I'm really sick of all this talk about
the scream and it shows Dean is a loose cannon or somehow "unelectable". Although I'm no party animal, by any means, I know how to have fun. And that's what I saw in Dean's concession speech: someone having fun. It's not necessarily the way I'd have acted, but it's not threatening to me either.
It's not something that should be an issue.
But, it is, and I'm starting to wonder if this isn't a reflection of a serious flaw in the American psyche. It seems to me that our culture as a whole has some sort of serious problem with the expression of emotion. Look at all the crap out there about Dean being
angry. Is it me, or is it
only in America that being emotional is viewed in such a negative light?
Look at the British parliament, they have a lot of lively debates and rejoinders. If they don't like what someone says or they just don't like someone period (Bush), they make it clear by expressing their emotions. Meanwhile, here in America that's unheard of. It's passed off as having deference and respect, but that's just a like to cover up the real issue: we, as a society, have a serious insecuriority about expressing our emotions.
I'm not sure what the reason behind that is. Maybe it's historical, or it could be some sort of negative backlash from our culture. Could it be that we're afraid to attract any sort of attention to ourselves? I'm not sure exactly what the cause is, but it seems to be true.
I expect in many other countries, Dean's actions wouldn't be looked upon at all amiss. At most people would say he got swept up in the moment. But here everyone is freaking out. How dare he lose control. How DARE HE actually show some sign that he's alive!?
So, my point is: the problem isn't with Dean, the problem is with us collectively. The message seems to be, if you're running for President you'd better go around with a pipe crammed up your ass. Because if you don't act totally robotic-- if you show that you might have even an inkling of emotion-- then the voters will reject you.
It happened with McCain, remember? He was considered too scary to be president. Now it's happened to Dean. Honestly, look at the demeanor of all our modern presidents and presidential candidates. Bill Clinton was the liveliest of the bunch, and that's not saying much. As for the rest, it's a procession of walking robots. Gore 2000, Bush, Bush Sr, Reagan, Carter? The propaganda line about people "wanting to have a beer" with Bush be damned, none of those guys personifies fun to be around!
So, why does it matter? I'm sure some of you are ready to pipe in with your lines about "acting presidential" and showing a "calm public persona". I'd like to ask you to seriously consider those lines for a moment. Because, you see, to me Mr. Spock is not the ideal man to serve as our president.
We're so afraid to vote for anyone who has any sort of emotions, but I'd go so far as to say that the lack of emotional maturity is responsible for a great deal of our problems. Look at the horrible things the US has done in the world-- propping up terrible dictators, selling weapons to fuel wars. It all makes sense from a purely logical standpoint. But really what it is, is putting our selfish interests first and damn anyone else. It shows a complete lack of empathy for any of the people who might suffer as a consequence.
So, there you have it. That's Dean's problem. Or rather, OUR problem. We're afraid of people who are in touch with their emotions because they scare us. So, what we vote for and what we get is a bunch of completely bloodless and completely heartless, boring, old men who lack in any sort of empathy.
We're not trying to nominate a person, we're trying to nominate a corpse!
And then we wonder why the guys we end up with are so boring... Like Gore, Bush, or John F. Kerry.