It's My TV….It's My Peanut Butter

Would we have coffee with…Elizabeth Carter?

Before I go any further let me own up to something:  I am sure at some point in time or another I have committed the crime I am about to vent about.  I can’t remember doing it, but I can totally see myself doing it.  So yeah… I’m being a hypocrite but whatev… at least I own it.

When I used to teach college composition courses we used to study a Sojourner Truth speech.  I think it was called “Ain’t I a woman.”  I used it as an example of an effective argument.  In it she points out that Jesus was the creation of God and a woman—that man had nothing to do with it.  My students usually recognized the technique she was using; I like to call it “Playing the Trump card.”  Essentially she was saying “God believes in women’s rights.”  In nineteenth century America where if you didn’t believe in God you certainly didn’t admit it in public, such an argument was tough to counter.  While I totally agree with Sojourner on the whole women’s equality thing, I also recognize it as a dick move.

My problem with Trump cards is that as in that instance they are rarely valid arguments.  They are simply a move which puts your opponent into a position where if they continue arguing they look like an asshole.

My Dad likes to play it.  In his case the Trump Card is the fact that he was a veteran of the US Air Force.  Now this is not to in anyway trivialize that because our service men and women deserve our utmost respect.  And to do what he did requires a degree of patriotism I will probably never fully comprehend.  But not so long ago we were arguing about the “Pledge of Allegiance.”  I have a problem with the fact that Congress edited someone’s work without permission of his estate.  I have a special problem with the way they edited it.  My father disagrees.  He ends our argument with something along the lines of, “Having worn the uniform I understand it in a way you never can.”  If I had continued to argue I would have sounded like I was disrespecting his military service, which I had no desire to do.  But honestly… no, his military service does not give him special understanding of the intellectual property issues at stake or the value of separating church and state.  But Trump Card played, game over.

My brother played it last week.  We were arguing about the value of standardized testing in our schools.  I think that it’s ultimately harmful to students, he disagrees.  In the midst of a heated argument about everything wrong with our education system he pops out with, “You don’t understand.  You’re not a parent.” No.  I’m not a parent.  I’m just the person who has to teach these kids after they graduate from high school without learning how to write an essay.  And I nearly argued as such.  But everyone else present nodded in recognition of his special insight and I was stuck.  Had I continued to argue I would have been trivializing parenting.  Trump Card played, game over.

So anyway, Trump Cards are convenient, and fun to play, but keep in mind, doing so makes you an asshole.