A Liberal Dose April 24, 2026
“Too Fast to Be
Furious: The Temperamental Drift”
Troy D. Smith
Historians are trained to argue, as are academics in
general. We are trained in doing deep research and finding sources, facts, perspectives,
root causes, repercussions, and context in relation to other aspects of
history. Then other historians do the same thing, in an effort to present a
counter-narrative, and “discourse” is created. I regard this process as an
ongoing conversation about historical topics, with each new generation of
historians (and their arguments) building on what came before, bringing us
closer to that elusive thing called “truth” -which, like Zeno’s paradox about
continually halving the distance between one object and another, can only be
approached but never fully reached. Although this process can be very dry, it
can also be very passionate and sometimes a little ugly (both in print and in
person). I like to define academic writing as writing something that will only be
read by ten people who hate you. Nonetheless, that discourse is expected to
take place with professionalism.
Political writing, especially opinion pieces, are also
arguments. It is usually not just an expression of some free-standing opinion
(like Andy Rooney’s pieces used to be on Sixty Minutes). It is most frequently
an effort to be persuasive to an audience and inspire them to tackle some issue
or effect some political change that the author finds (in their opinion) very
important. It is even more susceptible to becoming passionate or heated than
are interpretations of history. And that is expected. It is nearly impossible
to persuade anybody to do anything without first emphasizing the stakes.
Ideally, though, when two citizens with opposing views express them to one
another, even heatedly, they do so within certain parameters of civil behavior,
and with the viewpoint that their opponent loves their country as much as they
do, they just disagree on how best to express it. This has been true since
disagreements arose between Jefferson and Hamilton when the ink was barely dry
on the Constitution.
Boy, those were the days.
It’s been a long time
since civility or professionalism showed their heads on the public scene.
Pre-existing groups, such as political parties, have tended to cluster at
extremes -extremes in policy, and extremes in debating it. Talking politics
-even with people on your own side! -leads some individuals to go from 0 to 100
in a split-second where aggression is concerned. This has led not only to crass
rhetoric but to violence, and many factors have contributed to that situation.
But it keeps getting worse.
I have been warning of that in this newspaper throughout the
decade of the 2020s, in columns with titles like “Some of Y’all Need to Calm
Down and Take a Breath” (June 20, 2025). It has become practically expected,
and definitely not out of the ordinary, for a political columnist to be
threatened with physical injury. Of late, I’ve been receiving metaphysical
threats from people on my own side who disagree with me on some things, as have
some of the conservative-leaning columnists in this paper in the past. That
phenomenon has the same symptoms as if it were coming from the other side:
people jumping straight to anger and outrage, then on to harsh attacks, without
waiting to find out the facts. Facts themselves seem to have gone out of style.
Fury has become the driver for what passes for discourse these days.
Of course, there is very much a need for righteous anger
sometimes. But even that needs to be directed to the right sources, and
DIRECTED period, not like a shotgun blast. People who wish to effect change must
let even their anger be strategic. Anger without focus makes one easily misled
and misdirected, and easily herded into traps. I’m not singing kumbaya, I’m
still going to argue passionately for what I believe in -I’m saying don’t be
Sonny Corleone. Stop and think, don’t just react.
The times are dangerous enough already.
--Troy D. Smith
is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech University. His words
do not necessarily represent TTU, nor are they connected in any way with his
job- they are his own opinions on matters of public concern, and an expression
of his First Amendment freedom of speech.
Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE
You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE
A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
