RSS“Shut up,” they repeatedly explain.
Tom Bowler | April 11, 2009
Once upon a time over there on the left, dissent was considered the highest form of patriotism. Leftist opposition to the War on Terror was cast as heroic resistance to a despotic tyrannical regime.
TomPaine.com: Dissent these days seems to be a dirty word. The Bush administration has, at least since September 11th, usually termed any criticism of its policies “unpatriotic.”
Howard Zinn: While some people think that dissent is unpatriotic, I would argue that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. In fact, if patriotism means being true to the principles for which your country is supposed to stand, then certainly the right to dissent is one of those principles. And if we’re exercising that right to dissent, it’s a patriotic act.
One of the great mistakes made in discussing patriotism — a very common mistake — is to think that patriotism means support for your government. And that view of patriotism ignores the founding principles of the country expressed in the Declaration of Independence.
Imagine my surprise, to discover that dissent is no longer patriotic. In fact it’s more than unpatriotic. It’s downright dangerous. It’s one thing when your dissent puts you arguably on the side of terrorists. But it’s quite beyond the pale to oppose Obama’s plans for higher taxes and spending. The anti-tax tea parties that for so long have escaped the notice of the mainstream press, are now the subject of lefty hysteria.
The editors of the San Francisco Examiner (I thought it was out of business, no?) put this fearful title on an otherwise reasonable article explaining how the liberal bias of the mainstream media has blinded them to the tea party phenomenon: Tea parties are flash crowds Obama should fear. One commenter, who apparently read the headline but not the article, commented: “Many of those signing on to these tea parties are from the militia movement groups. They are scary and potentially violent.”
Media Matters is on the case, to prevent the revolution led by FOX News: “Despite its repeated insistence that its coverage is “fair and balanced” and its invitation to viewers to “say ‘no’ to biased media,” Fox News has frequently aired segments encouraging viewers to get involved with “tea party” protests across the country ….”
The Huffington Post is organizing “citizen journalists” to attend the protests, allegedly to “report.” Which means that they will try to find someone in a crowd who says something stupid, will post it on the internet, and build an argument around it trying to demonizethe movement. And left-wing bloggers will react in unison like dogs responding to a whistle, about the “dangerous” and “violent” and “racist” tea parties. This tacticis as old as time; or at least as old as the internet.
Those people from ”militia movement groups” are pretty scary. Have you noticed that lefty political argument is almost invariably personal?
When George Bush cut taxes to spur the economy, he was vilified. The left attacked his motives claiming that he was really after tax giveaways for his rich friends. Tax cuts wouldn’t help the economy, they said, but they never said why not. But even though tax cuts did help the economy, for lefties it was an issue of fairness, fairness being whatever they said it was. Making the lefty case on its merits is almost always impossible, and especially so if the discussion is allowed to focus on what actually happens as a result of a particular policy.
Here is Andrew Klavan explaining what the lefty argument ultimately boils down to:
Hat tip to Hot Air
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2 Responses to ““Shut up,” they repeatedly explain.”
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Well.. after 8 years of mis-handled policies,
now it IS time to shut up and let’s listen
and support to our President Obama.
(PS Popularity Rating 65%) Thank’s.
“Shut up” is what Liberals say when they’re cornered and can’t answer our questions. We either need to move to a real country, if there is one left on the planet, or we must act to get our State legislatures to pass State Laws governing Campaign Contributions and require that contributions would be legal, only if they come from registered voters in the candidates’ districts. We need to peel the onion starting with the outer skin to bring us back to Federalism. Our Federal government is anxious to provide health care and it is $66 trillion in debt. It’s never a good idea to entrust your pension and healthcare with the same organization, especially if it’s a government that can make selective homicide legal. We have that government right now, with our pensions an abortion law and a strong desire to take over healthcare. If they need to save money and they will, they will restrict healthcare based on age and push out pension payments to age 80. The politically correct Thought Police will have everyone over age 65 thinking they should check themselves in to Soylent Green.