November’s election was much more than a triumph for George W. Bush, our inarticulate and one-dimensional President. It was one of those fateful turning points in national history–quite possibly the event that scholars in the future will point to as the beginning of monumental change.
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Either-Or
American public opinion tends to shades of black and white. As a nation, we are uncomfortable with ambiguity. We want to see international conflicts as contests between “good guys” and “bad guys.” We want to pin domestic problems on specific villains.
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Connections
Religious matters are increasingly in the news. There are the controversies over abuse in the Catholic Church, eruptions of European anti-Semitism in the wake of Arab-Israeli violence, and solemn arguments about the nature of Islam in the wake of 9-11, among others. By and large, the American media has treated such events as interruptions of, or departures from, an otherwise secular understanding of the world.
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The Three T’s
I’ve now had an opportunity to read Professor Richard Florida’s fascinating and very readable new book, “The Rise of the Creative Class.” I would recommend it.
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Framing the Issues
Over the past several years, political pundits have talked increasingly of “spin”—the persistent attempts by politicians and their handlers to describe events and issues in terms most favorable to their position or candidate. But spin is not new, nor necessarily evil. It is probably as old as the use of language itself. Academics call it “framing.”
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