Well it looks like Gianforte won the special election.
It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… ― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
I’m no fan of Gianforte. He’s a religious extremist, a rich Californian and worst of all his first action REPRESENTING the state will be bringing Montana into the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Namely he won his seat a day after he attacked a journalist with his fists and not, you know, his words.
“At that point, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter. As Gianforte moved on top of Jacobs, he began yelling something to the effect of, “I’m sick and tired of this!” ― Fox News correspondent Alicia Acuna
Gianforte’ thuggish violence was a surprise to me. I would have figured he had more control over himself than that. As shocking as it is, the cynical side of me knows that there are a good number of people who will feel a sense of relief seeing a powerful man snap into righteous violence and clobber a little pipsqueak trying to taking advantage. It’s a part of our humanity to use force when reason fails.
Putting my political disagreement with Gianforte aside I think it’s important to look more into why using violence to win an argument is against my conscious even though in some cases my feelings are for it.
If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg. ― Murakami
This quote lodged itself in my brain when I first read it. It’s a paradoxical position to have because it’s so hard to root for the egg. Rooting for the underdog is a big part of American culture and the American Dream, but it’s as old as David and Goliath. But David is not an egg. David has an individual triumph over Goliath. That little stone he throws smashes through Goliath’s head, tearing him down once and for all. Whereas egg never triumphs when it goes against the wall because the egg is not an underdog. The egg will always lose. It’s the story of the powerful expressing itself on the powerless. My sister gave me a copy of 1984 when I was a freshman in high school. The last sentences are horrifying:
“Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.
Winning is a great feeling. Go Cubs! But it cannot be what drives us. I looked up the rest of that Murakami quote and was happy to see that there was more context. A way out. We may not avoid the violence of being punched in the face by a US Representative, tortured for peacefully protesting a violently corrupt government, smashed against a wall or having a boot smash our faces but there is a way out of the game.
“Why? Because each of us is an egg, a unique soul enclosed in a fragile egg. Each of us is confronting a high wall. The high wall is the system which forces us to do the things we would not ordinarily see fit to do as individuals . . . We are all human beings, individuals, fragile eggs. We have no hope against the wall: it’s too high, too dark, too cold. To fight the wall, we must join our souls together for warmth, strength. We must not let the system control us — create who we are. It is we who created the system.” ― Murakami
Can joining together for warmth and strength defeat the wall? No. Not in the way David beat Goliath that’s for sure, there will be no thrill of victory. No sigh of relief, no parades, no win. But we will be there at the foot of the wall together.
UPDATE:
A good article from the Atlantic on this race and the subject of violence: “This is not valor, it is the celebration of violence against those who cannot respond in kind.” — The Lessor Part of Valor