I have been learning a lot about the Left and its tactics in shaming conservatives, Republicans, anyone who resists certain cultural changes at the expense of others.
Saul Alinsky's “Rules for Radicals” is a potent vehicle of outline and detail about the tactics modern liberals, the media, and other leftist elites have used against the political opposition.
One of his rules:
“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.”
Amelia Hamilton of “Red Alert Politics” commented on this tactic:
“Alinksy’s fifth rule is a favorite tactic employed among the Left – one hardly has to look to find evidence of it in use today. The Left is ready and willing to mock just about anything to tear it down.”
She later concluded:
“We need to learn to do the same. It’s an easy and effective method to combat those on the Left.”
Don Your Three-Cornered Hat
In other words: “It Is Pirate Time.”
So exhorted Peggy Noonan, syndicated columnist of the Wall Street Journal to her conservative colleagues. What is it about pirates, or any other rebels, that makes them impervious to shame, blame, and regret? They live by a different code. They identify with their cause. They are not afraid of the open waters, not afraid of being outcasts.
They scorn the shame of the Establishment. Today the Establishment is Big Government, statist, status quo liberalism.
Take an example of how one can turn ridicule on the heads against attackers. Our third President, Thomas Jefferson, articulated the same idea, directed his attacks at Trinitarian theists:
“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them. No man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.”
One has to wonder if Jefferson would start laughing at bumblebees.
According to rational aerodynamic theory, they are not supposed to be able to fly. They fly.
According to secular scientists, the world was created over millions of years. Who created the beginning?
Many aspects in our experience defy explanation, based on human reason or explanation.
Consider also the personal conduct of Mr. Jefferson.
He penned the sentence “All men are created equal,” yet he owned slaves. He deserves ridicule for this, does he not? Should we discard the Declaration of Independence because the person who wrote the sentence did not live up to its ideals?
Sound Counsel 200 Years Later
He claimed “We are all Republicans. We are all Federalists.” Then he began reversing the number of people in government of the Federalist persuasion, only to adopt a number of their policies.
Does Jefferson deserve ridicule for that, too?
Another response to ridicule is to rejoice.
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.” (Matthew 5: 11).
Here are modern examples of this gracious attitude:
“I wear their scorn as a badge of honor.” – Dan Quayle.
If anyone was a target for ridicule, it was Bush 41's Vice President. Yet one of his most telling exchanges occurred during his famous debate with Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, Michael Dukakis’s running mate in 1988. The memorable exchange went as follows:
Bensten: “I knew Jack Kennedy, I worked with Jack Kennedy. Sir, you are no Jack Kennedy.” Applause.
Quayle's response was dignified and cutting:
“That was uncalled for, sir.”
The applause that followed rivaled the response to Bensten's retort. Sadly, Quayle's response gets little press today.
Then there is new U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). He not only stood up to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), but has taken on the entire Senate and even members of the more Establishment Republican caucus. Sen. John McCain called Cruz a “wacko bird” for filibustering the nomination of John Brennan as Director of the CIA.
Cruz's response:
“If standing for liberty and standing for the Constitution makes you a wacko bird, then count me a proud wacko bird.”
When people make fun of you, they have lost the argument. They failed in the point they were trying to make.
Republicans should do what the late liberal-turned-conservative columnist Andrew Breitbart did:
“Andrew's favorite tool was Twitter, where hateful leftists spewed enough bile at him to melt through six feet of titanium,” colleague Ben Shapiro writes in his book “Bullies.”
“Andrew was the father of the now famous Twitter tactic: Retweeting the hate. He loved to show the world what nasty people resided on the supposed kind and tolerant left.”
Take the Left's shame, and scorn it. Take their hate, and expose their own shame. Until now, conservatives and Republicans have been civil, refusing to respond to the lies, distortions, and hate of the Democratic leaders and their media machines. It is time to scorn the shame. Fight back. It is time to expose the corruption and disrespect of the Left toward the people whom they claim to champion.
In short, GOP, it is pirate time.
Arthur Christopher Schaper is a writer and blogger on issues both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A lifelong resident of Southern California, he currently lives in Torrance. He may be contacted at arthurschaper@hotmail.com, aschaper1.blogspot.com and at asheisministries.blogspot.com. Also see waxmanwatch.blogspot.com.
