I get mail.
This was an interesting comment:
Mr 'Woods'
Pretty funny little hot air story
Altho - I must point out the dem in the story didn't actually blame the rep - he merely made an observation
Pretty good blog! I'm a lefty, but you seem sane!
Good luck [Name withheld]
Okay. Thanks.
Thing is, and I'm sure the writer didn't intend anything more than a wry, backhanded compliment, this sort of flattery is annoying. Having views that don't conform to the Left of Center can be a real pain. For a Jew, you are pretty generous. For an African-American, you're not such a great dancer. For a WASP, you have a pretty good sense of humor. I appologize for any pain I may have inflicted by just trying to make my point.
For a lefty, you seem sane.
Right after 9/11, I was in a meeting with a diverse group of people. The first few minutes were about the events of the preceeding days. One woman, a very nice woman, said, "It's all the fault of the Right Wing Christians." She's Jewish by the way, as am I.
Following her remark were some subdued murmers. I knew for a fact that there were Christians [what political stripe I hadn't a clue] in the room.
I said, "There are a lot of people who think it's the fault of Left Wing Jews."
Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. "But, you're Jewish!"
"Yes," I said, "but I'm not a Left Wing Jew."
Things have never been the same in that little community group.
Not every Lefty is a Leftist. Not every post at HuffPo is going to support the North Koreans, but, a few groups regularly praised there are funded by the International Left. I don't automatically assume that anyone who voted for Al Gore is an enemy agent or revolutionary. I don't actually think about that at all.
I do tend to think my political choices will benefit our country and the world in the long term in spite of the alarmist rhetoric attached to the inevitable criticism. I know that my choices seem different to The Left than what HuffPo has to offer, but, that's because The Left skews the Right of Center's benchmark so drastically.
We're not insane. We're just not YOU.
One goal of The Right is to defund government financial and legislative support of The Left. Take away the government subsidies of litigous advocacy groups. Make unions transparently accountable to ALL the membership with regard to the allocation of dues for political support. Take the PORK out of Federal spending.
Look. While The Left was fanning the anti-American flames, goading our European neighbors to levy insults and accusations against our government during the Katrina crisis, it took weeks before the badly shaken Right of Center Media and bloggers began reminding the world that for the last couple of summers, in France alone, there have been upwards of 13,000 DEATHS due to the intense heatwaves. In 2003, the total was close to 35,000 for Europe. Compared to the relatively small number of tragic deaths in the Gulf States, that amounts to a European Genocide. The deaths took place during the traditional summer vacation.
Nobody home to save them. And they call us a Third World Nation.
Which do you remember?
The heatwave or the hysterical stories of mass murders and drownings?
I already know the answer.
And I seem sane.
This was an interesting comment:
Mr 'Woods'
Pretty funny little hot air story
Altho - I must point out the dem in the story didn't actually blame the rep - he merely made an observation
Pretty good blog! I'm a lefty, but you seem sane!
Good luck [Name withheld]
Okay. Thanks.
Thing is, and I'm sure the writer didn't intend anything more than a wry, backhanded compliment, this sort of flattery is annoying. Having views that don't conform to the Left of Center can be a real pain. For a Jew, you are pretty generous. For an African-American, you're not such a great dancer. For a WASP, you have a pretty good sense of humor. I appologize for any pain I may have inflicted by just trying to make my point.
For a lefty, you seem sane.
Right after 9/11, I was in a meeting with a diverse group of people. The first few minutes were about the events of the preceeding days. One woman, a very nice woman, said, "It's all the fault of the Right Wing Christians." She's Jewish by the way, as am I.
Following her remark were some subdued murmers. I knew for a fact that there were Christians [what political stripe I hadn't a clue] in the room.
I said, "There are a lot of people who think it's the fault of Left Wing Jews."
Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. "But, you're Jewish!"
"Yes," I said, "but I'm not a Left Wing Jew."
Things have never been the same in that little community group.
Not every Lefty is a Leftist. Not every post at HuffPo is going to support the North Koreans, but, a few groups regularly praised there are funded by the International Left. I don't automatically assume that anyone who voted for Al Gore is an enemy agent or revolutionary. I don't actually think about that at all.
I do tend to think my political choices will benefit our country and the world in the long term in spite of the alarmist rhetoric attached to the inevitable criticism. I know that my choices seem different to The Left than what HuffPo has to offer, but, that's because The Left skews the Right of Center's benchmark so drastically.
We're not insane. We're just not YOU.
One goal of The Right is to defund government financial and legislative support of The Left. Take away the government subsidies of litigous advocacy groups. Make unions transparently accountable to ALL the membership with regard to the allocation of dues for political support. Take the PORK out of Federal spending.
Look. While The Left was fanning the anti-American flames, goading our European neighbors to levy insults and accusations against our government during the Katrina crisis, it took weeks before the badly shaken Right of Center Media and bloggers began reminding the world that for the last couple of summers, in France alone, there have been upwards of 13,000 DEATHS due to the intense heatwaves. In 2003, the total was close to 35,000 for Europe. Compared to the relatively small number of tragic deaths in the Gulf States, that amounts to a European Genocide. The deaths took place during the traditional summer vacation.
Nobody home to save them. And they call us a Third World Nation.
Which do you remember?
The heatwave or the hysterical stories of mass murders and drownings?
I already know the answer.
And I seem sane.
1 comment:
I just read your 'I seem sane' post, and find it fascinating how you fall into the same traps that you state your respondant fell into.
Basically this:
Your respondant seemed surprised/etc that you were 'sane' but also right-wing. You therefore have to assume that her definition of 'right-wing' included a belief in certain policies that she deemed generally insane. The portrayal of the Right through the sources she values perhaps gave her the 'image' of what Right Wingers are and believe that lead her to this conclusion, which you clearly make a pparent. To summarize briefly 'The Lefties say the Righties are Insane so this person (wrongly) assumes that the Righties are insane and that I am the exception'. She's using the lefties definition of what the righties polices are to evaluate you.
Fine. But you do the same thing. Your 'definitions' for the right wing and left wing are developed not by the left, but by the right. You talk about the relationship between the left and certain anti-American groups, but make no link between the relationship between the Right and certain neo-Nazi groups, though both the anti-American and the neo-Nazis are equally prevalent and equally fringe to both 'sides'. You define the right wing as being interested in fiscal conservativism and the left wing as being focused on 'spend spend spend' despite the fact that it is the Right Wing presidencies and legislatures that have increased pork and driven the country into huge deficits while the Left Wing presidencies (at least the most recent one) have actually been able to balance the books.
It seems to me that both you and your writer need to stop using the definitions your 'side' provides to describe your opponent. You both need to review what your opponent actually has to say _for themselves_, and look at how those policies have actually been enacted instead of simply what the blurbs say they should be, and make your own judgement from there.
Jeanne.
Post a Comment