On Friday night, a certain well-known and influential comedian-slash-political-pundit who shall henceforth remain nameless, said this:
You have to wear everything [that] anyone on your side does. Republicans are the party of “Don’t wear masks,” kids in cages, “Lock Her Up,” and Democrats are the party of every hypersensitive social-justice-warrior woke bullshit story in the news. They’re the party that disappears people, and tries to make them apologize for ridiculous things.
That last sentence was accompanied on-screen by a rapid slideshow of Al Franken, Aziz Ansari, Garrison Keillor, Meghan Kelly, Roseanne Barr, Louis C.K., Chris Matthews, Woody Allen, Ellen DeGeneres, Kevin Hart and Anne Hathaway, who were apparently “disappear[ed]” and/or forced to “apologize for ridiculous things” by the Democratic Party, viz., by individual Democratic senators, congresspersons, governors, candidates for President, campaign managers, and/or Party officials. According to this comedian/pundit, Democrats also forced the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes to cut ties with their top draft pick because of a middle-school bullying incident they discovered that happened four years ago.
Now as many of you know, I and a whole bunch of other people had an awful lot to say about this, and it led to some great discussion and debate. Much of it revolved around the idea, which dates back to 1984 at least, that “Democrats have a ‘messaging problem,’” and that even though it may be unfair, and wrong, and counterproductive, and intellectually dishonest, and hypocritical, to hang things like “cancel culture” and “defunding the police” and whatever “hypersensitive social-justice-warrior woke bullshit story [is] in the news” this week around the neck of the entire national Democratic Party and every Democrat who holds or campaigns for public office, there’s still “something broken on our side” because, after all, we didn’t win 100% of the vote on November 3.
So, let’s take what our pundit/comedian said, as quoted above, at face value and detach that particular person from it, because who said it is no longer the point, and talk about what’s actually “broken on our side,” whose job it is to fix it, and how it can and should be fixed.
First, let’s talk about what Democrats are actually “the party of.”
No one is denying that “cancel culture” exists, or that there are “hypersensitive social-justice-warrior woke bullshit stor[ies] in the news” from time to time. Indeed, I keep thinking of this scene from the TBS comedy series “The Detour”:
Obviously this is what the comedian/pundit is talking about; what Democrats are supposedly “the party of.” Obviously this scene is meant to be more satirical and comedic than illustrative or realistic, but there’s no question people like this do exist. Heck, there are people on this site who think that the government ought to be making soft drinks and staging professional football games, viz., that Coca-Cola, the NFL, and all private enterprise for that matter, should be abolished. I’ve been called a Nazi on this site for explaining the difference between legal and constitutional rights, and why Congress can’t make certain liberal wishes come true. The caricatures may be imaginary, but the phenomenon on which they’re based is not a figment of anyone’s imagination.
Yet in spite of all that, I still vote Democratic, and I haven’t found or been given a good reason to vote Republican instead. In 2020, as in previous elections, I didn’t vote for “cancel culture” or “wokeness.” I voted for solidarity and compassion, instead of selfishness and cruelty; I voted for expanding health care coverage, for addressing and mitigating climate change, for investing in public and higher education, for regulating Wall Street and industry in order to protect workers and consumers, for shifting the tax burden back to those who can afford it, for respecting women’s and LGBT rights, and for governing based on science and pragmatic considerations instead of religious and political dogma.
What this comedian/pundit is telling me, though, is that I didn’t actually vote for any of those things. No, I voted for “cancel culture.” I voted to “defund the police.” I voted for the most annoying rhetorical tactics of the “woke left.” And unless the Democrats get better at “messaging,” the annoying tactics of the “woke left” and “cancel culture” will be their cross to bear for the foreseeable future.
But it kind of begs the question: How did I, and so many others on this site and around the country, come to vote for expanded health-care coverage, climate-change mitigation, investment in education, commercial, industrial, and financial regulation, protecting consumers and workers, taxing high incomes and corporate profits, LGBT and women’s rights, and keeping religion out of government, if the Democratic “message” is all about “cancel culture” and “woke bullshit” and “defunding the police”? If the Democratic Party has such a profound and disabling “messaging problem,” or if “cancel culture” and “wokeness” are the only Democratic “message” that resonates, how did we get the ”message” that we got from the Democratic Party as described above?
When I read the Democratic Party Platform, I don’t see any mention of “defunding the police.” I don’t see any mention of “canceling” Garrison Keillor, making Ellen DeGeneres apologize for anything, or making professional sports teams cut ties with their teenaged draft picks if they discover that they were bullies. I also don’t see the word “Latinx” which, according to Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Hispanic Americans actually hate and Democrats, according to Gallego and our comedian/pundit, have to stop using if they want to win the Hispanic vote. What I do see in the Platform is a lot of in-depth discussion about expanding health care coverage, mitigating climate change, regulating industry, protecting consumers and workers, investing in education, taxing high incomes and corporate profits, respecting LGBT and women’s rights, and using science to inform public policy.
