our society:
liberals had...close relationships with peers...self-reliant, energetic, impulsive, and resilient. People who were conservative at age 23 had been described... as easily victimized, easily offended, indecisive, fearful, rigid, inhibited, and vulnerable...
Dixit also summarizes studies that indicate that continually reminding people of their fear of death makes them more conservative, more rigid and self-centered.
Overgrown high school bullies? Here's the ERIC definition for teachers and administrators:
Bullying is comprised of direct behaviors such as teasing, taunting, threatening, hitting, and stealing...bullying may also be more indirect by causing a student to be socially isolated through intentional exclusion.
Who was it that Cheney met with when he visited the Senate? Why was it that he claimed not to have even met John Edwards, again? And how did Delay run his House?
Then there's the Ann Coulter version:
While boys typically engage in direct bullying methods, girls who bully are more apt to utilize these more subtle indirect strategies, such as spreading rumors and enforcing social isolation...
What was that quote about John Edwards, again?
So why am I ranting the first day of the New Year? It's not because some jerk on a cell phone cut me off at the big box, or even because those senior citizens refused to follow the flight attendent's directions and held up my flight. It's not because of me, but because I'm beginning to see such a pattern of bigoted, self-centered bully behavior in our society that I fear for the future of our children who will act as we do.
It's because we need to go beyond the flurry of candidate diaries that seem to be cluttering this site and consider the challenge of taking back courtesy and consideration when we finally get the bullies out of Washington. It's going to be a lot harder task than rustling up caucus goers, walking the streets for a candidate, or making sure that the voting machines actually work.
The first step of any de-tox program is to admit the problem exists. So rant along with me. Are you seeing a less kind, less courteous society as a result of our Bully Boy leadership? What can we do about it?
And here's the meta-part. Let's identify the bullying that occurs on this site, with the intention of wiping it out in the New Year.