Benevolent Misanthropy

There is a meme on the left that I hadn’t noticed until Alterman’s Denial:

The problem is just this: Slightly more than half of the citizens of this country simply do not care about what those of us in the “reality-based community” say or believe about anything.

Leaving aside the comedy gold mine he created by encircling reality-based community in quotation marks (it seems clear that he was quoting the meme, not calling into question its premises), this phrase bothered me. Then I realized that it was the subhed at Atrios and Yglesias (and doubtless many others).

They are all part of “the reality-based community,” against which, who can be? What else is there, after all, but the non–reality-based community? It’s the same sort of elementary mind trick by which all ideologues sneak up to the high ground, favoring the really good stuff—life, maybe, or peace, or even more puzzling imponderables, like wellness.¹

The arrogance and condescension in such a position are palpable. Is Alterman surprised when people he disagrees with “simply do not care” what he and his cohorts “say or believe about anything?” Why should they bother? He already declared them to be fools or scoundrels, disconnected from reality.

Elsewhere, another member of the reality-based community (and do, please, note the use of the definite article) gave vent to her reality-based feelings:

I am SO Goddamned sick and tired of living in a hijacked country hijacked by a bunch of Goddamned cheating Nazi BASTARDS who aren’t just satisfied with hijacking the presidency… no, they have to hijack the congressional seats of all their enemies as well like Daschle and many others.

[...]

NO WAY did Bush win Nevada with YUCCA MOUNTAIN being the PRIME CONSIDERATION HERE. NO WAY. That in and of itself should tell EVERYONE the fix was in. I was at the polls… I SAW all the BLACK PEOPLE, I SAW all the YOUNG PEOPLE, I SAW all the YOUNG BLACK PEOPLE, NO WAY did Bush win Nevada.

DIDN’T HAPPEN.

To the reality-based mindset disagreement is simply not possible. Not for a single moment does this woman consider that some black people, and some young people, and yes, even some young black people, might perhaps take a view contrary to her own.

If those of you in “the reality-based community” want the rest of us to care what you say or believe, you must first do the same for us.

This means you must actually listen to what we have to say. (Listening denotes more than hearing, it indicates active comprehension.)

It means that you must not preemptively dismiss what we say, but instead should try to understand why we say it.

It means not dismissing our positions as irrational and against our own interest simply because you disagree with them. If you don’t listen to us, how can you claim to have the first clue what our interests are?

It means, in short, that if you want us to take you seriously—or, in fact, at all—you must play nice. Treat our views and opinions with the respect that you would like us to accord your own. And do it without irony, please.

Further, it means acknowledging that you are capable of error. Sometimes, you’re just wrong, no matter how right you feel you might be. For example, communism is bad. No, really, it killed upwards of a hundred million people in less than one hundred years. It sustained itself across multiple generations. In other words, it beats Nazism to a pulp in two major respects. You need to accept this reality, no matter how much you feel otherwise.

(And, hey, I can be wrong too. Vastly, amazingly wrong at times. The trick is owning up to it with honor and character. Do that, and people will respect you even as they disagree with you.)

After you have done that for a length of time which we deem adequate to make up for your long history of snide dismissals when faced with disagreement—yes, if you want us to take you seriously, then you must rely on our judgment; please don’t try to argue otherwise—after that, I say, we would be glad for you to join the civilized debate.

Should you want to speed up the process a little, Michael Moore’s head on a pike would be a good start. (Once you can start taking jokes like that in stride, you will be well on your way.)

1. This sort of trick is not exclusive to one side. Remember, bloggers on the right created the concept of the “idiotarian.” [back]