S.C. and K.B.

A lot of what Crowley discusses in Toward a Civil Discourse (particularly chapter 3) reminds me of Kenneth Burke. Luckily for me, Crowley never makes the explicit connection to Burke, and so I have something to blog about. Basically, I think some of Burke’s ideas do a nice job of explaining why and how people act the way they do when it comes to politics and controversial social issues (each the province of symbolic action). I’ve squashed my impulse to spill out everything I know about Burke, and chosen just two ideas that have some obvious implications for the way people deliberate today.

God and Devil Terms Crowley notes the hierarchical nature of values, but according to Burke, or language is hierarchical too. Some words have more rhetorical force than others. Such is the case with God and Devil terms (which were also discussed by Richard Weaver). A God term represents the ultimate good in society (“security”, “freedom”, etc.). Devil terms, on the other hand, represent all that is evil and wrong in the world (“terrorist”, “un-American”). People (ab)use these terms all too often. For instance, a member of school board once accused a teachers’ union of ‘terrorism.’ This is a pretty offensive example, but what should be understood is that the very nature of our language often encourages us to take sides (see Burke’s terministic screens).

Guilt-Redemption-Purification The grand dramatistic cycle also seems to be relevant to Crowley’s discussion, particularly in regard to scapegoating. Basically, human beings have established order, but can’t live by it. Therefore, we experience guilt. The only way to cleanse ourselves of that guilt is through blaming ourselves (mortification) or blaming others (victimage). I really think there is something to be said for our desire to blame and symbolically slay other people and ideas. If this is really our natural inclination, then its no wonder we have so much trouble communicating in ways that aren’t completely polarizing and potentially harmful.

In short, contemporary discourse tends to be polarized and contentious and at the very least, I think Burke provides a vocabulary with which we can explain or describe some of these things.