Grasping at truth: Three examples of good writing about difficult topics

One thing about quarantine: It has given me time to think about how I practice the craft of writing.

I'm lucky: I've been able to make a living at writing -- both reporting and opinion writing. For most of the last decade or more, I've had a regular outlet (newspaper syndication, PhillyMag, and The Week) to express my opinions before large audiences. I don't take it for granted.

But I always know I could do better. And I sometimes suspect I'm doing a two-dimensional version of something that might better contribute to the public conversation if I could somehow express it in three dimensions.

I want to point to three pieces of writing done in recent years that I take as a model -- not just for writing, but for thinking, and maybe even doing this job in a way I consider to be moral.

And here are the lessons I've learned from them:

Is Joe Biden 'no better' than Trump?

At The Week, Damon Linker discusses how the Trump campaign can use the sex assault charges against Joe Biden.

The Biden campaign's effort to portray itself as a moral reset from the debasement of the Trump years will run into this counter-message like a power sander. The Trump campaign will strip it away with a barrage of paid ads, prime-time cable news diatribes, and a hailstorm of tweets — all of it repeating the message (illustrated with clips from and about the Kavanaugh hearings) that Biden and his fellow Democrats are every bit the BS artists that Trump is, only they won't admit it. They'll lie about it, right to your face.
 To Democrats this prediction may sound implausible. 

There's no way that Trump, a man whose mendaciousness is well established and total, can possibly succeed in portraying Biden as more dishonest than he is. But he won't have to show that Biden is worse, just that he's no better.

Emphasis added.

One of our last dinners hosted before the quarantine was with a very old friend of mine -- smart, in a position of considerable community responsibility -- who didn't say how he voted. But he wasn't all that concerned by Trump. All the politicians were corrupt, dishonest and evil, he said. At least with Trump, there are no illusions.

It's troubling that Trump's appeal is rooted in cynicism. What's scarier is: That cynicism might not be entirely misplaced. 

Three ways Mike Pence's refusal to wear a mask sums up Trump-Republican ideology

More about this:

To me, this sums up Trump-Republican ideology pretty neatly, in three ways:

* Trumpist Republicans don't have to play by the rules. The president ran his 2016 on a law and order campaign, but has notoriously been the most lawless president in living memory -- and that includes Nixon. Rules are for other people, not for the powerful elites and their friends.

* Trumpist Republicans disdain those they see as "weak." The GOP’s general attitude toward the vulnerable members of society is: "I got mine, you can go to hell." Mike Pence believes he doesn't have the coronavirus, so why should he act in a way that protects others from from the disease? And he can buy health insurance, so why should Republicans worry about ensuring that poor people can afford medical care? Or food? Or anything else?

* Trumpist Republicans are willing to let those weak people shoulder the consequences of their actions. Of course, people can be asymptomatic and still spread coronavirus, which means there is a chance that Pence's refusal to wear a mask increased the chances that patients and staff at Mayo were exposed to the virus. Not a significant chance, but still. Similarly, the GOP project largely is about protecting corporations from dealing with the consequences of their actions -- which is why environmental and worker safety protections have been gutted under Trump.

Pence's refusal to wear a mask is in some ways a small act. But it speaks volumes.

About the Blue Angel flyover

I've seen a couple of Blue Angels shows in my life and found them utterly thrilling.

But.

I'm concerned that we as a country can't seem to honor hospital workers without resorting to displays of militarism. It's supposed to look strong. But it seems like it is probably a weakness.

The toxic masculinity of GOP elites

C'mon, man.

I'll wager Trump and Pence don't wear masks because they see sickness -- and concessions to it -- as weakness. That's macho strutting at its most foolish. But it's also par for the course.

A Biden versus Trump debate will get very ugly

I'm reading this Peter Beinart piece about the sex assault allegations against Joe Biden -- I'm neutral on whether they're true, but think the utmost effort should be made to try to find out if they're true -- and a thought occurs:

If there is a presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, it will probably end up with fierce, ugly dueling accusations of sexual assault between the two. 

Greatest country in the world.

Coronavirus Cinema: TOOTSIE

Three thoughts about TOOTSIE, coming up after the trailer:

* TOOTSIE is a fantasy about a bunch of New Yorkers who act like they've never seen a drag queen before.

* Sydney Pollack is one of our great directors, and you can see his command of craft here. One example: We do get a montage of Michael Dorsey's transformation into Dorothy Michaels - but not until we've already met Dorothy. Pollack is confident enough that we have Michael in one scene, cut to the next with Dorothy, and he knows the audience can follow along without a big buildup. You don't see that often.

* That said, I saw this in the theater in 1982. It was the first rom-com type movie where I was confused at the end. Dustin Hoffman's character had betrayed Jessica Lange thoroughly - and her father - and yet at the end both grudgingly accepted him back in their lives? I call bullshit.

 That's why they call it a fantasy, I guess.