![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2018\/10\/Strings-Marionette-Puppet-2470594.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m in the middle of reading The Coddling of the American Mind<\/em>, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidtand, and I will write something up on it when I\u2019ve finished, but in the meantime, here\u2019s a one-paragraph summary of where I am so far.\u00a0 Noting the rise of conflicts on campus, of demands for \u201csafety\u201d and elimination of dissenting ideas, the authors have identified three Untruths about the world that it believes college students have fallen victim to:\u00a0 (1) everyone is fragile and needs to be protected, (2) feelings matter more than objective reality, and (3) it\u2019s Us against Them.\u00a0 The combination of these Untruths is toxic, as students, in a very new (post 2013) development, believe that upsetting statements\/ideas\/words can damage them, that their perception matters more than the speaker\u2019s intention, and that anyone who\u2019s not unambiguously, unquestionably on their side is their Mortal Enemy.\u00a0 The authors also cite the insights of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that dwelling on the negative and catastrophizing events is harmful to one\u2019s own mental health, and the insights of sociology that much of what is happening is a groupthink-type occurrence\u00a0where groups behave in ways that individuals wouldn\u2019t dare.<\/p>\n And today I happened on an article in today\u2019s Tribune, \u201cDemocrat depicted as a puppet in GOP campaign ad says it\u2019s homophobic against him<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the context:\u00a0 here in Illinois, it is Michael Madigan, uber-powerful Democrat, speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, controller of the Democratic party purse strings, who is the GOP\u2019s bogeyman.\u00a0 The state Republican Party\u2019s mailers carry one consistent theme:\u00a0 Michael Madigan is the source of government mismanagement, overspending, corruption, and everything that is going wrong with the state; therefore, voters should be sure to vote for the Republican candidate in order to disempower him, or at least prevent him from accruing further power.\u00a0 This is true to the greatest degree in the state House, where more Democratic gains would produce a veto-proof majority, and, on the other hand, sufficient GOP gains (which I understand to be pretty unlikely) could dislodge the Democrats\u2019 hold.\u00a0 And, indeed, as long as the Democrats retain control, Madigan retains control, because his tight control of the party machinery (and, more specifically, money) means that he controls individual Democrats\u2019 votes.\u00a0 But even outside of state House candidates, GOP mailers are consistent in their theme of \u201cvote for our guy, because his opponent is a Madigan lackey.\u201d<\/p>\n And that means imagery of a marionette, with Madigan as the puppeteer.\u00a0 In this case,\u00a0Democrat Kevin Morrison, running for Cook County Commissioner, is portrayed as a marionette whose limbs are controlled by strings, because he will do Madigan\u2019s bidding in raising property taxes.<\/p>\n And the claim?<\/p>\n A Democrat seeking to unseat Republican Cook County Commissioner Tim Schneider is accusing the state GOP of mailing out a homophobic campaign mailer, though Republican officials say it\u2019s only meant to call the challenger a political puppet. . . .<\/p>\n The mailer depicts an extra-large Madigan crouching next to a comparatively tiny Morrison who\u2019s depicted as a puppet. The ad portrays Madigan animating the puppet version of Morrison who is midpose with what appears to be a limp wrist.<\/p>\n Morrison countered by sending out a campaign fundraising mailer accusing Schneider of sending out an attack ad \u201cpicturing me with a \u2018limp wrist,\u2019 a bigoted caricature of gay people.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n Morrison said he doesn\u2019t buy the party\u2019s explanation.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody knows a limp wrist is meant to be derogatory and an attack on LGBTQ individuals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The LGBTQ Victory Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based group that supports LGBTQ candidates across the country, condemned the mailing as \u201ca clear anti-gay dog whistle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet me be clear: Tim Schneider and his team knew exactly what they were doing when they altered a photo of Kevin Morrison to show him with a limp wrist and on his tiptoes,\u201d said Annise Parker, the group\u2019s president and CEO, in a statement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Can we all agree that this is preposterous?\u00a0 The anti-Madigan refrain is so constant in the mailers I\u2019m receiving (and I\u2019d flip through them to see if I can find one with my local candidates portrayed as puppets, but they all go straight in the trash) that it\u2019s nonsense to claim this is all just an anti-gay slur.\u00a0 And, yes, the \u201climp wrist\u201d visibly illustrates that the strings are holding up the arm.<\/p>\n Now, my first reaction was a cynical one, that this is no more than an attempt to rally a progressive Democratic base, and drum up some attention for himself.\u00a0 But he is running in a Republican district, and, although his background is that of a budding career politician, having worked, according to his biography<\/a>, for Democratic politicians\u2019 campaigns beginning in 2012 immediately upon graduation from college, his (short) list of policy positions<\/a> is solidly that of a moderate, middle-of-the-road politician, claiming that he will \u201cfight against regressive policies like the disastrous Cook County Soda Tax that disproportionately affected our community\u201d and fight for \u201ca budget that eliminates wasteful spending and solves the County\u2019s fiscal issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Which means that I don\u2019t think this is really a matter of thinking there\u2019s something he can cynically exploit here, since voters in this district aren\u2019t going to have much sympathy for a complaint that really sounds very whiny, and he knows better than to promote himself as the choice for right-thinking progressives, either.<\/p>\n