The blog world is certainly not for the political faint of heart. Personal attacks, harsh language, and hyperbole are routine. But in this post, Michelle Malkin sheds every last vestige of decency: "THE GHOULS OF THE LEFT - They support the troops...by partying over their deaths." Her post links to a Little Green Footballs entry that makes the same odious argument, namely that this group is throwing "parties" on the day that we cross 2000 U.S. military deaths in Iraq.Tom Tomorrow, quoting this same passage, notes that the eternal question is whether Malkin and her kind are lying or stupid when they spew these absurdities.
Here's how the actual events are described: "Events to mark the 2,000th reported U.S. military death will range from candlelight vigils to public actions that illustrate the size of the death toll." Surely, these aren't "parties." I spent years in Beirut, I lived and breathed war, I watched friends get blown to pieces, I've seen horrors I hope Malkin never has to see. Those who are fighting to stop this war deserve the utmost respect, whether or not you agree with their politics. Prominent bloggers like Malkin should know better than to soil our public discourse with this kind of garbage...
My vote? She's lying.
Those who demonstrate a willingness to tell whoppers of this sort can hope for a big payoff from the right-wing media barons. The example of David Brock proves the point. His money spigot ended the day he decided to stop fabricating.
If I may once again phrase the matter in the terms provided by that old Beatles song: Propagandists like Malkin help the "bigger piggies" maintain control over the "little piggies." The consumers of right-wing media remain trapped in an alternate universe from which most will never escape.
The sub-human brutes who have filled their Southern-fried brain cells with such whoppers as "intelligent design" and the Tim LaHaye interpretation of the Apocalypse are the same factophobes who still believe that Saddam engineered 9/11 and that Hillary is a pagan socialist. These creatures are no longer human. They are the Borg. They cannot reason independently.
For the rest of their pitiful lives, they will believe -- really and truly believe -- the myth of leftists dancing in the streets to celebrate the 2000th death. The mere absence of any partying leftists cannot puncture the hallucination.
5 comments:
The reality wars are coming.
You make a very tellling point, somewhat indirectly, perhaps even unintentionally: politics and religion, for many people, seem to access the same realm of unreason in the brain, the same prejudices, the same inclinations to believe nonsense, the same suspension of ratiocination which even the lowliest of us possess.
This hysterical revelatory element in American politics, which looks so much like our religion, is nothing new -- only look at the "mystical" basis of "national socialism" in the Nazi era. And it obviously servies the interests of politicians who can't abide the "reality-based community", because knowledge would put an end to their thievery.
y'know, every time we approach a 'real' revelation and potential shift away from this surreal nightmare we've been forced to survive (last year about this time when it looked like bush could lose), i find myself wondering, how do we face that shift?
reality wars, indeed. how do we approach these folks who have fallen to cult-think, swallowed the kool-aid, and drowned out reason and humanity with their psychotic harpy screeching.
a while back i ran across (i think on commondreams, though i cannot find it; will share if/when i do) the most intriguing reflection on the cagey humor of - brace yourselves - jesus of nazareth.
yeah. i know. but it was written by a scholar, and it rang true. an example was the old story of jesus telling his followers to offer to carry the soldier's load for two miles when they asked for one. now, on the surface, this sounds like simple, xian compassion and generosity of spirit. but the writer pointed out that, in fact, in those days there was a law that a subject of rome was required to carry their soldiers' loads for one mile, but one mile only. if a subject was carrying a solder's load for more than that one mile, he would be shamed beyond masculine recognition.
the message was, then, we need to keep ourselves to the high road, particularly because in this situation it is so easy to remain on a road higher than all this corruption around us.
i'm heartened by the report (rawstory) that the dems are already strategizing their response to the indictments to include copious references to the vast rightwing corruption.
hopefully this will be done with the sighs and shaking heads of disappointment and not the glee and 'gotcha' guffaws that most of us can hardly contain.
this is a golden moment, and we all need to take it very very seriously.
and this is to ironic, but this seems to be the example our fearless leader is setting.
(geez, these snide smirking fits ARE hard to contain!)
lll -- I don't know about you, but if Fitzmas turns out to be even one-tenth as satisfying as I hope, I won't even try to disguise my glee.
I don't at all mind the reference to JC. As Ann Coulter reminded us -- when she admitted that when she told New Yorkers "Merry Christmas" she meant "Fuck you" -- Fundamentalist Christianity has nothing whatsoever to do with anything said by the fella who putatively founded the faith.
Remember that JC was above all else a revolutionary. In that historical context, his Christian ethos was unheard-of, and for that reason dangerous. In the end, that is why he was killed.
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