The Diseased Opposition Strategy
Like many others, I went to see Revenge of Sith yesterday. Naturally, people have been asking me how it was. Now, after Phantom, I said “well, that little kid stunk and the characters were flat, but there was an amazing light-saber duel at the end.” After Clones, I said “Wow, it is kind of creepy and really is a shocking movie with heads flying off and Yoda flipping around and shit” After Sith, I have been responding “It’s hilarious! It’s the most thinly veiled criticism of the Bush administration I have ever seen!”
Maybe it is from living in DC, maybe it is the person I have grown into or maybe it is the movie itself, but my response is rather telling. More striking than the fact that this was the ultimate Star Wars movie, more striking than the fall of the Republic and more striking than the long awaited battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan was the political overtone of the movie.
And the blogosphere and bulletin boards have been ablaze with discussion as well. (Did I just use the term blogosphere? Oh, what have I become?)
My fellow progressives also found the movie funny and the right, predictably, has their panties in a ruffle claiming the movie irrationally “Bush-bashes”. Calling Lucas a “Bush- basher” is a rather funny contradiction in my mind. I’ll explain.
Often when people are sick of dealing with issues or are unable to because they lack logic, they will resort to name-calling. There is a specific name-calling strategy that I have dubbed “the diseased opposition strategy”. Rather than recognize that the opposition has fair points or legitimate concerns, one uses a negative term that contains no information save its “inherent” negativity.
For example:
“Perhaps the Israelis should dismantle those settlements in the West Bank”
“You are just an anti-Semite!”
As if someone just wakes up and decides to irrationally hate something without any reason at all. Some individuals are so conceded that they really believe that the only way for one to be against their position is for the person to be diseased. The hobgoblin Charles Krauthammer even had the nerve to write an article about “Bush Derangement Syndrome” and accused the good doctor Howard Dean of having it.
Now back to the contradiction of calling Lucas a “Bush-basher”. Lucas never mentions Bush by name and denies (wink, wink) any connections in the movie to the Bush administration. Any connection or parallel is established through political issues, rhetoric or historical events. Therefore, “Bush-bashing”, the supposedly groundless act of attacking Bush, cannot be used since any parallel is on grounds and not Bush as an individual.
On a side note, when Obi-Wan was asked by Anakin why he was against the Sith, he said “because they’re evil”. I’ll give Old Ben a pass since he was in the middle of a lava flow and not in the mood for a logical discussion. Just this one time, though.
Maybe it is from living in DC, maybe it is the person I have grown into or maybe it is the movie itself, but my response is rather telling. More striking than the fact that this was the ultimate Star Wars movie, more striking than the fall of the Republic and more striking than the long awaited battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan was the political overtone of the movie.
And the blogosphere and bulletin boards have been ablaze with discussion as well. (Did I just use the term blogosphere? Oh, what have I become?)
My fellow progressives also found the movie funny and the right, predictably, has their panties in a ruffle claiming the movie irrationally “Bush-bashes”. Calling Lucas a “Bush- basher” is a rather funny contradiction in my mind. I’ll explain.
Often when people are sick of dealing with issues or are unable to because they lack logic, they will resort to name-calling. There is a specific name-calling strategy that I have dubbed “the diseased opposition strategy”. Rather than recognize that the opposition has fair points or legitimate concerns, one uses a negative term that contains no information save its “inherent” negativity.
For example:
“Perhaps the Israelis should dismantle those settlements in the West Bank”
“You are just an anti-Semite!”
As if someone just wakes up and decides to irrationally hate something without any reason at all. Some individuals are so conceded that they really believe that the only way for one to be against their position is for the person to be diseased. The hobgoblin Charles Krauthammer even had the nerve to write an article about “Bush Derangement Syndrome” and accused the good doctor Howard Dean of having it.
Now back to the contradiction of calling Lucas a “Bush-basher”. Lucas never mentions Bush by name and denies (wink, wink) any connections in the movie to the Bush administration. Any connection or parallel is established through political issues, rhetoric or historical events. Therefore, “Bush-bashing”, the supposedly groundless act of attacking Bush, cannot be used since any parallel is on grounds and not Bush as an individual.
On a side note, when Obi-Wan was asked by Anakin why he was against the Sith, he said “because they’re evil”. I’ll give Old Ben a pass since he was in the middle of a lava flow and not in the mood for a logical discussion. Just this one time, though.
posted by American Dilettante at
3:36 PM
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