Doubtful Demagogue

May 02, 2008, 7:40:34 AM by Eileen Weir - FAQ

Americans of a certain age remember journalist, satirist, essayist, and self-described cynic H.L. Mencken as a scholar of the English language and a biting critic of traditional American life and culture. An intimate of the great literary giants of the 20th century, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis, Mencken is known for his scrutiny of how Americans of his generation employed language and became himself among the most influential prose stylists of his age. Phrases that are now commonplace in our daily lexicon were coined by Mencken and stand as testimony to the precision with which he assigned definitions to both the hackneyed and innovative idiom that dominated political, social, and cultural mid-century debates. It was Mencken who added the modifier “Monkey” to the landmark Scopes Trial.

“One who will preach doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots,” is how Mencken defined a demagogue. Reactions to the off-season maneuverings of the Kansas City Chiefs reveal the town’s suspicion that the team is currently suffering under precisely this brand of demagogy. By and large, those who follow the team as invested stakeholders and those who report the news as paid correspondents have become consumed with discontent and doubt.

Some go so far as to cast Chiefs President, General Manager, and CEO Carl Peterson as ripening into Mencken’s demagogue, a man who they believe will utilize half-truths, distractions, and logical fallacies to reinforce desired conclusions. While a skilled craftsman of such deceit will stop short of blatant lies that when proven untrue compromise his credibility, he will violate logic, engage in half-truths and employ impassioned rhetoric and special emphasis designed to mislead naïve listeners.

What begot such mistrust? The failure to deliver a Super Bowl championship, that’s true. When Peterson burst on the scene twenty years ago all bright and shiny and new with the gleam of victory in his eye and the artisan of success on his arm in the form of Marty Schottenheimer who brought a resume of achievement and a working-class vita, Kansas Citians were keen to accept the renovation plan set in motion by the dynamic duo. Peterson provided the patrician polish to Schottenheimer’s steely Western Pennsylvanian sensibilities.

Over time the gloss has faded from Peterson. The refinement once admired by some Chiefs fans and assorted media has been re-categorized as arrogance, aloofness, disconnection. Schottenheimer is long-gone and no coach since has been positioned to recapture the energy and enthusiasm that characterized Marty’s tenure. Until now, as the team is again in the process of rebranding and rebuilding itself.

The situation in 2008 bears striking similarities to the inherited situation of 1989, but the feelings are worlds apart. Touted by the Hunt family as the savior of a flailing franchise, the Peterson of decades ago emerged as a charismatic leader who would balk at nothing to return a proud tradition to America’s heartland. He was regarded as a football man, a rare commodity who possessed both the football knowledge and business acumen to field a future champion.

The ensuing years – some disappointing, but many more, thrilling – have cracked the town’s confidence in Peterson’s ability to deliver on his promise of a Super Bowl contender. Like petulant children denied their sweet reward, we bleat, “You promised! You promised!” And indeed he did. But an unrealized goal, an ambition that has gone unfulfilled is not the same as a lie. Failing to reach the goal of Lombardi silver is far different than the false presumption that has infiltrated the Kansas City psyche, that which suggests that an NFL Championship is not the ownership’s motivation or the aspiration of the team’s top executive.

In stark contrast to some sports franchises that have run pillar to post in search of the magic formula that will deliver instant gratification, the Chiefs under Peterson’s charge have stayed the course, allowing sufficient time for instituted ideas to develop. Firing only one head coach in his 20-year term, and then advocating for his rehiring in a support position, Peterson has weathered the storms and remained committed and supportive of plans charted by the organization. Perhaps those plans were flawed, and lack of meaningful playoff victories suggests they were, but they weren’t conceived with defeat in mind. Sabotaging success was not at the heart of such planning.

What has caused Kansas Citians to sour on a GM who has reigned over the winningest stretch of Chiefs history? The thousands of ticket holders and many thousands more fans who routinely watch the televised games can form their opinions about the quality of product on the field and the experience of Arrowhead Stadium, but so few in the fan base have the needed access to Peterson to accurately and objectively consider the competency of his methods and the quality of his character.

That access is reserved for the members of the press charged with supplying the public with insights and observations based on a level of intimacy with the team personnel that fans are denied. The print and electronic media outlets that routinely provide Chiefs coverage are unavoidably the filter through which we all receive hard data and opinions gleaned from the up-close contact to which the rest of us are not entitled.

Indeed, it is the columnists and commentators who have trained us to mockingly call our leader “King” and tear at his robes. Peterson pays for the sins of the franchise, as he should, and is attributed the citation for all news and commentary coming out of One Arrowhead Drive though it wasn’t Peterson who called Greg Hill the “Real Deal”, that was the head coach, nor Peterson who retained the services of defensive coordinator Greg Robinson, another coaching decision. The GM never predicts the team’s record, that’s left to the press, who have swung yearly from a 16-0 to a 0-16 finale. Peterson didn’t say that all ticket prices would stay the same or go down, the media just reported it that way. The Chiefs didn’t dislike Jared Allen; according to press reports, Allen disliked them.

Methods of demagogy involve such means of deception as abuse of logic, false authority, emotional appeal, and personal attack. In the press’ urgency to reach a conclusion about significant events, it employs just such techniques by creating false dilemmas, assuming there are only two possible options, like “our draft picks are starters or they are busts,” and mischaracterizing any position that opposes their own and then creating arguments to support the mischaracterization. Recent trends in local media portray Peterson has being stripped from his power while simultaneously holding him responsible for every decision. The press, eager to criticize draft selections, free-agent signings, and game plans posture themselves as “experts” on complex systems of evaluation, negotiation, and strategy and convince audiences that they possess a level of knowledge and comprehension which they often do not.

Within the confines of Mencken’s definitions, the Chiefs faithful are certainly being treated poorly, but whom or what is the demagogue?

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A native of Binghamton, NY, with a B.A. in English Literature, Eileen Weir once served as manager of public information and media services for the Chiefs from 1992-2000. She currently is a society columnist for The Examiner.