Hey, has anyone else noticed this trend going on nationally, and locally, among arguing political factions? It goes like this: Instead of addressing an argument or a position, the arguer only attempts to discredit the person making the argument they disagree with.
It is going on literally from the highest office in our country down to local politics in Santa Maria, of all places. This is an old technique. The ancient Greek logicians called it the “ad hominem,” or “to the man,” rather than to the issue or argument.
Both sides of the political spectrum have been complaining about this for years. It explains much of the concern over “too much political correctness” that many right-wingers voice.
That’s a fair assessment some of the time, but the current president, Donald Trump, has elevated the tactic of discrediting his critics to a whole new level.
In a move that should raise alarm bells among all Americans, Trump continues to label media outlets that publish pieces critical of him or his administration as “fake news,” and even called media the “enemy of the American people.”
Ding! Ding! Ding! Hello? That’s the tyranny alarm going off, anybody going to do anything about that?
This attempt to delegitimize a huge section of national news media took another turn on Feb. 24, when White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer barred from an untelevised briefing outlets like The New York Times, CNN, Politico, The Los Angeles Times, and even the BBC.
The president and his administration are clearly trying to discredit these outlets wholesale, rather than address what’s actually going on in his White House. These media groups have all reported extensively on the troubling relationship between the Trump campaign/administration and Russia.
But that’s probably just a big coincidence, right?
I didn’t think it was a coincidence when the Santa Maria City Council meeting was mobbed on Feb. 21. One of the items on the agenda was the resolution to formalize a move to district-based City Council elections. The decision, which passed, was made a bit under duress for the city, as they were facing a potential lawsuit from former City Council candidate Hector Sanchez if they didn’t make the change.
The chambers were packed with residents who lined up to have their say, including several members of CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy). CAUSE actually petitioned the council to move to district elections in 2014, but to no avail. Many were there to celebrate what they saw as success.
There was only one speaker who spoke against the decision, and that was Andy Caldwell, who was there representing COLAB (Coalition of Labor, Agriculture, and Business). Caldwell had some barbed remarks for the group, which he said had “their hearts in the right place,” but “they don’t understand politics very well.” An attendee was asked to leave after she booed at Caldwell.
Caldwell went as far as calling CAUSE “AstroTurf,” or a “fake grassroots organization,” trying to discredit their reputation while pointing to support the organization receives from the Fund for Santa Barbara. A bit ironic, considering Caldwell was representing local business interests including big corporations, trying to discredit an organization because they get certain funding.
And just throwing the word “fake” in front of someone to discredit them, well, who does that remind you of?
The Canary isn’t trying to delegitimize anyone. Send your thoughts to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 2-9, 2017.
