"Have it, don't show it," is an old acting saying. What it means is that when you are doing good acting work, you have created a condition where you are truly feeling an emotion people get it. You don't need to pretend to be tough, or sad, or elated, or depressed. You actually "have" it.
I was thinking about this, most recently, in the context of Governor Mike Huckabee's recent comments about contraception. Instead of going into a discussion about the ignorance behind the comment or its continued evidence of any "War on Women," I'd like to look at the roots of the comment and how they relate to the title of the post.
In Republicanland, women take birth control pills specifically because they are having sex. Now, not being a woman and with no medical training, I don't know exactly how the pill works. However, I do know that it doesn't exactly work that way. Women on the pill take the pill whether they have sex today or not. That being the case, why rail against the pill?
The Answer lies beneath the squiggle:
If you consider the notion of "Have it, don't Show it," like Teddy Roosevelt's "Speak softly and carry a big stick," you realize that the state of mind is what rules the day. Clint Eastwood's characters never said they were tough, everybody knew that they were. And guess what! The Wrong isn't. Tough, that is. Or anything else to which they lay claim.
As a result, the Wrong constantly claim strength. They talk about leadership as if they know what it is. They go on at length about Patriotism (Where's your flag lapel pin??!!) as they wave the flag of rebellion. They love America as they despair about the need to secede. They loudly and constantly claim morality and Christianity. How many of their marriage defenders have violated marriage vows? As many as the homophobes who've been caught engaging in behavior they rail against.
When you boil it down to the base, they know that they are not the paragons of virtue that they portray themselves to be. And since they don't "have it" they are compelled to "show it." All of which returns us to Governor Mike Huckabee and his comments about contraception and women's libido.
How better to demonstrate morality than to rail against sin? Sex out of wedlock is obviously sin, and only women have sex out of wedlock (I have yet to figure out how this works). Also, it should be noted that the justification behind the hideous decision legalizing abortion known as Roe V Wade was about contraception (Griswold V Connecticut). In other words, abortion is Constitutional because contraception is Constitutional. Hence, cast doubt on contraception and you chip away at Roe V Wade.
Not inconsequentially, this self righteousness also explains the wrongwing hysteria when Pope Francis mentioned being compassionate toward women who have had abortions and homosexuals. If the Pope is not condemning these sinners he must have been poisoned by the left wing.