JustOneMinute: Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?

Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?

David Brooks writes about the decline of dignity in our once-proud (and reserved) nation:

In so doing, [George Washington] turned himself into a new kind of hero. He wasn’t primarily a military hero or a political hero. As the historian Gordon Wood has written, “Washington became a great man and was acclaimed as a classical hero because of the way he conducted himself during times of temptation. It was his moral character that set him off from other men.”

Washington absorbed, and later came to personify what you might call the dignity code. The code was based on the same premise as the nation’s Constitution — that human beings are flawed creatures who live in constant peril of falling into disasters caused by their own passions. Artificial systems have to be created to balance and restrain their desires.

Can we have some contemporary examples?

Today, Americans still lavishly admire people who are naturally dignified, whether they are in sports (Joe DiMaggio and Tom Landry), entertainment (Lauren Bacall and Tom Hanks) or politics (Ronald Reagan and Martin Luther King Jr.).

Uhh, Joe Dimaggio? No to take anything away from the Yankee Clipper but how could a writer for the NY Times fail to mention Joe Torre, Derek Jeter, or Mariano Rivera (who didn't look so dignified here in October 2003, but that was OK.) Or further afield, how about Hank Aaron or Dr. J? My goodness, surely an example from the latter half of the twentieth century will have broader audience appeal.

In entertainment, Tom Hanks is a fine pick; Lauren Bacall is from a bygone era, but I will nominate Scarlett Johansson from the current crop of starlets as someone who seems heady, poised, and scandal-free. Of course, I say that as a non-People reader, so I could be hopelessly wrong; my fallback is Natalie Portman, subject to the same caveat.

As for political figures, after a pause for reflection I decided that Barack Obama was getting short shrift here and deserved a mention. However, Brooks got there in his Pop Culture Big Finish after trouncing Mark Sanford, Michael Jackson and Sarah Palin:

Americans still admire dignity. But the word has become unmoored from any larger set of rules or ethical system.

But it’s not right to end on a note of cultural pessimism because there is the fact of President Obama. Whatever policy differences people may have with him, we can all agree that he exemplifies reticence, dispassion and the other traits associated with dignity. The cultural effects of his presidency are not yet clear, but they may surpass his policy impact. He may revitalize the concept of dignity for a new generation and embody a new set of rules for self-mastery.

TO WHICH WE WILL ADD: Barack did maintain a quiet composure while giving McCain the finger. Also Hillary.

Posted by Tom Maguire on July 07, 2009 | Permalink

Comments

I'm with H&R...thats a great idea for JOM posters btw....kinda like a meet and greet. I'm looking at attending the Red State affair in Atlanta at the end of the month. good spot for partisan GOP nut jobs like me. Still 10 days before football practice starts, too.

Gibe details of ATL Tea Party, Hit. I'd love to start posting their stuff as it is.

Posted by: BobS | July 07, 2009 at 11:29 PM

Thanks for providing the link to your blog, Jim. I'd lost it.

Posted by: BobS | July 07, 2009 at 11:32 PM

((That's it. You drive north to ATL and pick up Jim and Stephanie -- then pick up DebinNC and head my way. Me and JMHanes will meet y'all somewhere on I85/I40, and then we'll storm DC. RichatUF, get in here if you're still around Tallahassee. Larry??? Who else???))

I'm in if I can afford it... mom is pushing me to go to Dallas with her in August to see my brother.

Posted by: Stephanie | July 07, 2009 at 11:35 PM