Blame it on Hanson
An oddity for me about this year’s National Review cruise is that the thing I find myself thinking about most is something that was said last year.
I had heard Victor Davis Hanson on the radio a few times, his sonorous, deliberately paced voice and sparkling erudition causing the mind’s eye to conjure a professor’s unathletic demeanor -- slight, brainy, unremarkable.
I would not have guessed that the fellow with the broad forehead, carved features and meaty, workman’s hands, the one who could easily be mistaken for a West Virginia coal miner, or maybe a ranch hand or crusty oil rig worker, was Hanson. As he listens to his fellow panelists, he looks skyward, thoughtfully; not because he isn’t paying attention, but, it seems, so that he can fit what he is hearing carefully into the constellation of ideas that circle above, forming and reforming as new concepts arrive, find their place, or are set aside.
I jotted down what he said last year and I’ve thought about the words frequently as our political tides have washed over us. I especially thought about them as it became clear that the results would not be what we had hoped for, worked for, wished for, and (in some cases -- foolishly as it turns out) expected.
Here’s what he had said, this Victor Davis Hanson:
“An argument should not only be persuasive, it should be beautiful…”
Just so. Spoken by a man who is a professor of classic and a writer of note -- the kind other writers pay attention to. When he speaks, he makes arguments that are careful and, indeed, persuasive and, yes, beautiful.
Over the last year I have wondered often, as I listened to the arguments being made by those I hoped would be persuasive, if the reason they were not persuasive was because they were not beautiful — or were they not beautiful because they were not persuasive?
We lost the argument.
And now we are arguing about whether we should make our arguments as un-beautiful as those of our opponents.
This year on the NR cruise there were several newcomers to the speakers list, one of whom was Brian Anderson, who is the editor of City Journal, Manhattan Institute’s cultural and political journal. Doing a little research, I came across his book review of Charles Kesler’s I Am the Change: Barack Obama and the Crisis of Liberalism.
Anderson’s review is one of the finest short exegeses on the Progressive movement and philosophy I have ever read. It is an argument. It is persuasive. It is beautiful.
In its beauty and in its persuasiveness it represents a small piece of a very large puzzle—but a piece nonetheless. We are not incapable of making arguments that are both persuasive and beautiful. Surely we are not.
Call me crazy—or, perhaps more accurately, call Victor Davis Hanson crazy—but I think he may be more right than even he knows. It may just be that as we dust ourselves off and regroup for future battles, we should ask of our arguments, each one, “Is it beautiful?” If it is not, it is unlikely to be persuasive. If it is, it may be more than persuasive—it may be true.
We must find the people who can make these arguments. Brian Anderson is one. There are others who were gathered on the NR Cruise, and there are still others elsewhere, many right here on Ricochet.
Maybe it is only there, in that spot, that hope resides ...
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Jan '11
Re: Blame it on Hanson
What is beautiful about affirmative action or pro choice?
Nov '11
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Nothing. That's the point.
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Quite so, Henry. And, having the pleasure to know and work with Brian, I completely concur. In addition to being a wonderful person, his capacity for reasoned, elegant argument is superb.
Jan '11
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Another of my poorly worded comments.
Henry Scanlon
Nothing. That's the point. · 26 minutes ago
To steal from Jay Nordlinger, classical music (no matter how beautiful) will never be popular music.
Calculus is beautiful but only if you understand algebra.
(Dang! Now I'm mixing metaphors, I'd better stop.)
Jan '12
Re: Blame it on Hanson
We're not arguing over whether our arguments should be un-beautiful. In fact, that's precisely what we're arguing against. We lost because we made un-beautiful arguments. We made arguments that did everything short of defend rape, call the President the "n" word, and call Democrats evil thieves and moochers. We fed into every negative stereotype; Republicans are religious fanatics. Republicans are rich white men. Republicans want women barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen. Republicans hate minorities. Republicans hate everything cool. A beautiful argument does none of these things; it reaches out to people who are UNLIKE us. Remember, it's E Pluribus, Unum. From Many, One. Right now we have the Democrats (from many, many) and Republicans (from one, one). I love Professor Hanson's work, but his political writing doesn't do a great deal to reach out to those who don't already agree with us. THAT's what we need to do.
Edited on November 20, 2012 at 9:20pmNov '10
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Agreed, Henry--although I'd say that our arguments must be true AND good AND beautiful (the classical trifecta, if you will). But *boy* is it difficult (1) to craft a true, good, and beautiful argument that can (2) connect with an undereducated populace that can no longer discern truth, goodness, or beauty.
