Reverend Al and Style

The posters on a political discussion board I visit once in a while were bad-mouthing Al Sharpton. All of them were doing it -- the wingnuts, the liberals, and the responsible moderates with furrowed brows who politely insist that both sides of an issue be given a respectful hearing.

After all, shouldn't Vlad the Impaler be allowed his little say?

Anyway, the wingers were reaming Reverend Al in the peculiar manner they style a "style," which consists of one assertion following another assertion following another assertion, ad infinitum, with never a hint of concrete detail.

I don't call that a style, I call it "How to write an "F" paper."

If the first sentence of your essay is, "Joe is a thief," then your second sentence better not be something like "He's also a red-assed baboon with big hairy ears that stick out." If it is, you're well on your way to writing an "F," and you know what that stands for. On the other hand, if your second sentence is something like, "I saw him steal ten dollars from the cash register when we were both working at Burger King," I'll read on without sneering.

Evidence. Concrete detail. Assertions backed with facts. Without them, you're not making an argument, you're just blowing smoke out your ass.

Anyway, Al Sharpton. Al Sharpton is a poophead. Al Sharpton is a radical left-wing agitator with extreme tonsorial values. Al Sharpton likes Abba and Barry Manilow, etc. So they say.

Al Sharpton? I like the guy. He's matured a lot over the years, particularly since he got stabbed.

What do I mean by matured? Well, early on he was involved in that Tawana Brawley nonsense. But now he says things like this:

I see people all over our country getting reenergized and re-involved. And maybe I've seen too much in life to give up. You know, I was there during the first elections in South Africa. I stood there and watched them take down the apartheid flag and raise the new flag. I was there when David Dinkins was sworn in as the first black mayor of New York. So when I'm feeling pessimistic, I think of events like that. And the words of Dr. King come back to me: "The darkest moment is just before dawn."*

So don't get frustrated folks. Take it from Reverend Al, there are some good things happening.

When I see the way Cindy Sheehan is giving wingnuts heart attacks, apoplectic fits, brain hemmorhages, and rage-induced, vein-popping, screaming breakdowns, I know something good is happening.

And something even better is about to happen. Look to the end of September.

*From a recent interview in the on-line magazine Salon.