Reaction to Obama speech shows decline of political discourse

‘Best political speech’ praise shows how ‘grievances’ have replaced reality as the basis for discussion

“Barack Obama this week gave the best political speech since John Kennedy talked about his Catholicism in Houston in 1960,” Nicholas Kristof wrote in the March 20 New York Times. He praised the way it acknowledged “complexity, nuance and legitimate grievances on many sides.”

The nuance part is indeed commendable. The ability to disagree firmly with extreme views while maintaining a cordial – even affectionate – personal relationship with people who hold those views might help restore some civility to public discourse.

On the other hand, I wonder about Kristof’s “legitimate grievances” comment. For instance, he notes “it has been shocking to hear [Obama’s pastor] suggest that the AIDS virus was released as a deliberate government plot to kill black people.” He goes on to note “Many African-Americans even believe that the crack cocaine epidemic was a deliberate conspiracy by the United States government to destroy black neighborhoods.”

Kristoff quotes a political scientist who says these are “real standard” beliefs, “pretty common beliefs.” They may be. But are these “legitimate grievances”? Are they the kinds of items that the political conversation needs to take seriously?

A generation ago, political opinions needed to be grounded in “reality” to be taken seriously. Some people once believed fluoridation was a Communist plot to pollute the water supply. No matter how widespread that belief was in certain segments of society, it was never seen as a “legitimate grievance” that deserved a place on the national agenda. People (rightly) saw it as a paranoid delusion that deserved neglect

Once, western society focused on truths that were validated by correspondence with reality. Now we seem to be willing to settle for various perspectives that are validated by how many people believe them and how intensely they hold them.

The Roman governor once asked, “What is truth?” Many today want to answer “truth is an oppressive construct; what’s more important is what people firmly believe.” It’s different, but it’s not an improvement.