Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The Indecency of Extremism
Only in the farthest fetters of far-left (i.e., progressive) la-la land would the "defending" of Sarah Palin against slurs such as "worthless piece of excrement", "media whore", and "trailer trash" (a group, ironically, that the progressives supposedly want to help) be considered as "defending Sarah Palin"...It's insane, folks - totally insane.....................................................................................................And this is far from the only time that this has happened to me. Three years ago on Lydia Cornell's site, one of her contributors wrote a post (hit-piece, actually) that basically accused John McCain of being a North Vietnamese collaborator. When I challenged (vociferously) this ridiculous charge, yep, you got it, I was shamelessly, moronically, and paranoiacally labeled as some sort of staunch supporter of McCain (never mind the fact I had repeatedly referred to Mr. McCain as "Bush on steroids", and was majorly leaning toward Senator Obama....OVER BARR! - I had zero intention of ever supporting Mr. McCain in 2008)........................................................................................................Here's another example. On that very same blog-site, one of the more infantile associates there (Mike/Bradley Hadley) tried to say that the McCain plane that that was blown up by friendly fire (the plane was on a destroyer waiting to take off when an errant missile struck it, McCain barely escaping with his life) constituted one of the planes "lost" by Mr. McCain (it was Mr. McCain's fault, in other words). Again, I defended the Senator and, again, I was accused of being a supporter of the man....It's like, don't these people realize that you can defend somebody......simply because it's the right thing to do and NOT because of political considerations? It really doesn't seem that they do.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
Another deceptive post from Will Hart, IMO. There are idiots on both sides. You ran into a few idiots on the Left... so I guess that means there aren't any on Right, and -- not only that -- but those idiots on the Left are representative of everyone on the "extreme" Left?
I agree with your defenses of McCain. Those criticisms are factually inaccurate. The "slurs" (as you call them) against Palin are opinions and contain no factual inaccuracies... except for the last one.
I don't particularly care for that insult, as it is a put down of poor people who live in mobile homes. Palin has become quite wealthy since quitting as governor, and has never lived in a mobile home (I'm pretty sure).
Post, after post, after post... when will your defense of Palin end? Maybe it's time for another mild rebuke of Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly?
Perhaps I should compose a post for my blog. I have a title in mind. I think I'll call it "The Idiocy of Moderation".
The Idiocy if Moderation? Come on WD...I once implored Voltron/Rusty et al. to consider that what's missing from the political dialogue these days is in fact moderation and the ability to compromise. Voltron's ribald reply was "I dont do shades of gray." We are where we are because of extremists on BOTH sides of the aisle who absolutely refuse to budge on their Idealogically entrenched positions...it's easy to label a few, eg Grover Norquist etc. I am a Blue Dog Democrat and I gather from your past post you dont think much of me. Know this. I sympathize with a lot of progressive issues. The TRUTH that neither you or the right wing loons grasp is this: If we are going to solve America's problems, we gotta start talking WITH each other not AT each other...the name calling has gotta stop and we have to learn that this isnt a winner take all power struggle...if we dont come to our senses soon, its all gonna go down the toilet. No one wants that. And when it happens what good will do to blame the other side...its too late then...We have to face up that we need higher taxes, spending cuts and entitlement reform...I believe this can be done responsibly so it doesnt blow out the economy, and the changes can be incremental and spread across a broad demographic. WD, you are to smart a guy to burn all your bridges....
Although I have my half-assed moments I agree with Marcus.
Comment read Marcus, but I decided to "half ass" it by composing "The Idiocy of Moderation" post I proposed earlier.
Despite not being fully assed, it is a rather good post, I think.
I agree with you in theory. If these negotiations were between blue dog Democrats, Moderate Democrats and Progressive Democrats... I think we could get somewhere. But the Republican radicals are clearly not negotiating in good faith.
We are where we are because of extremists on BOTH sides of the aisle? I think not.
Dervish: I took a little time to read your post. In truth it saddened me...You see I wish we could get to a point where discussions happen and people have philosophical differences...at least we could work around that. In this case in particuliar, you spent a lot of time bashing Will. I note with amusement you also tried to run me down as well...You did succeed in one thing. You reminded me why I choose NOT to get heavilly involved in the blogosphere. I WANT to get get along with people, even those who I dont agree with. If this makes me an "idiot" in your eyes, then I am proud to be an idiot. I want solutions...not keeping score, not having someone to blame. There is plenty of that to go around...its counterproductive. Solve the problems first and figure the other stuff out after...Guess I had it wrong. You do like burning bridges...
The middle "opinion", the media whore one, is quite sexist. But I've seen Palin bashed for being a woman and for being a mother, so this is par-for-the-course.
You'd think with Sarah Palin being as awful as she is, her detractors would stick to legitimate reasons to bash her (quitting, gaffes, lack of experience) and steer away from such attacks as claiming that she actually said she can see Russia from her house, claiming the "Sambo" hoax is true, or going on and on about how Palin's adult daughter went on a TV show.
