Tucson Weekly editor Dan Gibson says that he just can’t wrap his mind around James T. Harris. He just can’t seem to reconcile the fun and seriousness of one of the most popular radio hosts Tucson has ever had.
Dan is experiencing the terrific agony of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance: the ill that plagues those simple minds that desperately need to be deep and soulful.
Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance etc.
The only way a simple mind can reconcile the fact that a conservative can be funny, bright, conservative, and black is to hate him. For most bright people, dissonance rarely creeps in because they understand that two different truths can occupy the same space.
For the simple minded, or marginally educated – or ideologues, dissonance is devastating and must be avoided and resolved immediately. The fastest cure for the dis-ease is to hate the source of the malady. Marginalize it, dismiss it. Stay in your happy little cocoon of simplicity and stereotypes.
For the Dan Gibson types, Harris doesn’t fit the paradigm. In their world view conservatives must be:
Humorless
Straight bordering on non-sexual
Christian
Rigid
Simple minded
Paranoid
Angry
Soulless
Male or shrill female
White
Harris doesn’t meet Gibson’s standards. He doesn’t fit into the cookie cutter mold designed by bigoted minds in denial of their bigotry.
He, therefore, must be attacked. He, therefore, must be marginalized.
News flash to Dan…. conservatives are everywhere and you can’t figure out who they are just by looking at them. Many conservatives wear Birkenstocks, and many liberals are humorless.
Some conservatives are even gay, Muslim, funny as hell, bright, raunchy, thoughtful, and yes, even black.
We know it hurts to think about, but with a little effort, even the most tragically hip editor of a sex-ad-funded-pulp-piece can come to terms with life’s complexities.
The Arizona Daily Independent team
James T. Harris can be heard weekdays on 104.1FM 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.