The Quiet Parts No One Is Talking About

Upon discussion, Charles and I chose to co-author this piece specifically because we believe we see something. Something, unfortunately, being either ignored, dismissed, or altogether intentionally left unmentioned. That is the refusal to criticize what should be obvious to everyone and we believe strongly that this should be pointed out. Steve, coming from a Left-leaning position, and Charles from the Right-leaning, show what can be achieved when rhetorical and ideological narrative setting gets pushed to the side and good faith discussions commence with the will of both parties to seek the truth. 

Steve Jarrett-Jordan
Author and host of The Shadetree Intellectual

With the Republican party failing to close the deal on the “Red Wave” this midterm election cycle, Americans were left wondering, what happened? Despite dozens of mainstream pundits and YouTube commentators such as TimcastIRL, and The Daily Wire, desperately trying, few have attempted to diagnose the lackluster performance of the Right with even fewer touching on the underlying issue.  Americans are simply exhausted from watching the political pendulum swing so drastically from left to right, that it’s expressing what I would call “voter insecurity.”  They have lost confidence in the conservative party.

The only thing Americans are confident of is the promise of vitriolic virtue signaling from either side to push narratives, mock and condemn their opponents, and never give a fair or unbiased good-faith representation of their opponent's position. 

For years now, moderates and progressives have watched the country become torn apart by illiberal identitarian politics set against overtly conservative Trans bashing as a way to get views and subscriptions. From taking the most extreme fringe examples of both and selling it as though it’s the standard operating procedure, the role of political discourse has in essence, been reduced to wordy name-calling and chest beating navel-gazing. Americans, and even observers outside the U.S., such as Charles Ekokotu from Nigeria, who runs the YouTube channel Critical African Thinkers, have noticed. 

Americans tend to lean towards a diad of extreme political religions, locked in never-ending political pendulum swinging. The “woke” religion is no different than the alternative Christian fundamentalists and everyone in the middle has clued into it, and is fed up. What is sold to us is a fallacious binary between one of two choices, “Liberal” or “Conservative”, with little to nothing in between to challenge it.

Politicians such as Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R), while conservative, seem to be making concerted efforts to move away from the combative mainstream rhetoric. Explaining why he vetoed House Bill 11, Gov. Cox cited in a letter to the state senate, “high suicide rates among transgender youth” and added “that there are only four transgender students playing high school sports in Utah, and only one playing girls sports.” He went on to show what could be argued as an exemplar of a compassionate Christian.  “Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day.” He continues, “Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live. And all the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly. For that reason, as much as any other, I have taken this action in the hope that we can continue to work together and find a better way.”

Cox went on to receive lambasting by members of the state's diehard “woke '' Right, and was easily forgotten by the LGBTQ+ community, receiving threats and criticisms from both sides yet very few applauded this sensible approach to a serious issue.  Rather than cave to the mob he went against the grain and represented calmer heads and kinder hearts, with some calling this decision, “an end to his career.” 

Nothing, it seems, is good enough for the political and identitarian ideologues. I would be remiss to not mention the efforts of other Governors including Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana who made similar efforts, recieving blazing criticism. The road to hell, they say, is paved with good intentions, and there is no rest for the wicked. As one of the quiet parts no one is talking about, when viewed, these examples speak quite loudly against the backdrop of demarcated avoidance.

Charles Ekokotu
Author and host of Critical African Thinkers

As an outsider, American politics is entertaining and fascinating to say the least, but one thing I've come to understand is both sides of the political spectrum aren't so much different from each other. Their take on issues may be different, but the tactics, rhetoric, and methodology are nearly identical. When convenient, both sides will play identity politics, demonize their opponent, and be uncharitable and unnecessarily mean when they could have displayed more compassion.

The current fiasco on Twitter confirms this theory for me. Pre-Elon, Twitter was a cesspool of intolerant left-wing ideologues, now that Elon is in charge, it has become a cesspool of right-wing religious nuts mind fucking each other.

The Right, bolstered by Elon's Twitter takeover has seamlessly adopted the tactics of the just ousted leftist. Charity is out the window, and the atmosphere of serving the left with their own medicine reigns supreme.

My following on Twitter seems to swing like a pendulum reflecting a barometer of just how ideologically possessed and intolerant both sides are to opposing views. I'm naturally a skeptic, a contrarian if I dare say, one who likes challenging the dominant narrative, because I like to test everything, especially things I agree with.  So in typical fashion, when the left was in charge of Twitter, my natural approach was to be more critical of the left and as a result, I no doubt picked up followers who were right-leaning.

Now that Elon is in charge, I see a lot of right-wing nonsense that I simply cannot ignore without critiquing, and here is where things get interesting. Those conservative followers I had built started unfollowing me every time I made a tweet critical of the right's position. They don't bother to engage or challenge my thoughts, they simply leave.

What were they expecting? Someone who would say everything they wanted to hear? Well, that's not me. I'm only loyal to what I understand to be true, and if the truth offends anyone, it's their loss, not mine.

I say this to demonstrate that the Right is just as intolerant of opposing ideas as the Left, and I'm certain if they controlled the institutions the Left currently controls, they would be the ones censoring speech and canceling people. In fact this was what happened in 1985 during the Reagan era, Democrats dragged Twisted Sister's Dee Snider and a handful of other music artists before a senate hearing committee by PMRC (Parents Music Resource Centre) in a bid to censor their music for alleged vulgarity. Then, as a juxtaposition, in 1990, Republicans brought to question and attempted to censor, racialized Black rappers such as 2LiveCrew citing their controversial and sexually explicit lyrics. In this story, no one is the hero, they–the Left and Right–are all villains.

Straddling the middle ground today is a precarious place to be and this is the quiet part no one is talking about. That the Right mirrors the Left in intolerance and vice versa. A lot of progress and generative conversations would take place if people on both sides can sit down and disagree civilly, and peacefully without mischaracterizing each other, and without trying to own or score cheap political points.

This is part of my frustration with someone like Jordan Peterson, who had so much potential to bridge the Left-Right divide, but chose instead to progressively devolve into a "mean mad white man" with his rhetoric and needless personal attacks–fuck, I'm beginning to sound like a Lefty with my use of the over labored word "rhetoric."

In this age, nuance has been sacrificed for ideological dogfights, the middle ground has been obliterated and those of us who remain in the middle are stranded in the limbo of a world that may never return.