There is a lesson to be learned from the ups and downs of the last week or so. And the lesson is we really need to check ourselves.
I’m not even getting into election results here because that is an entirely different column which I’m not even sure I have anything more interesting to add than more interesting people than I am have had to say about it all.
This is a column about civility.
I was delighted to see Representative-elect Dan Crenshaw on the set of Saturday Night Live this weekend to personally accept a much-deserved apology from Pete Davidson. And do a bit that turned out to be quite funny, considering the subject matter. Crenshaw killed it, and Pete ate his crow as if he was starving.
Thank you, SNL, thank you Pete Davidson, and thank you x100 Mr. Crenshaw. Your efforts this weekend helped a nation which no one can honestly deny needs helping more than ever.
Earlier this week, in an unfortunate type of scene that is playing out more and more lately, my friend Tucker Carlson’s family was accosted by a weird, angry, and questionably funded mob. Firstly, what is Tucker guilty of? Making sense? Secondly, when did this kind of thing become acceptable?
It seems to me that if you have an issue with a public figure, you register your grievances in appropriate fashion. If the angry mob had stood outside of Fox studios, I’d really have no beef. But standing on someone’s lawn? Terrifying their family? Out of bounds, people. Sorry.
I think the first I heard of such tactics was when people showed up years ago on Karl Rove’s lawn. I do not like Karl Rove — at all — but I was certainly repulsed by what he and his family were subjected to.
I was talking with a colleague earlier about these sorts of things. What is it that drives us to be so ugly?
Primarily, money. Anyone who believes the people (at least the leaders) outside of Tucker’s home were not being paid to do so is a moron.
Secondly, it’s about the tone we have allowed in our national discourse, primarily fueled by the likes of the (thankfully) White House-banned CNN, MSNBC, etc.
Shows the Americans used to turn to for a break from day-to-day BS — The Tonight Show, Late Show, and SNL — have become vehicles for unapologetic anti-Americanism.
Why? Where does this get us as a nation?
The fact is, it gets us nowhere. And it seems like Americans are starting to grow pretty damn tired of it.
SNL this weekend did a really great thing. I fully expect typical jackass content from next week’s show, but if it settled even a few of the unhinged among us down for even a bit, I will take it.
Anyway. More, please. We are so much better than we are being right now.
