Monthly Archives: September 2023

WHY MANNERS MATTER

What do Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and Senator John Fetterman have in common?

“Not much,” might be the first reaction.  Boebert is a far-right MAGA Republican. Fetterman is a left-wing progressive Democrat.

On closer inspection, however, the two share one important trait: lack of manners.

Not to put too fine a point on it, John Fetterman and Lauren Boebert are obnoxious, uncouth individuals. Most civilized people would not welcome them into their homes, even if they agreed with their politics.

These qualities were on display earlier this month.

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THE MUGSHOT IN THE AGE OF PLAY ACTING

Ours is the Age of Play Acting, in which small characters strut and fret their hour upon the stage, impersonating greater figures.

Consider Donald Trump’s mugshot, taken at the Fulton County Jail following his indictment for conspiring to interfere with the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Trump evinces a pose of heroic defiance, a pose he clearly rehearsed. Within minutes of its being taken, the mugshot was featured on fundraising messages, and on Trump X’s (formerly Twitter) account, where it soon garnered a quarter of a billion views. Beneath the heroic visage are the stirring words: “Never Surrender.”

For his hour upon the stage, Trump chose to play Winston Churchill.

It’s a free country, and such silliness is constitutionally protected. But these antics demand to be put in perspective.

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