E Pluribus Duo

Charles Krauthammer, a conservative, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and Harvard trained psychiatrist, coined the phrase, “Bush Derangement Syndrome” in 2003.  He diagnosed the condition as “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency - nay – the very existence of George W. Bush”.  This from the John Avlon book, “Wingnuts, how the lunatic fringe is hijacking America”.

I started reading the book on a recent 13 hour journey and couldn’t put it down until I finished.  Although the book is relatively balanced in its presentation of the paranoia on both political extremes, the “right” wingnuts are currently in first place.  These folks are now in fully fulminating “Obama Derangement Syndrome”, a pathological hatred of President Obama, posing as patriotism”.    

Avlon organizes these extremists neatly into categories.  For instance, Birthers, Truthers, Tenthers, Three Percenters, and Hatriots.  You can look them up on the Internet but what you will find is that they are cut from the same cloth, i.e. hate, rage and paranoia.  Against what, you might ask.  Against the idea that the true America is being taken from true Americans.  And true Americans live in small towns.  I guess that means that false Americans live in the big cities.

The good news is that these folks are a very small minority.  The bad news is that they get disproportionate media coverage.  Why?  Because extremism sells.  But while its selling, the fabric of our society is being shredded.  With enough repetition, moderate people  begin to question their own positions.  And heaven forbid, they actually voice an objection.  They can be shouted down, for instance, like the mobs did that filled the healthcare forums that turned into small riots.  As President Eisenhower said many years ago, “The middle of the road is all the usable surface. The extremes to the left and right are in the gutters”. 

Reasoning with extremists doesn’t work.  For reasoning to work, a person must have reached their position through reason.  Extremists tend to reach theirs through fear.  Being fearful and not having any control of the object of your fear, can evolve into hate, rage and paranoia.  Applying reason to these fears only intensifies the emotions. 

And it works both ways.  Here’s a sampling of the slogans that have captured the depth of Obama Derangement Syndrome:  “Ali Obama and the 40 thieves” , “Hitler was a Socialist too”, “Go back to Kenya”, “We came unarmed (this time)”, “Christians Unite”, “Muslim Marxist”.

Here’s a few from when President Bush was in office:  “Save Mother earth – kill Bush”, “End the illegal occupation of the White House”, “Bush is the disease – death is the cure”, “Kill Bush, bomb his f----- house”.

Tina Brown, the Editor–in–Chief of The Daily Beast website, quotes the Irish poet William Butler Yeats in the foreword of Avlon’s book:  “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity”.  And as long as this is true, we shall suffer the worst of our political discourse filling our airwaves, websites and newspapers.

What we need is equally passionate intensity on the part of the majority of Americans who see our troubles as complex and not readily fixable by simple solutions.  Unfortunately, moderates are not extremists by definition.  And as long as extremism prevails in the media, that’s what we will all hear, day and night. 

I think it all boils down to greed.  Greed for the power to control the hearts and minds of other people.  Because with this power comes money.  We can’t separate our values from our politics.  And we are in a moral crisis.  It seems that the only thing that counts any longer is money. 

Here’s an interesting thought; our money has a motto – “E Pluribus Unum” , which means “from the many we are one”.  I think we should change it to  “E Pluribus Duo”, which means “from the many we’ve split into two extremes”.  That would be more honest.  And a bit of honesty would be refreshing.

Robert DeFilippis