by Charles Memminger
Wednesday, October 2, 1996
Boy, talk about a heartfelt question becoming a cliche in record time. When Rodney King, the L.A. police department's favorite crash-test dummy, uttered that line the first time, it had the effect of an Aqua Velva double-smack to the country. Thanks. We, ah, needed that.
But then, within a few weeks, "Can't we all get along?" had become just another late-night show punchline (no pun intended, but we'll take 'em where we can get 'em) and the country went back to its usual misbehavior.
There is mounting evidence that we actually can't get along. And I don't mean racially. I mean that we just can't get along on a personal level. Period.
On the way to work recently, I saw a mother who had just dropped her kid off at an elementary school call another driver an "a-hole" simply because the guy's car - backed up in traffic - inadvertently blocked her from leaving the school parking lot at the very second she wanted to. This was 7:30 in the morning! I think you should be out of your jammies for at least five hours before you start calling folks a-holes.
But name-calling has replaced any discussion of differences anymore. It's as if people don't have the intellectual stamina to disagree in a civil manner.
FOR example, Al Franken, the liberal humorist from "Saturday Night Live" fame, has a book on the best-seller list titled "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot." The liberals loved it. And not only that, but IT WAS TRUE! At least as far as they were concerned.
So it's no surprise that a conservative humorist now has a book out titled "Al Franken Is A Buck-Toothed Moron." And I'm sure the conservatives are going to love it. BECAUSE IT'S TRUE!
Insults pass for discussion these days.
Here's part of a fax I received a copy of last week:
"Where in the name of God did you find your columnist?" the guy wrote. "Does he have an I.Q.? Is he competing with Jerry Lewis and Jim Carey as nerd of the 20th century? Where did you find this moron?"
Since the letter wasn't addressed to me, I feel I shouldn't respond. Besides, I'm not allowed to call people morons in this space. The furthest I can go is to call people "jerks" or "idiots," which I rarely do. Basically, it's too easy just to call someone a jerk, idiot or moron. It doesn't really get to the heart of the matter. For example, just because the letter-writer doesn't realize this is a humor column doesn't make him an idiot. Or a jerk. He's just a guy with a different sense of humor than mine. Probably more refined. And he probably was having a bad day. I disagree with his assertion that I'm a moron. But, hey, it's a free country, right? It could have been worse. He could have called me a big, fat, buck-toothed, a-hole, idiot moron. That would have hurt.
The point is that this is what passes for discussion in the '90s. And on just about every level. The local political scene has been littered with name-calling this year. In a less than graceful departure from the political stage, Frank Fasi called Mayor Jeremy Harris a "fraud" and said he'd do everything he could to see him defeated. (At least he's not bitter, huh?)
I pointed out last week that instead of name-calling, maybe our politicians should follow the lead of the candidate who received more votes than anyone in the primary election: school board member Lex Brodie. He doesn't call people names. He just does his job with dignity. Harris apparently realized this also and quickly made Brodie his co-campaign chairman.
That was a nifty political move, considering he could have just called Fasi a moron and be done with it. Maybe we can get along after all.
