Friday, June 10, 2005
All's Well that Orwell
Swingstate Project nails it with their story about the faux GOP outrage in Nebraska because a Democratic blog there referred to an election commissioner as "Tio Thomas". As they put it:
I'll bring up my own personal poster-boy for the "There's Hope for Gen-Y" campaign, Ajai Raj. He gets a shitstorm of smeaking by the GOP media because he used a naughty word in the presence of Ann Coulter. But where was the outrage when Coulter was advocating the murder of liberals and reporters; when she went so far as to endorse the assassination of the president and vice president? Last I heard, that was the kind of thing that would get you a visit by the Secret Service real fast. Courtesy of Buzzflash, comments typical of her:
Well, you know what? I'm tired of this faux-meme that says words are worse than actions. It creates this false equivalency that turns politicians into dissembling, mealy-mouthed liars out of necessity. The few exceptions, people like Howard Dean, say what they mean and mean what they say and tell the truth doing it. We need more politicians like that, but the mainstream media and the GOP whinery try to not let it happen.
Not to mention the hypocrisy. Why are the Republicans, normally no friend to hispanics unless they want votes, so upset at the phrase Tio Thomas when I'm sure they use far worse terms in private to describe illegal aliens? And why are they not upset in the same way when a hack like Ed Klein makes totally unfounded accusations in print that Hilary Clinton is a lesbian?
Perhaps it's because Republicans really can't be outraged by anything, except what their puppet masters tell them to be outraged about. They pick and chose selectively, exemplifying the attitude IOKIYAR: it's okay if you're a Republican.
Well, bullshit. Forget some slight to a petty official in a midwestern State. What about the Downing Street Memo? What about the President lying to the world in order to start a war just because he has some jones for showing up his daddy? What about reports that the number of actual American war dead has been suppressed, that it's actually closer to 9,000, not 1,600? What about W lying about the Patriot Act working, when it failed to stop an alleged al Qaeda-trained terrorist on a no-fly list from being allowed into the country just the other day? (I wonder if he was a friend of the chainsaw-wielding maniac from Canada.)
And the list goes on and on. But we have to stop this crap now. We have to assault the media with our demands. Don't take these non-stories and just repeat the GOP talking points. Don't distract us with bullshit -- Michael Jackson, Runaway Brides, "Brangelina" (whoever coined that one should be shot) -- it's all crap. And if one person gets their feelings hurt, tell them to suck it up, toughen up and refuse to cover the story.
Most of all, tell the GOP to stop whining like a bunch of sissy little girly men when somebody from the other side tells the truth, and to take a look at the libel, slander and crap coming from the mouths (or other orifices) of their own pundits.
I'll take it a step further. The real slur is that we live in a media-society that believes faux outrage is deserving of a full-feature article, but doesn't have the time or space to devote an entire article, let alone a full-scale investigation, into voter disenfranchisement in its own backyward. This isn't news, it's "scandal" driven infotainment well beneath any organization in place to serve the public interest.I'll take it a step further here. Something is wrong when a personal insult or slight or comment takes precedence over an actual wrong done to a larger group of people. It's as if the hurt feelings of one whiner are more important than the actual disenfranchisement of, prejudice against, or assault upon an entire class of people.
I'll bring up my own personal poster-boy for the "There's Hope for Gen-Y" campaign, Ajai Raj. He gets a shitstorm of smeaking by the GOP media because he used a naughty word in the presence of Ann Coulter. But where was the outrage when Coulter was advocating the murder of liberals and reporters; when she went so far as to endorse the assassination of the president and vice president? Last I heard, that was the kind of thing that would get you a visit by the Secret Service real fast. Courtesy of Buzzflash, comments typical of her:
"Both were veterans, after a fashion, of Vietnam, which would make a Gore-Davis Presidential ticket the only compelling argument yet in favor of friendly fire." [Originally printed in frontpagemag.com].We also see the same phenomenon in the GOP response to Howard Dean's absolutely true comment that the Republican Party is the white Christian male party. (He might have added "straight" to that list, but I won't quibble.) Nowhere have I seen the Republicans actually deny Dean's comments. The reaction instead is that it was a nasty mean thing for him to say, blah blah blah.
Well, you know what? I'm tired of this faux-meme that says words are worse than actions. It creates this false equivalency that turns politicians into dissembling, mealy-mouthed liars out of necessity. The few exceptions, people like Howard Dean, say what they mean and mean what they say and tell the truth doing it. We need more politicians like that, but the mainstream media and the GOP whinery try to not let it happen.
Not to mention the hypocrisy. Why are the Republicans, normally no friend to hispanics unless they want votes, so upset at the phrase Tio Thomas when I'm sure they use far worse terms in private to describe illegal aliens? And why are they not upset in the same way when a hack like Ed Klein makes totally unfounded accusations in print that Hilary Clinton is a lesbian?
Perhaps it's because Republicans really can't be outraged by anything, except what their puppet masters tell them to be outraged about. They pick and chose selectively, exemplifying the attitude IOKIYAR: it's okay if you're a Republican.
Well, bullshit. Forget some slight to a petty official in a midwestern State. What about the Downing Street Memo? What about the President lying to the world in order to start a war just because he has some jones for showing up his daddy? What about reports that the number of actual American war dead has been suppressed, that it's actually closer to 9,000, not 1,600? What about W lying about the Patriot Act working, when it failed to stop an alleged al Qaeda-trained terrorist on a no-fly list from being allowed into the country just the other day? (I wonder if he was a friend of the chainsaw-wielding maniac from Canada.)
And the list goes on and on. But we have to stop this crap now. We have to assault the media with our demands. Don't take these non-stories and just repeat the GOP talking points. Don't distract us with bullshit -- Michael Jackson, Runaway Brides, "Brangelina" (whoever coined that one should be shot) -- it's all crap. And if one person gets their feelings hurt, tell them to suck it up, toughen up and refuse to cover the story.
Most of all, tell the GOP to stop whining like a bunch of sissy little girly men when somebody from the other side tells the truth, and to take a look at the libel, slander and crap coming from the mouths (or other orifices) of their own pundits.
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