One of the top leftist blog sites recently, as a way to try to get at Palin, bashed her son as a "retard" who could not dream.
These people, like those on the right who go nuts on Obama, need to realize that this sort of scorched-earth hatred of a politician can backfire.
Marcus: I want solutions ...not having someone to blame.
You BLAMED, and I quote, "extremists on BOTH sides of the aisle who absolutely refuse to budge on their ideologically entrenched positions".
It's only AFTER I accept this lie do you believe "we could get to a point where discussions happen".
This reminds me of what the Republicans are currently doing. "Negotiations" will begin as soon as the Democrats concede everything. Sorry, but that isn't the way this Progressive rolls.
BTW, I do not think you're an idiot. You might be, but I don't know you. I don't have enough information to make a determination. I'm going to say probably not, given your ability to put forth a somewhat cogent argument (even if I do disagree with it).
Will: What it is instead is a disgusting example of pure ad hominem...
This must be why you constantly accused Keith Olbermann of ad hominems. You're confused about what an ad hominem is. An ad hominem is when you base your case on the insult. If you make your case using facts, but also throw in an insult... it's just an insult, not an ad hominem.
BTW, I retract the portion of my earlier comment where I said, "I agree with your defenses of McCain. Those criticisms are factually inaccurate". After doing my own investigating I found that there appears to be something to the criticisms put forth by the Vietnam Vets Against McCain. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and I was wrong.
dmarks: ...her detractors would stick to legitimate reasons to bash her (quitting, gaffes, lack of experience) and steer away from such attacks as...
That is exactly what the majority of us do. As for "going on" about these other things... the only one I see doing that is dmarks.
IMO dmarks is taking offense at the "media whore" insult because it allows him to bash Democrats for being "sexist", even though people calling her that are not implying she is an actual whore (nor does the insult have anything to do with her being a woman). It has to do with her need for attention.
He isn't offended by the "trailer trash" comment because bashing someone for being poor is OK with him. Because when these hated poor people join unions and try to negotiate for higher wages they are being "greedy".
WD said: "IMO dmarks is taking offense at the "media whore" insult because it allows him to bash Democrats for being "sexist".
There are no quotes needed around sexist. That calling someone a whore is sexist is a fact. Now don't start defending this like you defended Rahm Emanual calling the mentally disabled "f***ing retards".
"...even though people calling her that are not implying she is an actual whore (nor does the insult have anything to do with her being a woman)."
It has everything to do with her being a woman.
"He isn't offended by the "trailer trash" comment because bashing someone for being poor is OK with him."
Actually, I am offended by this one too. There's so much bigotry being flung around that I can't get to it all.
"Because when these hated poor people join unions and try to negotiate for higher wages they are being "greedy".
Actually, not. I reserve my derision for the unions of the rich. However, everyone, rich or poor, should be paid for the real value of the work. No more or less.
Dervish: A couple of points if I may. Firstly when I mentioned "extremists on both sides of the aisle," I thought I was casually observing how we have arrived where we are now in a political/cultural context...eg Some Democrats blame Republicans for everything and vice versa. I thought that people would understand my comments in a broad context...pleading for for common ground and compromise. Forgive me if I was that unclear...It seems you're playing a semantics/gotcha game. Fine...you "win". Second about your "It's only AFTER I accept this lie do you believe "we could get to a point where discussions happen". Are you suggesting that I am a prevaricator? Isn't that a bit strong. You could have just said you disagreed with me or found my logic wanting...Third.You did a post called "The Idiocy of Moderation" which I read. You trashed Will quite a bit. You also used some comments in your post that I made here...I am a Moderate Dervish, so therefore, I must be an idiot in your eyes despite your denial. Thats OK...obviously I disagree with you. Fourth. I don't know that much about you either. What I do know is you get into a lot of arguements on this blog and others I have visited. Its OK to be passionate, but at what price? Think about it...
Marcus: I must be an idiot in your eyes despite your denial.
If you're going to tell me that my own words don't mean what I just told you they mean... then I'm going to tell you what your words mean...
When you referred to "extremists" you did not intend your comment to be taken in "a broad context". Reread Will's post... he is calling Progressives extremists. Since your comment was IN RESPONSE to his post, I NATURALLY assumed you were doing the same.
I was not "playing a semantics/gotcha game". Also, I'm not suggesting you are a prevaricator. The argument you put forth is a lie. I don't think it's your lie, just one you've bought into.
Marcus: You get into a lot of arguements on this blog and others I have visited.
I don't know what other blogs you are referring to. This is basically the only one where that happens. You must be thinking about someone else.
Just for the record, I don't think that ALL progressives are extremists. Lawrence O'Donnell, for example, doesn't come across as an extremist. But, then again, is Lawrence O'Donnell a progressive? I don't know. I do know that I consider Olbermann, Schultz, Maddow, those clowns from "The Nation" and that Moulitsas guy to be extremists. They are to the left what Mrs. Bachmann and Hannity are to the right.
Post a Comment