I know, I know, the excerpt has your face bunching up again, but bear with me. Paraphrasing just doesn't do the man justice. Did you catch the moral-in-the-making? I trust you were not fooled by the zealous supporting cast of inherent sin, arduous lessons, earnest sermons, or conquered self-approval. It's right there: "the ability to face unpleasant thoughts."
"Unpleasant thoughts!?" Even the world-class denialists (denihilists?) of the tea party factions and the climate change know-nothings "face unpleasant thoughts" (Obama is a socialist, climate change is a global conspiracy to advance One World Government, etc.). Anyone paying the slightest attention to the human condition is awash in "unpleasant thoughts" each and every day.
Understand again that this denialism or moral cowardice is also a form of "mental feebleness" or "flabbiness." We're "all less conscious of our severe mental shortcomings and less inclined to be skeptical of our own opinions" these days (post-nineteenth century). There are, according to Brooks, American exceptions to mental laziness, like Larry Summers. (Yes, you read that right: one of the three or four guys most responsible for the bungled bailouts, insufficient stimulus, and jobless "recovery').
But enough about Larry Summers. Brooks is really serious about mental flab: "Of the problems that afflict the country, this is the underlying one." He finds it "most evident in politics." Here's your chance to watch myth propagation in action:
Many conservatives declare that Barack Obama is a Muslim because it feels so good to say so. Many liberals would never ask themselves why they were so wrong about the surge in Iraq while George Bush was so right. The question is too uncomfortable.
Just throwaway examples of bipartisan politico-mental laziness? I think not. The example of conservative mental feebleness (and myth circulation) is priceless. But, come on Brooks, dig deeper: the conservative controversy is from right now, 2010, the liberal from huh, when? 2007-08. If that's the best you have for liberal denial, then we're all in better shape than I thought.
I understand that some considerable portion of American conservatives (a quarter? half?) consists of viciously bigoted Islam-haters. They've emerged en masse from beneath their rocks during the shameful if telling spectacle over the Muslim cultural center proposed for a Burlington Coat Factory outlet in Lower Manhattan. But, uhh, how can it "feel so good" to hate your own president? I can understand anger, disappointment, dismay--but "feels so good"? As a conservative, Brooks seems to appreciate the sentiment (it's his example), but he doesn't translate for the rest of us.
Let's try another tack: I am what some conservatives call a Bush-hater. I readily admit to an aversion bordering on the unhealthy. But it arises directly from my deep, sustained, heart-felt and above all rational opposition to the man's policies, not because he's a Methodist. The Bush-Cheney era was eight years of soul crushing pain, rage, shame, and disgust for tens of millions of Americans. You were fortunate to connect with like-minded others, to find solidarity with those beside you in the meetings and at the demos. But exposing Bush-Cheney, resisting Bush-Cheney--the "era,' its enablers, what it did and stood for--never felt "good," not for a second. We resisted while holding our noses, and gritting our teeth.
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