LETTER: A Mother’s Day ironic treat
So Mother’s Day morning brought another edition of the Observer-Reporter and within its pages a delightful op-ed directly from the keyboard of Dave Ball. The O-R clearly believes that during a horrible global pandemic we can all benefit from the unusual rhetoric of this featured writer for special enlightenment. Thus the forum dedicated to Mr. Ball’s views.
Dave Ball’s latest missive is destined to be one in a series of classics. For those who might have missed this beauty, despite the heavy promotion of the O-R for these featured columns, the subject was political hypocrisy. The delicious irony in this column was that while he was writing about political hypocrisy he was actually practicing it! His take was geared toward various activities other than those of his beloved GOP. Ball somewhere along the way discovered the negative talent of being able to destroy and disintegrate his own premise and proclamations with his own words. That is generally not a recommended literary practice, but Ball embraces it heartily and it seems just fine to the O-R. The goal of most writing of this nature is to make a point rather than be the point. Most folks don’t seek to be the punch line of their own joke.
Ball’s own political hypocrisy gave evidence that the practice is far from owned by any one party. Spoiler alert: political hypocrisy is as old as politics. It is practiced regularly and with a basic smugness among some politicians who understand that lots of people forget quickly or really don’t choose to pay close attention.
All you have to do to see political hypocrisy in action is put a microphone, camera or Twitter account in front of the reality show actor currently performing in the role of POTUS. The actor known as Donald J. Trump makes no illusion of the fact that what he says today bears little to no relationship to what he might say tomorrow or said last week. And if the recorded statements appear to be in conflict simply deny or ignore whichever one fits the mood of the moment. It is a unique way to engage in public discourse, but it is an integral part of his act and some audiences eat it up.
When I finish a Dave Ball column I’m sure I have the look of a dog hearing a word that it can’t understand with a tilted head and bewildered look. But in these troubling times we take even our most bizarre entertaining moments where we can find them.
C.F. Dotson
South Strabane Township