Molly Ivins April 21AUSTIN — April 19 was such an odd sort of national day. While Oklahoma City mourned its dead, the rest of the country sort of waited around to see if we'd produced any more nuts capable of blowing up some significant segment of the government. In "The Turner Diaries," the novel that was Timothy McVeigh's Bible, a cell of right-wing guerrillas blows up the FBI building; you can bet the Fibbies were on full alert Friday. In Montana, now becoming famous as the Loon State, another weird standoff continues. ("At least our cows are sane," reads a popular T-shirt there.) The nut-right's latest ploy is something called "peoples' courts-at-law," pseudo-courts that mess up the legal system by filing liens against people they don't like and issuing odd, threatening indictments and summonses. Such a festively American form of nuttism. "Sue the bastards" is practically our national motto. Why should our nuts be any different? Congress naturally celebrated this sad anniversary by whittling away at the Constitution. A nasty piece of the "anti-terrorism" law now puts the fate of refugees seeking political asylum in the hands of immigration officers rather than in the courts — traditionally, as Tony Lewis of The New York Times put it, "the arbiters of law and guarantors of freedom. ... Why should a bill supposedly aimed at terrorists be used as a vehicle to keep the victims of official terrorism from finding refuge?" Meantime, the Chatting Classes are engaged in a great fuzzy debate about the decline of civility and community. As Katha Pollitt acidly points out, "It's the sort of thesis academics and pundits adore, a big woolly argument that's been pre-reduced to a sound bite of genius — Bowling Alone." The debate is about "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital," an article by a Harvard political scientist about the sad decline of such civic institutions as the PTA, the Elks and league bowling. The ever vigorously sensible Pollitt points out that people are actually bowling more than ever but with friends and family rather than in leagues. League bowling was the product of stable blue-collar or office employment that fostered team spirit. A bunch of the guys from Dickey's Beer Distributors or Joe Bob's Texaco would go bowl once a week, while their wives cheerfully (you bet) stayed home with the kids.
OK, so the decline of league bowling is not the end of the American dream — and no offense intended, but not joining the Elks is not evidence of sociopathology either — but there is still a substantial amount of evidence that our social glue is becoming ungestucken here. If we look on the bright side (she said, optimistic to the point of idiocy), we could even consider the militias just a new form of community activity. As Jim Hamblin, the head of the Texas Constitutional Militia, asked, "Why are they so upset about a few hundred thousand people with assault weapons?" Just trying to do their best for their country, que no? No. Fostering hate is not healthy for children and other living things. Nor is the gratuitous nastiness that plagues our political debates entirely a function of the lunatic fringe. A group of television pundits recently bruited about the fact that President Clinton had gotten good publicity from the death of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. They commented on the number of times he had been on television speaking about Brown — the day the accident happened, a memorial service. Had it been some clever ploy by the White House public relations team? Excuse me, but I knew Ron Brown, Ron Brown was a friend of mine, and so it is not difficult for me to believe that Clinton would just as soon have passed up those dandy opportunities to be on national television. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin has written a new book called "Words That Hurt; Words That Heal" about how to choose words wisely. In it, he notes that unfair speech does more than harm its victims; it is also self-destructive. "When we speak ill of someone, we alienate ourselves from that person. The more negative our comments, the more distant we feel from their object. Thus, one who speaks unfairly of many people comes to distance and alienate himself from many people ... and alienation is a major cause of depression, one of the most widespread and rapidly growing disorders in America." Unfairness, alienation, depression, rage. Rage, notes Chuck Pyle in his wonderfully funny song "Keep it Simple," is the rage of the age. Time for a 12-step group for those who suffer from rage? Do you often feel like blowing up a government building and all the people in it? Report to Rage Anonymous and share your feelings. It would be such an American solution. *** Molly Ivins is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. COPYRIGHT 1996 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
