The Edgar Syndrome
February 6, 2005 · By Tom Cerber
In the 1997 movie, “Men in Black,” Vincent D’Onofrio plays Edgar, a man whose body has been taken hold of by aliens planning to conquer the world. With the help of great make-up, he does a splendid job portraying a poor slob whose body can’t quite handle being occupied by a much larger and gangly alien organism. His contortioned face always has the confused look of someone faced by 2 diametrically opposed thoughts, and who cannot ever hope to reconcile them.
Sometimes politics goes the way of poor Edgar, and it’s often amusing watching politicians and ideologues make Edgar like faces in trying to justify their views. One might say that Jean Chretien had a permanent Edgar face and Paul Martin is developing one.
The most recent example of the Edgar Syndrome in the news is the Pink Pistols. They’re a gay group that happens to support the US 2nd Amendment right to carry weapons, and they’re opposing a proposed San Francisco law to prohibit weapons. One can only imagine what kind of reaction they get when they go to NRA conventions, but they’re undoubtedly inspiring Edgar Syndrome among their liberal friends.
Readers are invited to submit their candidates for the best example of Edgar Syndrome they can find. Submissions that ridicule any ideological viewpoint are welcome as long as the examples show the ideologue or politician trying to reconcile two things that cannot be reconciled.
Actually, being in favor of gay rights and the right to armed self-defense involves no contradictions; both are connected though the idea of personal freedom and responsibility.
So any dissonance you’re feeling is a result of conflicts between your own stereotypes squirming around under *your* skin. Hope you manage to work out your Edgar Syndrome. :-)
-Maggie Leber-
Pink Pistols Delaware Valley
http://www.pinkpistols.org
I agree with the lady.
I think the AFA has a similar effect on people (Armed Females of America). Note to Maggie above, it’s not the Pink Pistols suffering the syndrome, it’s that they inspire that dissonance in others.
It’s too early in the morning for me to hunt up right-wing links (I happen to have AFA bookmarked). But I could find a lot among the ‘Intelligent Design’ crowd, I’m sure.
[...] UPDATE: The Sun Media chain has an obnoxiously biased report of the debate in favor of Martin. The CBC is more balanced. Yeesh, I never thought I’d say “CBC” and “balanced” in one sentence. I’ve been hit with the Edgar Syndrome. [...]
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+1 to what Ms. Leber said.
In my circle of shooters, the reaction has been “Cool. I know someone who ought to join.”