Leon Cooperman’s approach to the Columbia University student protests of the Israeli invasion of Gaza?
“These kids in college have sh*t for brains,” Cooperman told CNN in a phone interview. “They don’t understand that Israel is the only reliable ally the United States has in the Middle East.” [CNN/Business]
Cleome
This is the form of communication that guarantees no one is going to pay attention, or, more importantly, be persuaded. The paucity of facts and upfront argument is part of it, but the aggressive form of speech marks the speaker as a testosterone-driven male, not an adult seeking to persuade.
If he was serious about making a point, he might have asked some sort of pertinent question designed to draw out the offending students ignorance, giving him a chance to point it out as being ignorant, and offering counter-factuals that might enlighten, and draw to his side, the students.
But that’s increasingly not how we do things here in the States. We’re a bunch of gorillas, thrusting out our chests as we put forth our positions, regardless of their sanity or insanity. Actually thinking is not part of the political process anymore.
And that’s why this story in WaPo reverberated in the political world:
At a news conference in his hometown Thursday evening in Lewiston, Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat who had enjoyed an A+ rating from gun rights advocates, said he regretted his past opposition to an assault weapons ban and said he would now support a ban.
It’s a pity that it took 18 dead before he changed his mind, but at least he did.
We need to stop being so frozen in our positions, because the arrogance is like a fast-spreading plague that infects our minds until facts that contradict our positions are dismissed as irrelevant or fake, be they climate deniers or election deniers, and after a while reality reaches up and whacks us upside the head.
With dire consequences.
