Fred McNulty, who for years has been the youngest member of our Drinking Liberally Group (we’ve always wondered how he put up with us), has an interesting post at his blog, Miguk Minute. (And don’t expect I’ll explain what Miguk means) Fred deconstructs the “War on Christmas” meme. For the most part, with one major exception that I will tackle later, his analysis is spot on, the gist is as follows:
When examined through the lens of the supposed persecution of conservatives, claims of a “War on Christmas” are actually par for the course: conservatives in the United States routinely argue that most major institutions are out to attack right-wing causes. Entertainment media, academia, tech companies, news media, and scientists are constantly portrayed by conservative media as enemies vying to attack right-wing causes. The “everyone is against us” narrative is pervasive in U.S. right-wing culture.
Far right group Turning Point USA has found incredible success marketing self-victimization to conservatives. Their social media pages are filled with memes and posts claiming that conservatives are hated or called “racist” for being “honest.” One meme has a photo implying that Barack Obama is saying, “No one should face discrimination…well, except gun owners, rednecks, Christians, cops, and conservatives.” Although it may be surprising to people who do not consume right-wing media, this is very common rhetoric on talk radio, Fox News, conservative newspapers, meme sites, and on right-wing blogs. And especially from Donald Trump.
But I take issue with the following:
It is a fact that that the demographics of conservatives skew old. With old age frequently comes nostalgia for the “good old days.” This is a psychological phenomenon called rosy retrospection, in which people perceive the past to be better than it actually was.
As a relatively recently minted geezer, I take issue with this. In fact, the past was better than it actually was. Our past, anyway. Who had the best music ever? Who lived in a time when, as Wordsworth said (though he was wrong about the age to which he applied this), “ Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!”. Well, it was blissful so long as you managed to avoid the snares of a certain elderly Uncle who wanted to send you to Southeast Asia. There’s no question in my mind that the sixties were way better than they actually were, and in no way is it the fault of those of us that were young in those blissful times that the very worst of our contemporaries have risen to the political top. We were too blissed out to notice.
Putting that objection aside, I recommend Fred’s post, and, also suggest you check out his Patreon page. Fred made a number of interesting videos about Connecticut history and issues.
Stay tuned, by the way, as I’m working on my predictions for 2020, which, by the way, for those of you who are numerically challenged, is not the beginning of a new decade, but the final year of an old one.
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