When I watched the Democratic National Convention this past summer, I didn’t hear any speakers talk about “canceling” Chris Matthews, making Aziz Ansari apologize for anything, or telling sports teams what to do with their draftees. I don’t recall any speeches saying “defund the police” or using the word “Latinx.” I did see and hear plenty of speakers talk about expanding health-care coverage, mitigating climate change, regulating industry to protect workers and consumers, respecting LGBT and women’s rights, investing in education, taxing high incomes and corporate profits, and governing based on facts, science, and pragmatic considerations.
When I watched the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates, I didn’t hear Joe Biden or Kamala Harris talk about “canceling” Louis C.K., or making Kevin Hart apologize for anything. I didn’t hear either of them say that they would “defund the police” and I don’t specifically recall either of them using the word “Latinx.” I did hear them give plenty of answers and explanations about expanding health care coverage, addressing climate change, protecting workers and consumers, LGBT and women’s rights, investing in education, taxing high incomes and corporate profits, and science-based pragmatic policymaking.
See a pattern here?
This is the “message” that I get when I hear Democrats — actual Democratic Party politicians, candidates, and officials — speak, whether at the Convention, on the campaign trail, in debates, or in interviews. The “message” that I get from Democrats is one of solidarity, compassion, pragmatism, altruism and competence. The “message” I get from Republicans is one of selfishness, cruelty, dogmatism, ignorance, self-admiration, paranoia and resentment. To me, the choice is clear.
But again, if I’m hearing the “message” that Democrats are sending (indeed, the “message” that both parties are sending) and that “message” as I’ve described it is what convinces me to vote for Democrats instead of Republicans, what exactly is the “messaging” “problem” the Democrats have that causes people like our comedian/pundit to tell me that I’m actually voting for “cancel culture” and “defunding the police” and the annoying tactics of the “woke left,” and causes everyone else to hang those things around Democrats’ necks and vote against Democrats, and against the things that I’m actually voting for?
It bears repeating that…
Republicans are the party of “Don’t wear masks,” kids in cages, “Lock Her Up,” and Democrats are the party of every hypersensitive social-justice-warrior woke bullshit story in the news.
...the three things our comedian/pundit said “Republicans are the party of” are things that actual Republicans have said, done, and/or talked about doing, in recent years. The last one was practically the theme of the 2016 Republican National Convention, and the first could have been a theme of this year’s campaign; i.e., the actual, intended Republican “message.” If our comedian/pundit were being fair or consistent, he would have said that the Republicans are the party of the Proud Boys, the “Straight Pride Parade,” and the Westboro Baptist Church. Or that Democrats are the party of “Listen to the scientists,” Obamacare, and “Tax the Rich,” or something like that.
We each have our reasons for voting Democratic instead of Republican. Whatever they may be, it’s because something about the Democratic “message” appeals to us, and we are getting that “message” from Democrats.
So, the question is: if the only “message” that other people are getting from Democrats is the one about “canceling” celebrities and other annoying tactics of the “woke left,” (a.) is that the Democrats’ fault? (b.) if so, what can Democrats do about it? and (c.) if not, why are we wringing our hands about a “messaging problem” or insisting that “something is broken on our side”? In other words, why am I, and so many of us, getting a different ”message” from Democrats than the one our comedian/pundit says that everyone else is getting, and how is that the Democrats’ fault?
Maybe the better question is this: Is “cancel culture”/”wokeness” a “message” that people are getting from Democrats, or about Democrats?
I think that’s a critically important distinction. If “cancel culture” and “wokeness” (and all they entail) comprise the “message” that people are getting from Democrats — and as set forth above, I really don’t believe that it is — then Democrats do have a “messaging problem” but one that would be fairly easy to fix; just stop making celebrities apologize and hockey teams cut their players, and stop saying “defund the police” and “Black Lives Matter” and other annoying “woke” things. But if this is a “message” that people are getting about Democrats and not from Democrats, then it becomes a lot more complicated. Everyone says “it’s all about ‘perception,’” but a “perception” is harder to change than a “message” because you can control the latter but not the former.
For example, Democrats can bend over backwards to distinguish and/or distance themselves, the Party, and its policies from the annoying rhetoric and/or tactics of the “woke left” — as they have done w/r/t “defund the police” (see, e.g., pp. 35-37 of the Platform) — but they can’t control whether people who aren’t Democratic partisans still fail, or refuse, to see the distinction. Neither can they control whether their political and media adversaries continue to conflate them, or whether the “woke left” itself comes up with even more terms or slogans for the GOP and its allies to tar Democrats with in the next election cycle. Democrats didn’t say “Fry ‘em like bacon”; heck, even Black Lives Matter didn’t say that, but the GOP and its fan base have been tarring both Democrats and BLM with it ever since it was said that one time by that handful of people. Whose fault is that? And what can be done about it? What can the Democratic Party do about it?
One parting thought: If having “cancel culture” and the annoying “woke left” on their side is the worst thing that Democrats or the Democratic Party can credibly be accused of or rightly blamed for — and apparently it is, since no one’s been able to come up with anything worse when trying to Both Sides the latest Republican atrocity — I’ll take that any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I’ll certainly take that over the worst things Republicans and their Party can be credibly accused of, and rightly blamed for. No matter how annoying the “woke left” gets, I’m not going to vote Republican because of it. I can’t, of course, speak for anyone else.
