The Hair on Fire Syndrome

Most Americans know that the Jewish religion requires its adherents to eat kosher.  They also know that this forbids consuming pork.  They might likewise have learned that shellfish are prohibited.  What many may not realize, however, is that there is a bar against eating meat and dairy dishes together.  In other words, no lasagna.

My grandmother tried to drive this home by warning of the consequences of a violation.  She told me that if I ate meat and milk at the same time, they would blow up in my stomach.  As I later told my KSU students, this is how I distinguish Jews from gentiles.  The gentiles are the ones with the exploded stomachs.

We are now experiencing one of the most contentious periods in all of American history.  Civil dialogue between partisans on the left and right has all but ceased.  Moreover, scarcely a day goes by without liberals accusing Donald Trump a heinous crime.  He has been called a traitor, an idiot, and a mass murderer.

So extreme have the accusations become that I believe it is fair to say many leftists suffer from a “hair on fire”syndrome.  Their apocalyptic visions are so radical that they seem to fear our immediate demise. It is as if their hair actually is on fire and they need to public to extinguish it.

That's why I now believe I can definitively distinguish liberals from conservatives.  Those whose hair has been scorched off are plainly progressives.  However many tresses they once had, by constantly setting it alight, they render themselves nearly bald.

I am also reminded of the story of the boy who cried wolf.  The villagers initially believed him when he proclaimed that their sheep were in danger.  It was only after a series of false alarms that they realized he had ulterior motives.  I hope moderate Americans are reaching a similar conclusion about Democratic protests.

My sister, who lives in northern New Jersey, tells me that her liberal friends are growing weary of their animosity.  Their anger about the alleged crimes of our president has been difficult to sustain.  Constantly mobilization for a fight or flight response has drained them of their energy. They literally shake from rage.

Not so the media and the Democratic politicians.  They realize that unless they win their battle with Trump, their prospects are dim.  In short, they understand that if he wins and they lose, they will loose big.  Their chances of resuming power might vanish for over a decade.

And so they go by the old maxim that if you decide to kill the king, you had better succeed or he will kill you.  Clearly Democrats are convinced that they should have driven their enemy from office long ago.  That they have not suggests he might be growing stronger with each passing day.

As a consequence, they are frantic. Thus any time they see the slightest opening they pounce.  Whether Trump misspeaks at a news conference, or children are separated from their parents at the border, or a qualified conservative is nominated to the Supreme Court, they ramp up the language.

  Consider how far they go.  This is a holocaust; that is a concentration camp; the other is total capitulation to a detestable foe.  My question is where do they go from here?  When you have burned your hair off, there is nothing more dramatic to do—except self-immolation.

But liberals don’t want to die.  They want Trump to die.  As a result, many have decided that calling for the dismemberment of I.C.E. is a non-starter.  They also fear that too baldly calling for Trump’s impeachment might arouse the same resistance as occurred with Bill Clinton.

So again I ask, where do they go?  There is something self-defeating about hysteria.  Political leaders are supposed to be measured and self-controlled. If not, we worry that they will make bad decisions under pressure.  Wasn’t this the concern before Trump got elected?

Didn’t Democrats say that Trump lacked the temperament to be president? By this didn’t they mean that he sometimes went off half-cocked and said intemperate things?  So how is it supposed to help them if they go crazier than he?

Burning hair is not invisible.  It throws an unflattering light on the distorted face of its instigator. It also smells terrible.  Doing this to oneself is therefore not astute. It advertises for all the world to see that one has become unhinged.  Perhaps it is time the left changed its strategy.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University