I received my first hate mail today.
Well, I guess "hate mail" is a rather melodramatic description of what I received, but it was just as dismissive and rude as the entries we usually see in the weekly hate mail fest. I know we're supposed to just ignore bullies, but it got me thinking about certain things. I think those things were worth discussing here, because the comment I received is a depressingly vivid example of how Republicans often put us on the defensive.
Not at all surprisingly, the nasty comment I got was in response to a post about abortion. But it wasn't any of the usual you're-a-baby-killer boilerplate. (That probably wouldn't have bothered me so much: I'm used to it, and at least it isn't passive-aggressive.) I posted the abortion-related post here on Daily Kos last week, where it got mostly good reviews (and was even rescued - thanks again!). I also posted it on my personal blog, where it received one very positive response shortly after I posted it. But today, I checked back and found a second response, which I have since deleted. But I’ll paraphrase it here:
"Dave, why are you such an angry person? I read your posts and feel sorry for you. I hope you’re getting help."
Okay, whether or not that rises to the level of "hate mail" is subject to debate. But it does carry the same whiff of disrespect and disapproval, and the same complete lack of substantive disagreement. And it did hurt. I responded in two ways on my blog: I changed the settings so that comments will require my approval from now on, and I posted a brief note explaining that I had done so and why. As far as my blog is concerned, the case is now closed. But it got me thinking about a couple of things:
- As brief and thoughtless as the note was, it really is very representative of the way a certain subset of our opposition handles debate. This goes back at least to Reagan’s "sunny optimism," and I have heard it elsewhere as well. The argument – such as it is – is essentially "look how the Democrats are all about what’s wrong with America! They’re all depressed, but us, we love America and we’re happy!" It provides cover for the hate and intolerance on their side, which for some people can be masked with simple indifference. And it certainly is appealing to people who don’t want to bother with politics in general.
- As a corollary to #1, it’s an effective way of changing the subject. It’s a simple matter of catching your opponent off guard and making him or her uncomfortable, and in some cases at least, that enables you to take charge of the debate.
- It reminded me of a study I saw a while back, which found that (and again I’m paraphrasing) "Republicans are happier." It’s easy to be happy when you’re doing well and you don’t care about anybody else, after all. But I didn’t – and still don’t – know just how to react to that, or even if we should react to it.
- Why shouldn’t we be angry about what the Republicans have done to our country over the past couple of decades?
I’ve thought of this before, but I still don’t really have an answer: just how should we respond to opponents whose philosophy amounts to "I don’t care and I don’t have any respect for people who do"? Anybody have any ideas about that?