Play the ball, not the man
Political invective is growing ever more nasty here, says Willie O'Dea
IN A recent interview on 60 Minutes, US president Barack Obama spoke about what he has called the "coarsening of political dialogue".
He was referring to Republican Congressman Joe Wilson shouting out "You lie" during the president's address to Congress. But he was also talking about the highly personalised and emotive language used by those opposed to his health reform plans.
Of course, the tactic of playing the man and not the ball is hardly new. However, the advent of the web, texting and 24-hour news media have seen this and other dark arts refined and repackaged to plumb new depths. And, though the current wave of protests is coming from the American right, they do not hold the sole franchise.
Fortunately, as the Lisbon II referendum campaign showed, these nasty and personalised tactics can be rendered ineffective by constant and intense campaigning.
Nonetheless, it was the intention of some on both the right and left of the No camp to foment public anger by any means possible, no matter how irrelevant, wrong, fanciful or nasty it was.
It is indicative that the most discussed, and arguably the most effective, poster of the Lisbon campaign -- "€1.84 Minimum Wage After Lisbon?" -- was also the most inaccurate and dishonest one.
The problem, however, is that a great deal of time is wasted refuting such canards and the argument descends into a gainsaying tit-for-tat exchange that only serves to turn many off the whole business of politics.
There is a world of difference between the traditional cut and thrust of politics and coarse, personalised invective.
The traditional style is primarily about the argument of policies and ideas. You challenge your opponent's position by force of argument and analysis. There is respect for your opponent. You may not personally like your rival, but you accept their sincerity and integrity unless you have verifiable cause to doubt it.
The coarse approach not only requires that the attacker show no respect to their rival, it is based on effectively de-humanising them. It is no holds barred. The attacker ignores facts and arguments and whips up public anger by debasing their rival's integrity. There is also an insidious version of the tactic. It is one that has been gradually creeping into our political dialogue. It substitutes misrepresentation for absolute lies, but includes the onslaught on integrity and credibility.
It is the tactic that allows Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar say that just as there was a de-Nazification in Germany after the Second World War, there needs to be a de-FFication across all State boards and public bodies of anyone connected with Fianna Fail.
It is the tactic that allows Opposition politicians and commentators to use "Fianna Fail" and "corruption" as if they were synonyms.
It is the tactic that encourages Opposition politicians to call Nama a bailout for Fianna Fail's "developer friends" and disregard the reality that it will go after the developers in a way banks never would.
The "playing the man, not the ball" tactic may inflict damage on the target, but it is the body politic that will suffer in the longer term.
Willie O'Dea is Minister for Defence and Fianna Fail TD for Limerick East
- WILLIE O'DEA
Originally published in
