HTKWTSL* - A quick, (I hope) post about Howard

* "How to Know When To Stop Listening" an irregular series from The Radical Centrist

I'm going to break all sorts of blogging rules and do this without links. There are just so many available that it would be pointless and I haven't the energy at the moment to go through the motions. The DNC chair continues to get press coverage by saying the things that the others are too "timid" to say. Those other folks, it seems, are just shy about making jackasses of themselves in public. People, many people, are either upset, insulted or shocked over Howard's statements and a few Democrats, the really courageous ones, have "distanced" themselves from him.

It would be so easy to get really worked up over Howard, not the least for the damage he is doing to my family's good name. The political bigotry he so glibly tosses only seems different from the less reputable racial and religious bigotry of an earlier age. We find it less shocking because it's common today. Those earlier bigotries didn't shock the people of those times for the same reason. Not all such 'seeds of hatred' develop into holocausts, and this one won't either, but this is how holocausts and lynch mobs and the like get their start; with little jokes and over-the-top opinions that don't get corrected.

The best response to Howard at this point is to ignore him (hard to do, I realize, but we have to do our best!) He has long since passed the 'time to stop listening', and plummeted into ugly irrelevance. He has, at least for this listener, convincingly demonstrated that he has nothing to say, according to one of my most useful tests. When a speaker is telling you about something that you, by chance, know something about, you can directly judge the quality of his (or her, of course) thinking.

Howard is saying things that I know, though direct personal experience, are false. Even worse, what he says is maliciously false. As I have written before, as a centrist I move through both political camps, counting both Republicans and Democrats among my close friends. Not just registered R or D votes, but people in leadership roles too. Everyone of them a d*mn fine person (which is why I count them among my friends.) For the most part, I will agree on some of their political opinions and disagree on others (which is what makes me a centrist), but we remain friends. When Howard talks about "all Republicans" he's talking about people I know and love. The same, of course, holds when some jackass on the right similarly disparages all Democrats. These people are talking about people that I know well, and clearly they don't. Once you've found that the speaker is completely wrong about something important, it's best to change the channel.

Loudmouth bigots who disparage whole groups are unfortunately common. One will tell you what "the Christians" are really trying to accomplish. Some who claim to be Christians are eager to me about the satanic conspiracy among scientists. Of course, whispers about "the Jews" are an old favorite. Once you get the hang of it, its easy to tune these folks right out at the first bit of blatant nonsense. What makes Howard different is that he is in leadership. His opinions cannot be so easily ignored.

It drives me crazy that he, and those who so enthusiastically lap up this poison, are discrediting good issues and positions. Climate change may well be the great issue and challenge of our age, and historians of the future will struggle understand why it was not taken seriously. Will they understand how the issue suffered from association with foolish people? Between the nuttiness of "greens" who little understand the science behind the issue and show it by making blatant overstatements, and the partisan bigotry and hate speech of those whose only concern is to embarrass their opponents, a vital and serious issue is sidelined and good science discredited. Ugh.

A quick question. Would our universities, so zealous in their efforts to combat "hate speech", have anything but cheers for Howard were he to repeat his statements on campus?

I thought not.