House of Eratosthenes

As more and more is known about the murderer, it becomes clear that Jared Lee Loughner was a psychotic nut unmotivated by politics either on the Left or the Right. The Left, however, still wasted no time exploiting this tragedy to smear Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, the Tea Party, and conservatives in general. If you needed an example of how unhinged they have become, you need look no further than their reaction to the Tucson shootings.

Tragedy -> Strategy.

What cracks me up, is these are the people calling for more civility in our discourse. They lead by example until something remarkable and unfortunate happens, and then here comes the tortured logic to somehow blame it on…

…on…how did Our Holy Leader put it? “People who don’t think like them” or something?

See, here’s the thing. A civil discussion, like a truce that halts a war, is a mutual decision or else it is nothing at all. I’ve said this before (somewhere) — if I say one and one make three, and you say one and one make two, we can have a civil discussion about that. You just go “Hey, I can call Morgan a dumbass who doesn’t know how to add…or I can refrain from doing that…and so I shall refrain.” Simple as that. But! If my position is: One and one are three, and anybody who says anything different is a sexist and a bigot, a mutually respectful conversation is no longer possible.

That’s where they are. What they are doing, is name-calling; but they do it in such a way that it doesn’t look like name calling because they work according to the opt-out. “Agree with me on this, and maybe you aren’t prejudiced.”

And, maybe the Tucson incident is not all your fault. But if you don’t go along…all bets are off.

Tragedies big, tragedies small, they’ll do it every time. As long as it’s a tragedy that most of us will be talking about for awhile, the “blame value” is there and they’ll keep zeroing back in to this point like a homing pigeon.

The most surprising thing about this is how unsurprising it all is.

I sometimes wonder if maybe I am as stupid as they claim. After every outrage I think: ok, this is it; surely they won’t exploit this one for partisan political advantage. It’s just too horrible. Not even the left can be that base…

….and then they do, and I’m reminded once again that if liberals had any principles, shame, or decency they’d be conservatives. What does that say about me that I have to keep learning this same basic lesson over and over again?
- Severian | 01/16/2011 @ 14:24
What does that say about me that I have to keep learning this same basic lesson over and over again?

Well,…taking you literally, it means you haven’t given up hope. And Good On Ya for that, Severian. If’n ya REALLY mean it.
- bpenni | 01/16/2011 @ 16:40
Buck,

I vacillate constantly about whether or not I “really mean it.” Living as I do in a college town, most liberals I know are your basic BoBos –bourgeois bohemians. They are so insulated from reality by a soft blubbery layer of money and privilege that I honestly think they know not what they do. They don’t really know anyone who watches Fox or listens to Glenn Beck, and so it’s easy for them to give in to discreditable highschoolish behavior. I keep thinking that if they ever confronted a real tragedy, or encountered a person remotely like Laughner, they’d have to reevaluate things. They really are kind and decent people at heart, I believe — almost as kind and decent as they they love to announce they are. But since everyone they know is a fat rich suburban yuppie like themselves, it’s just so much more fun to hate on Sarah Palin. It’s ugly, but they’re redeemable.

On the other hand, there are toxic little trolls like Kos out there. He means it. He has to — he runs conventions where internet weirdos emerge blinking into the light of day; he must see lots of stone-cold psychopathy. This is equally true of conventions on the right, I’m sure, and that’s the point — crazy is as crazy does, whether the delusional architecture is right or left or Venusian. Everyone who has any experience knows this, but guys like Kos not only refuse to acknowledge it, they slaver over the opportunity to exploit it. Fuck those guys with a barbed-wire dildo — they’re the ones that make me abandon all hope.
- Severian | 01/16/2011 @ 18:08

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Top Ten Unhinged Reactions to the Arizona ShootingSunday, January 16th, 2011

Top Ten Unhinged Reactions to the Arizona Shooting
Sunday, January 16th, 2011