Resisting temptation: The over-the-top metaphor
August 17th, 2008, 12:12 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Le Templar
Kevin Rogers (original photo at azfb.org)
I’ve been out of the office on vacation for a week or so, and I’ve spent some time this weekend trying to catch up on my Tribune reading. One item to catch my eye was in Sunday’s Perspective section by Kevin Rogers, president of the Arizona Farm Bureau.
A plain-spoken, straight-forward kind of guy, Rogers calls attention to a concern of huge importance that I haven’t seen reported anywhere else: the Legislature and the governor granted unfettered power to six state agencies to raise their fees to help resolve a potential $2 billion deficit. I fundamentally agree with Rogers’ conclusions.
But I was stopped cold by this paragraph:
“Some of our elected officials are using their taxing power while telling us they are not raising taxes. It’s a perfect scheme, as they can say the budget was balanced with no new taxes. Does this conjure up an image of Pontius Pilate washing his hands of responsibility?”
Uhm, did Rogers really compare adoption of the state budget to the crucifixion of Jesus?
Metaphors are valuable writing and debate techniques. But when it comes to politics, Americans have an unfortunate tendency to make wholly inappropriate connections. For the shock value, I guess, in an attempt to be heard over the ever-growing clamor created by our technological advances.
Want others to view a leader’s actions as evil? Compare whatever they have done to Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany, ignoring whole magnitudes of horror that usually separates a local politician’s vote or office management from the Holocaust.
The Tribune Editorial Board talks frequently about tempering own our comparisons and trying to use realistic metaphors when making a point. But I’ll admit it’s hard to maintain perspective when it seems like everyone else wants to immediately drag the most earth-shaking events from human history into everyday moments.
