Just when I think political pundits can’t sink any lower, they excavate a fresh sub-basement beneath the Twitter hellscape. The post below, twisting as it does an imperfect father’s gesture of love for his tormented son into something perverse, turned my stomach:
You know the jokes: Biden the Groper. Creepy Uncle Joe. Personal destruction is, unfortunately, all of apiece in today’s political landscape, where a civil debate over differing principles is as antiquated as the horse-and-buggy. But this, my God. How did we come to this?
Many of you know I lean conservative in my politics. I’m not a Republican, but I do remember laughing out loud at Joe Biden’s comical attempt to appear like a legal scholar during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. The point is, I have no interest in defending him or any other politician.
What I do want to defend, however, is fatherly affection. We have embraced such a deep level of cynicism in this culture that our instinct is to assume a demonstrably affectionate man harbors sexual motivations. When I mentioned to a gathering of my sons’ teen friends that I was preparing a talk on Mister Rogers, one of them asked, without a shred of irony: “Wasn’t he a child molester?”
This is what we’ve taught our children: that there is nothing pure left in this world. That the love of men is inherently suspect. That men don’t kiss men unless they want to have sex with them. We’ve turned stranger danger into a blanket indictment not only of affection, but of fatherhood.
And it’s a goddamned lie. You don’t have to like the man in that picture, or emulate his politics or his business dealings or anything else. But do emulate his unabashed love for his son, because it’s too rare. Hug your children. Kiss them. Especially your sons. God knows we need more love in this world, not less.
Thank you Tony. We all hugged and kissed for as long as Daddy was alive and I cherish the love he had for his family. I wouldn’t trade one hug or one kiss for anything in this world.
I read Vice President Biden’s book. Hunter would sleep in the same hospital bed with Beau while Beau was recieving cancer treatments. Like when they were little boys and survived the car crash that killed their Mother and infant sister. Thank you for writing this beautiful piece.
I’m not a big Biden fan, but damn if I’m not going to criticize a father for showing affection to his son. We need more of this from fathers. Not less. Mr Carrillo can go pound sand.