But sometimes Godwin's law just isn't good enough. What we need is a Hutu analogy.
The Hutus, you will recall, massacred hundreds of thousands of members of the Tutsi tribe in Rwanda in 1994, often in the most brutal ways, with machetes and other face-to-face brutality.
According to Digby at the popular left-wing Hullabaloo blog, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and the rest of the right-wing noise machine are setting the stage for another Rwandan-style massacre of American liberals, Being A Tutsi:
Right wing radio is hate radio. And Glenn Beck is fucking lunatic. And they reach many millions of people every day. Will any of those people act? Well, they already have on an individual basis. But this daily ranting about the evil of liberalism and the inhumanity of liberals seems to finally be reaching some sort of critical mass in which those on the right who hear nothing but this sort of raving all day long have come to believe that liberals -- not liberalism -- must be eliminated. I realize that we won't have teabaggers running across the countryside lopping off people's hands with machetes. But the sentiment that drives people like Beck and Limbaugh isn't all that different, even though the worst we've seen are spit spewing screamers at Townhalls and a few cases of head stomping and false arrest. So far. This cannot end well.Bill Sparkman and all the other victims of right-wing and Tea Party violence must be turning over in their graves.
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Ignore this stuff. It's attempting to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. It won't work because Conservatives believe in courtesy and respect (the big reason Liberals never get to be victimized the way they want. Poor things.
ReplyDeleteLiberals need to be "eliminated"?
ReplyDeleteWhat are all these nefarious "teabaggers" going to do? Start supporting Roe v. Wade?...
"Conservatives believe in courtesy and respect"
ReplyDeleteTell me another one. I've left thousands of comments all around the web and no one's smeared me, shown less respect, and shown less intellectual curiosity than those who lean to the right. The closer to libertarian they are, the more they lie, smear, and try to shout people down.
For instance, at MattY's site I've got a stalker or three who personally smear me but it doesn't compare to the smears from libertarians. And, almost every encounter with teapartiers results in them jumping to conclusions and then making personal smears about me rather than even trying to understand my point. I'd like to know whether that's something in their nature or whether they learned that from someone. And, rather than helping me oppose our shared opponents, all the partiers can do is launch those personal attacks.
Perhaps Jacobson could think through what teapartiers mean when they use the word "patriots" to describe themselves. Doesn't that imply that those who aren't in their group aren't patriots? In some cases the partiers make that explicit, like
twitter.com/velvethammer/status/2567374683242496:
If you are anti-Tea Party then you are in turn anti- US Constitution, freedom, & limited gov't. Nuff said!
Those are the ravings of a nut, but being nuts like that is part of the partier mindset.
I think it's important to keep in mind that the left already has violent organizations at their command (SEIU, AFL-CIO, La Raza, ANSWER, e.g.) and we don't. While we support the 2nd amendment and most of us own guns, they own guns too. They just don't have to suffer the attacks of being violent like we do just because we support the 2nd amendment.
ReplyDeleteThese organizations are already using violence and threatening to scale it up. It isn't something to be ignored. The threat of physical violence is real. The threat of being called violent is irrelevant only in that they can't make it stick but their threats of violence are real.
Lonewackodotcom,
ReplyDeleteWhatever your looking for isn't here at this website either. Move along now, you've been heard. Internet world has it's limitations as you well know.
Lonewackodotcom: here's the problem with your personal campaign for smearing Tea Party conservatives. The vast majority of us have actually attended Tea Party rallies and never seen a single example of hate or violence. On the other hand, all of those (like you) who keep accusing us of being violent racists spewing hate have never been to a Tea Party rally. You are making it up.
ReplyDeleteSo what is the point of posting your lies at conservative sites other than to annoy and harass? Get a mirror and take a good look. YOU are the problem you complain about.
Just looking at the Digby excerpt confirms that kind of stuff is its own form of left/liberal hate speech. And its been going on for a very long time.
ReplyDeleteSee, the two replies are exactly what I'm talking about. They partly confirmed what I wrote above.
ReplyDeleteWhen I comment where there aren't teapartiers about - for instance at MattY and formerly at Reason - I get smeared by liberals and libertarians respectively. But, almost none of them are dumb enough not to understand where I'm coming from. Almost all of them are able to understand what I write, what I'm getting at, and at least are somewhat intellectually honest, at least as far as my arguments are concerned.
Teapartiers aren't like that. They lie, smear, jump to conclusions, and show no intellectual curiosity. They're unable and unwilling to do simple things like follow a link and they're unable and unwilling to try to understand what someone is saying and why they're saying it. Clicking my name leads to a profile page, and that leads to my site. And, right there on each of the thousands of pages I've been posting since 2002 there's a link to my extensive coverage of the partiers. Actually doing research first and then making a valid argument is beyond the 'partiers capabilities.
LonewackoDotCom seems miffed no one wants to spend days of their lives poring over his eight years of "my diary".
ReplyDeletePiece of advice - say what you want, explain what you want, and make it self-contained. Don't expect anyone to care that much about your personal beliefs and the emotional baggage you have about them. We don't suffer fools gladly.
So LonewackoDotCom just what are you talking about?
ReplyDeleteAre you anti-constitution; for out-right socialism, or its not-too-distant cousin the all-encompassing nanny state?
