Why We Must Refute Dobson's Crackpot Claim of Liberal Moral Relativism.
Silencing the rote charge of moral relativism--the false assertion that Liberals believe that anything goes because life has no meaning--is critical to collapsing the Radical Right's whole house of cards. And into this continuing campaign to twist the Liberal message of tolerance and domestic tranquility, stepped the founder of Focus on the Family As both Fred Clarkson and then IPC pointed out, James Dobson told an outright lie about Liberals. Without flinching, he claimed on November 22, 2006 edition of Larry King Live:
KING: If the left gets glee, Doctor, does the right get glee over sexual peccadilloes on the left?? As The Daily Howler's Bob Somerby would sarcastically write, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. It might be funny if it were only a joke; but it isn't. In fact, it is a damn serious claim that must be refuted once and for all. These are folks who believe that the ends justify the means. They are not afraid "...to lose their scruples." And when we Liberals take our eyes off the ball by focusing on personalities rather than messages, we fail. Moral relativism is a message that both Neocons and the Religious Right have been pounding into the heads of mainstream Americans for the last forty years. It had its origins over 200 years ago with Joseph deMaistre and was later picked on by the likes of Leo Strauss and others. Today Irving Kristol, Robert H. Bork (In his book Slouching Towards Gomorrah, Bork extends the moral relativism charge to libertarians), George Weigel and Michael Novak now echo this intellectually corrupt theme and they do so until it makes its way out of the mouths of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and yes, James Dobson. This twisting of what Liberalism stands for is at the very foundation of their war upon our American democracy. From this one core belief comes the phony "War against Christmas" ("Liberals hate religion, so they want to extinguish all talk of religious holidays"); the incorrect reading of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (deliberately blurring what they mean by "religious freedom," as if it were the right to have our government act as the secular enforcer of a particular orthodoxy) or that because certain denominations see the teaching of evolution as immoral, any other denomination that believes otherwise does not understand "the truth." How important is it to dispel this false allegation? Simply put, moral relativism is the Religious Right's gatekeeper. It defines Liberals and more importantly, what we have to say, as being immoral. For those who buy into the premise, it cuts off the conversation even before it begins. It allows the Religious Right and their friends the luxury of not having to debate the merits of their arguments. It essentially slams the door shut on what we have to say. Many of us may simply shrug our shoulders and say that the average American does not understand the concept of moral relativism. But that is incorrect. When they use the term, they make certain to define its meaning. Just think about the order of Dobson's statement on Larry King Live: First the accusation: "...those, again, on the more liberal end of the spectrum are often those who have no value system." In other words, Liberals have no morality. Next comes the illustrated example: "...or at least they say there is no moral and immoral, there is no right or wrong." Perhaps worse, Liberals do not distinguish between good and evil. And finally, the definition: "It's moral relativism." Dobson cleverly spoon-fed the audience the pabulum he wanted them to swallow. And it is a lie that tars all Liberals: secular, religious or otherwise. But the pernicious effects only begin when charges of Liberal moral relativism leaves the lips of a Dobson. At that point the words begin to take on a life of their own. The original audience repeats the lie in general conversation with other Americans who never even viewed the Focus on the Family founder on Larry King Live. The charge then gets casually repeated at office water coolers, card games and dinner tables all across the country. And the tall tale that Liberals "have no value system" becomes imbedded in the national psyche. So now I ask the same question that Fred Clarkson first asked. How does it feel, fellow Liberals to be denigrated as immoral actors? How does it feel to get your nose rubbed in a lie that paints you as having no moral center? And to my fellow progressive Christians, How do you like demagogues telling the world that you practice "Whatever Christianity?" Doesn't it bother you when crackpots like James Dobson brazenly dissemble that you are incapable of telling right from wrong, good from evil? Well it bothers the hell out of me. And I am sick and tired of being tarred and feathered with such mendaciousness. But what bothers me more is when clowns like Dobson seem to get let off the hook when they say such things. We on the Left seem to be afraid of playing hardball and focusing like a laser beam on this fundamental untruth being spun by the Right-wing punditry. And yet even more frustrating is that the whole moral relativism argument is not so difficult to refute as fraudulent. In fact what they are truly doing is seriously misrepresenting the core Liberal concept of Value Pluralism. Our task is to finally take control of the argument and frame it in terms of pluralism and diversity. Instead of worrying about what Dobson or Limbaugh is next going to say about us we have to be thinking about how we are going to define them. We accomplish this by defining ourselves and stop letting the Dobsons of the world go unanswered. All that is required is a sustained effort that does not fall prey to distractions. And to that end, next week I will discuss the options we have to destroy the myth of Liberal moral relativism once and for all.
Why We Must Refute Dobson's Crackpot Claim of Liberal Moral Relativism. | 25 comments (25 topical, 0 hidden)
Why We Must Refute Dobson's Crackpot Claim of Liberal Moral Relativism. | 25 comments (25 topical, 0 hidden)
|
||||||||||||
|