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Some of My Best Friends are War Criminals (Or: Against Niceness)
There is nothing inherently wrong with being nice: let’s get that out of the way first. There is also something good, indeed obligatory, about engaging in civil, rational discourse, all other things being equal. The latter is sadly in short supply nowadays. But if there’s nothing inherently wrong about niceness, there is nothing inherently right about it either. Practical wisdom discerns when it is the time and the place to be nice. It also helps us perceive when it isn’t.
Ellen DeGeneres portrays, on the small screen, a genuinely nice person, and there no solid evidence, at least as far as I can see, that she isn’t a nice person in real life as well. It’s was refreshing to see her nice personality get some exposure in the 1990s, an era drenched in ironic cynicism and icy sarcasm. (David Foster Wallace’s essay “In Unibus Pluram” is the ur-text of criticism of that empty decade. Despite all its confusions and overstatement, the essay captures the Zeitgeist of the Clinton era beautifully.) An added bonus is that DeGeneres is lesbian, and in a decade where LGBTQ reality was still being denied, her presentation of LGBTQ people as not just human but friendly and likeable was a very, very welcome event. So, credit where credit is due.
Ms. DeGeneres is a friend to former President George W. Bush. They were recently…