I'm stymied.
Sep '10
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Terrific post.
Jul '10
Re: Blame it on Hanson
We can use what is culturally relevant to tell timeless truths. Use engaging visuals and storytelling to begin to win back enough of the culture to have a stage.
Also use humor like Andrew Klavan. I’m not exactly sure how to do this but I know it can be done. I do know it must be done with excellence.
May '10
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Nobody, imho, makes a persuasive argument more beautifully that George F. Will.
Sep '10
Re: Blame it on Hanson
I've just finished reading this book and have been yammering on about it on Ricochet like a Yammering Ya-Bob of Positivity. Hanson is evoking the Platonic transcendentals - The True, The Good, the Beautiful. But they alone couldn't save Athens.
I won't claim the Kesler-Murphy test is definitive: merely an indicator. Of what, I have not yet decided.
Edited on November 20, 2012 at 10:36pmSep '10
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Henry Scanlon
Nothing. That's the point. · 2 hours ago
Remind me to jot down the name of the photographer who snapped VDH's majestic, furrowed brow.
May '11
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Henry,
This was simply......beautiful.
May '10
Re: Blame it on Hanson
We can't all be Victor Davis Hanson, Dennis Prager, Thomas Sowell, Peter Robinson, Rob Long, James Lileks, Claire Berlinski (where are you), Mollie Hemmingway, &tc.
We can however be ourselves. We can learn the apologetics of conservative and libertarian thought, and practice saying them in our own voice until we can do it without too many ahs, ums, and sidetracks. We can work on presenting and teaching them to our friends and relatives, and hopefully inspiring them to do likewise.
Apr '11
Re: Blame it on Hanson
We stopped trying to make arguments at all. Instead we are trying to talk in metaphors. That only works if people listening have the cultural context. Increasingly American's have a pluralistic cultural context making metaphors and short hand explanations unreliable. Prior to Obama the voting public by and large shared the similar cultural contexts so short hand still had a place, now though with an expanded electorate they don't work anymore. We have to explain again why tax cuts lead to economic growth, not count on people remembering that they do, why government is not the solution to every problem, and why welfare hurts the poor, and society. It isn't enough to count on the old shorthand because it isn't there anymore. That having been said the truth is still there and it is on our side, so there is hope in explanations.
Jan '11
Re: Blame it on Hanson
When Republicans/Conservatives give answers about questions that we know are contentious and can be predicted well in advance, eg age of the earth, abortion, evolution, you name it - their answers typically and sadly are about as unbeautiful they can be.
Aug '10
Re: Blame it on Hanson
City Journal is my favorite magazine , everything about is right .
Nice post. VDH is an important observer . Knowing what he does about the history of mankind and governments, he goes beyond education to erudition. His modesty is only exceeded by his thoughtfulness and humility.
I'm guessing that is your photo...
Edited on November 21, 2012 at 2:23amNov '11
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Nick Stuart: We can't all be Victor Davis Hanson, Dennis Prager, Thomas Sowell, Peter Robinson, Rob Long, James Lileks, Claire Berlinski (where are you), Mollie Hemmingway, &tc.
We can however be ourselves. We can learn the apologetics of conservative and libertarian thought, and practice saying them in our own voice until we can do it without too many ahs, ums, and sidetracks. We can work on presenting and teaching them to our friends and relatives, and hopefully inspiring them to do likewise. · 1 hour ago
Yes. exactly. Exactly right, I think. Emerson said something along these lines... I wish I could find it...
Nov '11
Re: Blame it on Hanson
Yes, truly: Explanations that are pursuasive and beautiful to make those truths unmistakable. I love your phrase "hope in explanations."...
Jun '10
Re: Blame it on Hanson
A beautiful argument will only appeal to a cultivated mind. The common mind prefers the crude, rude, and simple (rap "music" comes to mind). Liberalism won the last election because it catered to the base instincts of the electorate (greed, envy, and fear). The thing every tyrant fears most is an educated mind (it's why they burn books). The thing every tyrant understands is that a mindless mob will do his bidding without ever understanding the consequences. And when the mob has outlived its usefulness, there's always the gulag.
Nov '11
Re: Blame it on Hanson
flownover: I'm guessing that is your photo... · 28 minutes ago
Edited 27 minutes ago
Yes. I would have liked to have gotten an angle that eliminated the bottle, but I didn't want to be intrusively scurrying around.
Thanks.
Edited on November 21, 2012 at 2:53am