A double bind is essentially caused by the communication of two mutually exclusive ideas, concepts or expressions. If memory serves me well, Bateson first noted the double bind while observing a mother's visit with her troubled son. The mother said something like, "Don't you know I love you? Don't you love Mommy? Come over here and let Mommy hug you." When the boy came to hug his mother, his mother stiffened, pulling her head back; she hugged her son awkwardly and insincerely. Bateson's anecdote shows the subtle cruelty of the double bind.
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Behold a political double bind that should trouble us all!
On Tuesday, from the heights of the current economic crisis, here's what Democrat Harry Reid, Senater Majority Leader, said about Sen. John McCain:
“We need, now, the Republicans to start producing some votes for us. We need the Republican nominee for president to let us know where he stands and what we should do.”
You can watch Sen. Reid make his comments here:
Obviously, such a statement by itself cannot a double bind make. But when you add the following to the recipe, well, we're left laughing double-bent at the preposterous double bind. Here's Sen. Harry Reid on Wednesday:
"It would not be helpful at this time to have [John McCain and Barack Obama] come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation's economy. If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership; not a campaign photo op."
The same day, we heard this from Democrat congressman and-up-to-his-eyeballs-in-this-quagmire Barney Frank:
"All of a sudden, now that we're on the verge of making a deal, John McCain drops himself in to make a deal. I really worry about the politicization of it....
"Frankly, we're going to have to interrupt a negotiating session tomorrow between Democrats and Republicans on a bill, where I think we're getting pretty close, and troop down to the White House for their photo-op, and then come back and get on to it. ...
"We're trying to rescue the economy, not the McCain campaign," he added.
Damned if you do and ... damned if you do.
©2008. All Rights Reserved.
2 comments:
What's amazing to me is this: These contradictory statements pronouncements by the Dems continue to be ignored by the MSM. With each day, it further marginalizes itself, in this bizarre, truly postmodern attempt to ignore truth in favor of some nebulous "greater good." The majority of Americans recognize this and the MSM will pay the price in the long run, methinks. It's like watching someone burn their own house down.
(I say this as one who is not convinced that McCain and Obama should've gone to Washington. It only reinforces the idea that the economy is on the verge of collapse, which in turn fuels the irrational panic. I mean, look at things. I've got plenty of work to do; my bank accounts are safe. There's still stuff on the shelves. Let's all breathe, people.)
Cheers.
I wonder if the MSM will ever pay a price, Rand, I really do. I think they just might have their viewership mesmerized, something akin to the Stockholm Syndrome I would imagine.
Everything gets chalked up to party bickering and politics. Bill criticizes Harry Reid, well he's just a Republican, that's what you do when you're a Republican.
Never mind that the criticism has merit. The media appears to be tone deaf, as Bill would say, when it comes to meritorious criticisms.
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