Don's Tuesday Column

         THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   11/19/2019

Best generation? Ambush interviews

Here is a non-empirical take on the generational trend mentioned by fellow columnist Corky Pickering. The phrase, “OK, boomer,”—a dismissive crack leveled at the not-so-greatest generation by the yet-to-prove-their-worth recent arrivals—is just an assertion of the inherent superiority of said recent arrivals. Cue rolling eyes at the proverbial “get off my grass” older, cranky folks by those who collectively smoke-but-don’t-own grass.

Here’s an observant, studied generational summary (exceptions might prove the point): The rapidly-assuming-room-temperature “Greatest” or “silent” generation fought and won WWII after enduring Depression-era hardships growing up, which none of those following could even imagine. Having lost buddies, limbs, youthful idealism, blood, sweat and tears in those defining events, they mustered more optimism, initiative and industry in post-war America than most now alive could fathom, setting aside self-indulgence and “navel-gazing” in favor of jobs, families, businesses and civic groups.

Having defeated pure evil elsewhere, they reasonably avoided a domestic crusade against social and political communism and fascism; it seemed so foreign to America’s core identity. So, they watched, objected but ultimately shrugged their shoulders over the “baby boom” wave’s rejection of traditional concepts of patriotism, monogamy and sobriety. They expected that we “boomers” would leave the nest, discover reality and set aside the historically empty concepts of collectivism and hedonism.

Through no fault of their own, they allowed—not created—perhaps the greatest perversion of America’s core values and principles since our founding; that was the “sex, drugs and rock and roll” of cultural and political leftism. True, many “boomers” did join the military, start thriving businesses, embrace family and patriotic values, and live traditional American lives. But the left’s impact was undeniably felt in politics, journalism, entertainment, educational institutions and so on.

Following the 1945 to 1965 “boomer” maturation, the subsequent “Generation X” wave of offspring, born from about 1966 to 1985, swung pendulum-like away from the increasingly evident aberrations of “boomer” libertine rejectionism. You might say that Gen Xers, by putting their heads down, focusing on the rather inglorious pursuit of normalcy in family, work and culture, somewhat restored American values and trajectories, with exceptions.

Technology, particularly social media, had an undeniable impact on both the sobriety and industry of Gen X—who came of age before the ubiquity of the internet and smart phones—as well as the worst characteristics of the subsequent “Millennial” generation, born about 1986 to 2000. Much of the cultural leftism that bored into news, education, entertainment and technology formed an entire generation into robotic followers of political correctness and social justice.

Millennial individualism encompasses the SJWs, the social justice warriors shaking fists in the approved causes of racial, environmental and economic Marxism, even as they embrace historical ignorance of the inevitable failure of collectivist manipulation of the individual. The “Millennial” quest—generational idealism—for utopian goals, and righting of social and global wrongs, has quickly morphed into intolerance, to the point of hatred and punishment, for the supposed enablers of said wrongs.

How else to account for the faceless purveyors of leftwing violence from Antifa’s “Brownshirt” attacks on opponents, the angry disruption of conservative campus informational tables and speakers, and the ready resort to economic retribution and monetary “cancellation” against opponents. Will we see a new generation grow to reject the lemming-like excesses of “Millennial” political intolerance? We can hope.

In Louisiana’s governor election, I noticed that the incumbent Democrat Edwards won by only about 40,000 votes out of 1.5 million cast, or 51 to 49 percent. A win’s a win; Trump failed to get Republican Rispone over the line. However, 4 years ago, John Bell Edwards got 56 percent in his win over Republican Vitter, so he lost a lot of support.

As with Hillary Clinton’s huge 4 to 5 million vote surplus in SanFran and LA, Edwards racked up over 100,000 votes, 90+ percent, in New Orleans alone, meaning a Rispone/Trump landslide outside the “Big Easy.” Like any state with big government, public employee union money-driven turnout, the NY, CA, IL and (now) VA type of states will be a thorn in the Republican/Libertarian side.

A talking point, bandied about in media interviews with or about Republicans defending President Trump, has been that they focus on “process” to the exclusion of—as if to admit the impropriety of—Trump’s actions. Anyone taking a traffic ticket to court has more rights than Democrats have allowed Trump under their partisan rules rammed through the House. You could present a photo, which I have done to get a ticket dismissed; you could have a witness, and so on. Adam Schiff controls 1) who testifies, 2) Republican questioning, 3) releases from secret depositions and 4) disallows witnesses contradicting him.

News media bias comes down to this: About half of voters think Trump should be impeached; about half don’t. The coverage and available information have allowed anyone an informed opinion; journalists cannot honestly dismiss the opinions of Trump supporters while they present and fervently advocate only the perspective of Democrat impeachers.

I see the strategy on Sunday shows: Several minutes of one-sided setup for an interview with a Trump defender; allow no more than 2 sentences or 15 seconds before jumping in/stepping on the salient point the Republican was making; frame a “question” with more presumptions, narratives and obfuscation. When the Trump defender tries to navigate out of the verbal “box canyon” to repeat the point made before the prior interruption, continue to “badger the witness” with a straw man argument and disingenuous question for which a “yes” or “no” answer is demanded. Finally, don’t let the exchange end until the desired answer is turned into an accusatory “So, you can’t deny…(beating your wife, Trump beating his wife, Republicans not condemning wife-beating, etc.)” Inquisition!