Ridiculous Blame Game On “Divisiveness”
Since the contested 2000 election sent many elements of the left off the emotional deep end, the term “derangement syndrome” has entered the political lexicon to describe those that seem to lose control of their logical faculties when evaluating any story, analysis, or even rumor about the object of their ire. “Bush derangement syndrome” has been on prominent display since at least the 2003 Iraq invasion, for example, with no charge too ridiculous to gain the eager support of the leftist blogosphere. Since the beginning of 2008, an “Obama Derangement Syndrome” has emerged on the right with a similar pattern of credulous belief and over-enthusiastic promotion of any story or rumor about Barack Obama’s allegedly nefarious past and dictatorial future.
Promoters of these mirrored derangements nearly always blame the victim, arguing that the target of their rage has reneged on their promise to be a “uniter” rather than a “divider”. It is a convenient case to make, since the people who hate the target can themselves create the conditions under which they blame the target for failing to follow through. They can themselves escalate the hateful rhetoric, then point to that hateful rhetoric as itself being the evidence of “divisiveness”. This was the trick that many on the left played with the Bush presidency and that equal numbers on the right appear to be modelling in 2008.
The truth is, of course, less blameworthy and more intrinsic to broader patterns in American political culture that are independent of the specific promises or personalities of the politicians. Writing at RCP, Jay Cost documents the growing polarization of the American electorate. Since their goal is, naturally and appropriately, to get elected, politicians have no choice but to pander to the “with us or against us” divisions that the American voters have built amongst themselves. “Divisiveness”, it seems, is more effect than cause.
Alot of those who complain about the divisiveness of politicians need to look in a frickin’ mirror.
