Passion
February 24th, 2006 | by Dr. Forbush |The catch phrase of the 2006 Torino or Turin Olympics is: “Passion Lives Here.” The first time I saw it plastered on a wall, I was a bit confused. Why wouldn’t they have an Italian phrase? A Latin phrase? But, then I thought that this phrase was actually a good way to draw the cultures together. An English phrase professing a Latin sentiment.
In English we understand passion to be a strong emotion, such as love or hatred. But, couldn’t any emotion be expressed strongly? Or, is the intensity of the emotion part of the definition? This would be like considering “love” to be the strong form of “like.” It would be like “joy” being the strong form of “happy.” In English we think of these as different emotions, but maybe they should be considered the same emotions modified by passion.
The importance of passion is certainly a cultural thing. When people become overly passionate about anything in American culture we tend to think that they are over reacting. Melodramas are considered to melodramatic in American culture. But, the point of the melodrama is to be melodramatic. This allows one to feel the extreme passions through imagination and fantasy. This does not mean that one should act on these passionate feelings, but only experience them. But, American culture shuns over reacting to just about anything.
A good example of passion at the Winter Olympics was the drama played out during the Ice Dancing competition. I’m guessing that not many of you know about this, unless you’re Italian. But, the Italian Ice Dancing couple had a wonderful first dance and ended in first place to the thrill of the home audience. However, on their second dance they fell on a lift, which put them out of the running for a medal. The female skater glared at her partner after the dance, and remained icy cold toward him for the 24 hours leading up to the final dance. This extreme emotion may have been acting, or it may have been passion. But to anyone viewing the drama it was easy to feel the intended emotion. Just the intensity of the perception was passion portrayed. But, how would American culture react to this extreme behavior? I’m guessing it would be a media circus and the passion would be lost. In the final dance the Italian couple did exceptionally well. And, maybe because of the passionate anger portrayed the passionate joy after the dance seemed even stronger. This is melodrama, the stuff that Americans disdain.
But, just because Americans say that they don’t like melodrama does not mean that they don’t take some issues seriously. Liberals have a tendency to take the environment, poverty, health and safety quite passionately. In fact, because of our American cultural disdain for passion the right has been able to use that passion as a weapon. Talk show hosts quickly push the laugh button and call passionate environmentalists “tree huggers.” They push the button again and call those concerned about safety “babysitters.” They have managed to turn “passion” into “over reaction” by using American culture. Liberals who are passionate about these issues have begun to hide their passion, because they are afraid of being made a fool. But that passion remains in the heart and it is the power that drives a strong movement. Passion motivates people to take action. Passion gets people to write checks. And, passion is what the right fears the most about the progressive movement.
When the conservatives jumped on Howard Dean for his famous scream they knew that they needed to nip the passion of that scream in the bud before people felt the passion. And, conservatives knew that American culture disdains passion and it can be turned into over reacting. If Howard Dean had been an Italian politician the people would have known what he was about and they would have seen that scream for the passion that it contained.
So, what can passionate progressives do with this crazy American culture?
I think that people really want to see the passion. The conservatives have already painted liberals as over reactive and progressives need to wear this as a badge of honor. The conservatives that are most likely to call a progressive over reactive isn’t a vote that any liberal can expect to get anyway. But, progressives are liberal because they are passionate. They will support you if they feel the passion. These are the people who we want to join the movement and make it grow. And passion is an interesting thing, the more people see it the more they want to help. They empathize with the emotion even more when they see the passion. They begin to feel it. The passion is part of the message. When people see passionate people they begin to ask themselves “why are these people so concerned?”
Maybe America wasn’t ready for Howard Dean’s yell, but they are certainly ready to see the Democrats become passionate about a political plan.
Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit
One Response to “Passion”
By tos on Feb 24, 2006 | Reply
I see you are very passionate. But what I also see is more of a passion to get the Republicans out of office. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing to want the party you represent to be in office. But I don’t see the passion in Howard Dean and co. I see someone who is bitter. Rightfully so(to him anyway).
The reason republicans bring up the Clinton era is because of the same thing. . And democrats today still bash Regan. I think it’s just that no matter which party is in office the other objects. Something like the Sunis and the Shiates.
Take the ports deal. I believe this transaction would have happened under Gore. Which party do you think would be calling for it not to go through? I know some republicans are speaking up against it but for no other reason than to look out for themselves and to distance themselves as to not look bad.
But the more investigating we are seeing it’s not looking like we will be any less safe than before. Saw that on CNN tonite by the way.