- Thinkstock
- If we don’t talk about climate change maybe it will just go away?
Apparently the Republican Party is turning global warming into a man thing. Some would call it denial. Some would invoke the contemporary catchphrase “avoidance coping,” which means dealing with a problem by pretending it doesn’t exist. I see something much more noble going on. When our troubles are real and immense, authentic American heroes like Clint Eastwood and John Wayne bear them in stoic silence.
Silence has a long, distinguished history at the domestic level. Millions of marriages successfully skirt points of no return because husbands tempted to say something for which they’d never be forgiven say nothing instead and turn up the TV. As many millions of wives remain vaguely curious about the men they married only because they have no idea what they’re thinking. Now the Republicans are adapting silence to our greatest national crises. Democrats go on and on about global warming but Republicans tune them out. Republicans know how useless talk is, how it helps no one make it through the pass in January. The only way to do that is to shut up and hunker down: lash the little lady to her saddle and whip her horse forward. The horse will either collapse or it won’t, but in life nothing is guaranteed.
