depreciation: the term "Bush bashing"

[unpossibles]

I hate it. It's such an incorrect term. I just went up to Detroit for business and one of our team is a conservative, although he is a decent guy and tends to stay quiet about things. Anyway, we were driving up a woman in our department brought along a couple of audio books (Al Franken was one; I forget the other) that we wanted to listen to, and the conservative guy vetoed it and said he would not listen to "Bush bashing." Naturally, we dropped it as neither of us wanted to start an argument with the guy and he was absolutely against hearing our side - at first we tried to sell him on the idea very softly, but he wasn't having it.

But anyway, later it got me thinking about the term itself and how inaccurate I think it is. When I think of "bashing" I think of an attack that is based on prejudice and not warranted, such as with gay bashing or misogyny or something.

I don't think Franken or most lefties I know "bash" Bush or Limbaugh or the Right in general. Sure, we point out when they lie and the errors in the conservative platform, but is a legitimate critique the same thing as bashing? Obviously not. But it seems to be a common mantra with some of my right wing friends, that everyone on the left is bashing Bush for no reason other than that we're told to by George Soros, Hollywood, Rosie, or some other source from on high. While I would say that there may be a small amount of that in some people, I honestly disagree with the entire premise.

Do they think that we're the ones who can't think for ourselves, even though they are the ones swallowing FOXaganda hook, line, and sinker? Is it a form of projection? Is it because they cannot imagine people not blindly following a leader because that's how they live? I've noticed this trend for sometime, but I usually hear it from some people who I do not respect or consider smart. The guy I work with, while very plain and shy, seems pretty smart and is a genuine nice person. I can only assume that he gets all of his news from FOX and Rush (or the like).

I have also been thinking a lot of the recent study that followed people from childhood to adulthood and which found most people who self-identify as conservatives felt like victims or picked on all the time, regardless of whether they really were vicitims. If I recall there were some bullies in the study who felt victimized, but I may be wrong about that.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I just got back last night and have had a few days to think about this and it bugged me. We wanted to try to reach out to the guy and just discuss why we believed what we did, but he shut us down and out, not by being mean or shouting, but by saying he did not want to even discuss it or hear any "Bush bashing."

:sigh:

[DawnIsis]

1. Ignorance is bliss

[Arkansas Granny]

2. The problem is that the truth about Bush is so bad that people

think that it's bashing when you state the facts about him. It's just their perspective.

[RedStateShame]

3. Remember, the truth has a liberal bias.

[RufusTFirefly]

4. One of many "conversation stopper" phrases

Excellent post, unpossibles.

It seems to me that there are a number of phrases out there that function as "conversation stoppers." They put a person with legitimate concerns on the defensive, trivializing that person's point of view, creating a false equivalency (e.g. equating "Bush bashing" with "gay bashing" as you mentioned), and ultimately derailing the conversation.

In addition to "Bush bashing," I think a number of other phrases perform this same function. Some examples:

class warfare

conspiracy theory

politically correct

[Wapsie B]

5. Many repubs cannot openly face the fact they supported *

bush bashing is just a quick retort intended to shift the conversation away from something that'll make their heads explode if they dwell on it too long. But they don't get the disconnect here at all. They see rwing media as righting the past wrongs by those evil lefties, no matter how far unbalanced a media source like Faux may become.

[unpossibles]

12. I think that may be part of it too

that there is some pride/shame element and they don't want to hear any facts or opinions which imply they are complicit.

[DaveJ]

6. They just don't think questioning government is patriotic

Maybe, that's my guess. I think this option you gave is most accurate:

"...they cannot imagine people not blindly following a leader because that's how they live..."

This is connected to their victim mentality.

They expect things to be a "certain way," and if not, they think they are being bullied.

The main flaw with conservative thinking is the assumption that there one Right Way to do things. That is where they are wrong. There are many approaches that can be taken for any given task, including life and government.

Let him know a free democratic country is not based on one right way to live.

[Parche]

7. Bash

Ask him if he ever 'Bashed' Clinton, that will make him think............

[Bitwit1234]

8. If you want to call something "bashing"

How about the rhetoic the republicans spewed during the whole eight years of President Clinton's presidency. What do you call the flaming, name calling and slurring they have done for those eight years and the following seven of Hillary Clinton. So they have no right to say anybody is bashing bush. If they do at least they have a reason. THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR WHAT THEY DID TO THE CLINTONS EXCEPT OUT AND OUT JEALOUSY.

[RufusTFirefly]

9. But that's exactly the point

It's setting up a false equivalency.

Although I imagine that there are actual Bush Haters out there who have an irrational free-floating hostility for the guy, most of us are attacking Bush's actual policies and any ire we feel toward Bush himself is because he is the unapologetic downright self-righteous instigator of those policies. (For the record, this is why I take exception to racist and misogynist attacks against other execrable enablers of Bush's destructive agenda. There are plenty of appalling statements and positions to attack without stooping to ad hominem stuff.)

All the little things that irk me about Bush himself -- the swagger, the weird jaw thing, the creepy "heh-heh" laugh at inappropriate times, the pronunciation of "nuculer" and "vah-til", etc. -- probably wouldn't bug me much if at all if they weren't coming from someone who is destroying the Constitution, the country, the economy, and any oil-rich country he can invade, all for the purpose of lining the pockets of his rich corporate friends.

[DemGa]

10. He's being dismissive and condescending

Neat little conservative trick to wall of the mind from dissonant information. Eff him.

[Beausoleil]

11. I think you're onto something

"Is it a form of projection? Is it because they cannot imagine people not blindly following a leader because that's how they live?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=809915&mesg_id=814761

That's why Bush-bashing is frowned upon; they know they're guilty of irrational Clinton-bashing and it must be the same thing. There are those few, I believe, that frown on it simply because they think the president shouldn't be criticized, especially if he's a Republic president.