One RightWingNut That Still Doesn’t Get It…
One of the most precious attributes of America and being American is the right to have and express opinions openly and without fear of reprisal. At least up until now. Since our founding, America has grown and prospered because we encourage diversity of opinion. It is the negotiation, the back and forth, the give and take, all done with respect of the other, that combine to make us uniquely American. It’s the jocular old saw, I disagree with what you say, but will defend to your death your right to say it.
Buried over there in the sidebar Blog Links under the category Places2Go is was a blog that I have read on an occasional basis for the last year, and almost daily for a few months prior to that. The content tends to be quite eclectic, like mine, and frequently has something I find interesting. My diminishing frequency of visiting, reading, and commenting was my quiet way of rejecting the increasingly noxious pronouncements coming from that blogger, all in support of everything Bush. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it. Same goes for my writing. Recently, the tone has shifted from support of his position and beliefs, to an all-out, bilious attack on those who do not believe as he does. I suppose he learned it from the master — think Bush and the firing of an octet of federal prosecutors who were not completely loyal to him and his political agenda.
This week, this blogger stepped over the line with this (his spelling and grammar have been left intact):
I think that the worst enemy that America has is not AL Qaida and their ilk, but some of her own people…the American Left supports Islamo fascism as it used to support Socialism and Communism. In fact it supports almost any anti-American group.
Excuse me, Mr. RightWingNutJob. Though I detest labels, I am a part of what I assume you call the American Left, and I do not support any of those things. He continues with:
These people take advantage of free speech to denigrate and demean America. They actively campaign to bring America to her knees.
Sadly misinformed at best. Unadulterated bullshit at worst. I’m not sure why I’m even devoting the space
and time to talk about this poor unfortunate soul. He obviously has no clue what he’s talking about. He is probably in a deep funk as his beloved Bush spirals downward into oblivion. Depressed? Perhaps. Dangerous? Probably not, but could be, if pushed. When people feel threatened, when their value system is under attack, when their world is starting to crumble, they lash out incoherently and indiscriminately at the perceived enemy. I feel truly sorry for this guy because I think he is basically a decent human being. Just terribly misguided and lost. There are others out there like him. Be careful…
8 Comments so far
Why do you have to have SO many blogs listed in Places2Go Winston? I’ve been trying to figure out who this guy is. I’ve linked through the C’s…had to quit. Now you’ve got me curious…I’ll be back.
I’ve cut back my visits on a couple of blogs for the same reason. Maybe I’m just a wimp, but I like to visit where I feel at home and in my comfort zone and with those who have the same or similar beliefs as I do. I’m also uncomfortable with people who make blanket generalizations without any reason or proof behind them.
I totally agree with you. On my recent road trip, I had on various talk radio programs to pass the miles and sometimes right wing was all there was. I listened to some of the worst comments, the most degrading to freedom and with the least respect for differences of opinion and they didn’t come from the hosts. Sure the hosts milked it but it was their callers who were so scary. The attitude of many of them is that anybody who disagrees is an enemy of this country. Tom Delay has a new book out which is going to feed that frenzy as he calls Democrats like Nazis for how they think. I don’t call that far right extreme group Nazis for that was a particular group but the philosophy that grew them was fascism and that is what the right is spouting– religious and political patriotic dogma that justifies any of their actions. Thank you for your post today. I have left a few blogs for the same reason.
To save Joy and others who might be inclined to go looking, I have delisted the offending blog, at least made it invisible to readers. My first inclination was to leave it there. After all, I do have many other blogs listed that have healthy differing views from my own. I will always encourage visitors to offer different or alternative views in a respectful manner. But I have no interest in listing or promoting heinous attacks on anyone or any group, Florida and Alabama football excepted. Hate mongers, regardless of political or religious identification, are not wanted or needed here.
I believe we may in danger of reaching a tipping point in the delicate balance between two legitimate points of view - a situation made worse by extreme voices on both sides of the aisle, and by the increasing tendency of many to listen only to those who are of the same mind.
These are trying times, but we should remember that, as in any relationship, neither party can lay claim to sole possession of the truth. Under duress, it becomes even more difficult to communicate; yet, ironically, that is often the time when it is most necessary, and most fruitful.
The alternative is a widening of the gap, and if anyone out there, like me, has been through a divorce, you know how bad it can get. In the meanwhile, America’s enemies are real, they are watching us closely, and if we fail to deal with them effectively, they will destroy us. Like it or not, a house divided cannot stand.
Thanks, Winston, for being one of those increasingly rare individuals who are willing to go the extra mile to honestly consider the opinions of those you disagree with. Loving is hard. Hating is like rolling off a log.
Keep on doin’ the Lord’s work.
There are others out there like him. Be careful…
Yep–and some of them are writing books. Get a load of the sub-title.
In fairness, though, neither is the “Right” monolithic in its thinking. There’s been considerable backlash among well-respected conservatives against D’Souza’s book, which is both heartening and as it should be. They see through its Coulteresque argument, the author’s Hoover Institute affiliation notwithstanding.
Having said that, though, the very fact that a major publisher would deem that there’s enough of a market for a book with such a thesis to make it profitable to publish it should, as you say, Winston, make us careful.
“AL Qaida and their ilk” isn’t he related to AL Gore.
Here is an example of the same sort of unthinking rhetoric–this time, though, from leftists standing in a circular firing squad. It’s a long post, but instructive because, as Winston notes in his post, sometimes people we otherwise think of as fellow travellers also can say things that astound with their utter intellectual vacuity, not to mention the sacrifice of any sense of principles on the altar of ideology.
My step-dad is the same way. To be un-Shrub is to be un-American. He and I have agreed to not discuss politics.