I ask you straight out, because out of nowhere you accuse all sorts of people. Am I leaping to conclusions? No. I don't know you from Adam. But they are direct questions. By answering those questions I will not have to leap to conclusions.
You must realize that many people, myself included, think that socialism runs counter to the US Constitution and that proponents of positive rights in general have disdain for the US Constitution. Perhaps, if you too believe in "positive rights" that just might explain the irritation and hostility you seem to provoke.
btw, professor, i have fun with all of this, here: http://patterico.com/2010/11/11/the-rethuglicans-are-coming-to-kill-us-quick-disarm/
ReplyDeleteLook at all these libtards' venting during the Bush Administration, the murderous posters, art projects, racist portrayals, hate filled movies, movie reviews, columns, talking heads, academics, democrap talking points, all directed against W and conservatives; but they all defended their spewings on first amendment grounds never once saying that perhaps they were going over the line in their vitriol.
ReplyDeleteYet let a conservative defend himself/herself, and Lord Have Mercy, the cattle cars are about to pull up and drag those libtards away (while they have control of two branches of the government. The Digbug guy should stop smoking whatever it is he's doing cause he's making an arse of himself.
Looks like lonewacko has been a busy little libturd baby.... ah poor baby... no one wants to play your silly troll game.....
ReplyDeleteWilliam I was reading another site last night when someone from the leftnutjobcauses was leaving messages very similar to the nutjob troll that has posted on this particular thread.
ReplyDeleteMy casual observance of these violent leftist anarchist vegetarians, is that it is due to their watermelon like behaviour (they are green on the outside and red on the inside) and their odor-sniffing, they have been causing the few brain cells that they do in fact possess to die. All of that letting off an evil-smelling odor has left them in a state of being nothing more than brain-dead vegetables.
As a result of this state of mind, they find it necessary to lash out at people that they do not understand, and when they lash out they also have a tendency to lie and smear the good people who are part of the TEA movement.
People like the wackojackonutjob type on this thread really deserve to be placed in isolation in a lunatic asylum where they can give vent to their extremism whilst being placed in a straight-jacket.
LonewackoDotCom: Teapartiers aren't like that. They lie, smear, jump to conclusions, and show no intellectual curiosity.
ReplyDeleteCase in point:
Maggie: My casual observance of these violent leftist anarchist vegetarians, is that it is due to their watermelon like behaviour (they are green on the outside and red on the inside) and their odor-sniffing, they have been causing the few brain cells that they do in fact possess to die. All of that letting off an evil-smelling odor has left them in a state of being nothing more than brain-dead vegetables.
LonewackoDotCom: Teapartiers aren't like that. They lie, smear, jump to conclusions, and show no intellectual curiosity.
ReplyDeleteZachriel: Case in point:
Maggie: My casual observance ...
Case in point #2:
LonewackoDotCom: Teapartiers aren't like that. They lie, smear, jump to conclusions, and show no intellectual curiosity.
Now to my eye, that statement by LonewackoDotCom appears to be (1) a lie, (2) a smear, (3) jumps to conclusions, and (4) shows no intellectual curiosity. Sort of a self-fulfilling death by ricochet.
The great trap of posting to blogs is that impulse we all have to make ad hominem statements, crass generalizations, and give unsupported opinions as if they were verified facts.
Opinions are like assholes; we all have one. And we all approach these issues from our own perspectives, with our own implicit biases and values. That's a given. And it usually causes us to perceive the other side as either unprincipled, hypocritical, or intentionally ignorant. I don't think there is ever going to be a solution to these problems that prevent us from addressing issues in a spirit of cooperation and compromise - short of alien invasion.
Which is why I see the past election as a precursor. The country is being split apart. The incumbents got shellacked not because of any mandate, but rather the independents fractured. Middle of the road Democrats lost because they hadn't gone far enough with the Leftist radical agenda and legislation; those Leftists who see no limit to government powers when it comes to social engineering. The Republicans got shifted to the Right because the Tea Partiers are sick to death of government that impulsively spends money on things that are arguably unconstitutional. My belief is that the majority of the independents shifted right, but a significant chunk also went left. Independent doesn't mean ideologically in the middle.
The nation has a huge ideological faultline, which generates gridlock, frustration, and animosity. IMO, that is the "new normal". And like the political atmosphere of the 1850's, it is a roadsign warning of a more violent resolution of these fundamental disagreements which are politically unsolvable.
The rhetoric will continue to increase in pitch, volume, venom and bile as each side girds itself for the coming conflicts.
I see the Digby quote as a sign that the Left is beginning to awaken to the fact that the country is not going to be led peacfully down the socialsit road. They did a pretty good job for quite a long time of getting it pretty far along without the masses awakening to where we were headed. That somnolent period has ended, thanks in large part to the Tea Party efforts.
Watching them go through elections like NOV-2 is ever so much more entertaining than mere "elimination."
ReplyDeleteStrange these liberals... putting everything into personal terms. Oh the guilt ridden paranoia of it all. They really should check with the Japanese who were conquered island by island in the Pacific during WWII. Contrary to reported wide-spread beliefs at the time, Americans were not cannibals bent on having them for lunch. We decided a long occupation and reformation process over many decades was the thing they deserved most.
Occupy government and start the decades long reformation of the left.