Demagogues in Our Time
Demagogue: “An orator or leader who gains favor by exciting the passions and prejudices of the audience.”
The so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” is the most blatant case of demagoguery I have ever seen during my own lifetime. The opponents are painting a picture of a huge mosque being built exactly where the World Trade Center stood. They seem to suggest a huge, ornate structure with minarets and such.
Of course, there is no such proposal. The proposed building, to be called “Park51″, will have a large Islamic “prayer room,” which presumably qualifies as a mosque. But the rest of the building will be devoted to classrooms, an auditorium, galleries, a restaurant, a memorial to the victims of September 11, 2001, and a swimming pool and gym.
To see just how entirely ridiculous this claim is, read “Zero Grounds”, by Hedrick Hertzberg, in The New Yorker, which is the source for this essay.
This is a great opportunity to see who takes which side:
Demagogues:
- ex-Gov. Sarah Palin
- Sen. John McCain
- ex-Gov. George Pataki
- ex-Mayor Rudi Guiliani
- Newt Gingrich (particularly awful and hypocritical)
- the Anti-Defamation League (usually known as a Jewish civil rights group)
- most people from Staten Island
- Carl Paladino (a leading Republican candidate for governor of New York)
- Rick Lazio (the other leading Republican candidate for governor of New York)
Defending Park51:
- Pres. Obama
- Mayor Bloomberg
- Jewish Community Center in Manhattan
- United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York
- most people from Manhattan
- Community Board No. 1 (the council that represents a corner of Manhattan that includes both the 9/11 site and the “mosque” site, by a vote of 29 to 1)
- the city’s Landmark Presentation Commission (unanimously)
If anyone wants to extend this list in the comments, that would be great!
August 19th, 2010 at 3:50 am
If this is the biggest case of demagoguery that you’ve seen, you may not have been paying attention. Even if we limit ourselves to politics we can find master demagogues. I suspect you didn’t look kindly on Reagan’s “I fired the striking air traffic controllers because they wanted me to give them more of your money” speech, for instance.
But what do I know? I’m spend my time bitterly clinging to my guns and religion, hoping that President Obama won’t unleash the hoards with pitchforks on Wall Street executives.
August 19th, 2010 at 6:40 am
Put me down under “most people in Manhattan”.
But I have been forcefully pointing out that although this is a Constitutional issue, it’s also a New York City issue. Outsider interference (as distinct from support) is very much not wanted.
August 19th, 2010 at 10:42 am
Sad to say that Harry Reid falls in the “Demagogues” category, though not as strongly as many of those listed. The politics are understandable, given his re-election bid, but it’s still a disappointment.
August 19th, 2010 at 11:21 am
@Max: I agree. This is not the biggest case. However, this particular one just made a big impression on me. And the facts presented in Rich Hertzberg’s article make it so, so clear that this is pure demagoguery! It’s just so hard to see how anyone can deny it. (And I wasn’t blogging at the time of the Reagan episodes.)
@John: I agree with that, too. People like Palin and Gingrich, though, see it as (a) an issue that affects the whole country, just as the 9/11 attacks affected the whole country, and it’s a major symbolic statement about how we feel about that, and (b) it’s a great way to rally their base.
@Thom: I’m really sorry to hear that, but I’m not surprised. Too many of the Democrats in Congress are wimps. They buckle under to any trick the Republicans pull, because they are scared of losing votes. And for Harry Reid to do this is particularly awful, because he is the Senate Majority Leader! This is why I never contribute money to the Democratic party (e.g. the DSCC). Too many of them are like Harry Reid: unwilling to stand up for what is right. I send money directly to legislators whom I can respect.
Now, if Harry Reid is really very scared of not being re-elected, it could mean (1) his constituency is not strongly Democratic, in party or in outlook or something, meaning that he is really a very weak legislator, in which case, why on Earth do they make him the Senate Majority Leader, or (2) he’s just a wimp, inherently, or (3) something I haven’t thought of, since I’m not really an expert in American politics. But no matter which of those is true, it’s very unfortunate.
August 19th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
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