Or Are You Just Showing Off?

Donald Trump hasn’t taken office yet. He hasn’t taken any real policy actions yet, the Carrier dog-and-pony show notwithstanding. He is in the process of nominating his cabinet, but that cabinet has neither been confirmed nor have any of them taken any actions yet either.

The fact of his election, Jill Stein’s grand-standing and nakedly self-serving noise about recounts also notwithstanding, has had time to settle in, and by now even the most distraught Clinton supporters should have managed to come to terms with their grief. Social media and the political sphere are still, however, awash in caterwauling, dire predictions of doom, and outlandish assertions of internment camps, registration numbers tattooed on the forearms of all Muslims in the country, and on and on.

As I noted recently, we can and should have some sympathy for people who’ve been buffaloed by the partisan cynics who are peddling horrific narratives about President Trump drinking pig’s blood from the brainpans of Syrian refugees (this is sarcastic exaggeration, by the way), because their self-imposed information isolation has precluded the disinfecting and tempering effect of rebuttal and opposing opinion to expose the exaggerations. However, it has been a solid month since the Left’s hopes and dreams were shattered, and the emotional rollercoasters they’ve been on should have leveled off to some degree by now.

Why, then, do we continue to see people declaring years of horror under President Trump? Why are we hearing that he’s going to throw Granny in the street and let her die of her illnesses, and that he’s going to destroy decades of advancement in gays’ and minorities’ rights without any actual evidence of policy proposals to that effect?

If you’re one of the predictors of imminent disaster, ask yourself this: Are you doing this because you have genuine concern for others, or are you doing this to make sure your audience knows you’re on the “correct” side of the Trump divide? Are your dire forecasts rooted in something concrete, or are they exaggeration for effect? Are you speaking truth to power, or are you just showing off?

Most of us know the story of Chicken Little, whose constant predictions that the sky is falling eventually caused everyone around him to tune him out. He eventually lost the ability to relate any information to others, because they knew his history of excessive and baseless doomsaying. A parallel story, Aesop’s fable “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” offers a similar cautionary moral. If you dilute your ability to warn (or, more aptly, criticize) by making endless outlandish assertions, the time may come where you have something legitimate to tell others but find they won’t listen to you.

Don’t be Chicken Little. Dial the histrionics down until there’s something substantial to criticize. There’s no more need to show off, we’ve already figured out where you stand. And, frankly, we really don’t care. You don’t get bonus points for being a superduperoverthetop social justice warrior, with a crimson logo emblazoned on your t-shirt. We see through your virtue signalling, no matter whether we’re on your side, on the other side, or on the fence waiting to see what actually happens. All you’re doing by showing off is making us tune you out. When the time comes to offer substantive criticism (and it will, without a doubt), you may find your words falling on deaf ears. Negative reputations, once established, are VERY hard to shake.

Don’t worry, you won’t miss the Trump-bashing jamboree. There are infinite seats available, and no seat is worse than any other. He’ll give you plenty of opportunity to criticize once he’s in office and starts doing things. I know I won’t let his missteps go by uncommented, but I’m waiting for actual, substantive ones before I swing my bash-bat. Take a breath, stop showing off for your like-minded friends, and dial it down a few pegs. When the time comes, it’ll make it more likely others pay attention to what you have to say.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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