# So, is that the Point? By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-12-09 Be careful what you write, it might be used against you. In a recent [confirmation hearing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veC4nWoRzJA), Sen. Josh Hawley questioned Colleen Shogan as to her views on anti-intellectualism in the Republican party, asking her if the point of her article was “that republicans are stupid.” What is fascinating about the questioning is that Sen. Hawley exhibits anti-intellectualism in his questioning by reducing Shogan’s point to stupidity. This exchange provides a glimpse of several issues confronting our society. First, using one’s previous writings out of context sends a message that one should think twice before exploring a topic intellectually. Second, it highlights how a technical concept like “anti-intellectualism,” which was used as a way of categorizing rhetoric can be selectively reinterpreted as an insult like “stupid,” and then attack the writer based on one’s inaccurate interpretation rather than what was written. Lastly, the focus of the article was on the rhetorical selections of Presidents, not the people of the political party. In many of the direct questions, Shogan responded, “absolutely not,” indicating emphatically that what Hawley was insinuating was simply inaccurate. It would seem plausible that Sen. Hawley understood all this before questioning, but that the article provided a basis for the type of performance Hawley desired. Through the appropriation of the article, Sen. Hawley was able to assert that Democrats are elitist and that they are attempting to “weaponize” the National Archives and Records Administration. So, what is the point? Perhaps this is all just an adult manifestation of the kindergarten insight, “I’m rubber and you’re glue, everything bounces off of me and sticks to you,” and that it isn’t that Shogan “thinks” Republicans are stupid, but rather that Sen. Hawley “knows” that they are. #### Related Items