Letters to the Editor
William Timberman
Published Letters: 3298 Editor's Choice: 7
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The true state of red
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[Read more letters about this article: Here]The word, 'sin,' is derived from...a individual who will NOT try to aim straight, but wants to shoot, hurt/abuse/rob/lie etc., 'others.' -- bebop-o (from the previous thread)
It seems to me that this quote, from a brilliant comment which hasn't a trace of hate in it anywhere, sums up perfectly what is at issue between Glenn and those of us who comment here, and uncritical supporters of the Bush administration, such as those at Red State.
It's not so much that we believe that we're in exclusive possession of the truth about anything -- let alone everything -- and that they're always deluded; it's that an honest reading of what they say has convinced us that they aren't being honest with themselves, let alone with the wider world. More than that, they don't appear to think that honesty is necessary, if it complicates in the slightest way their path to intellectual or physical dominance over others.
Odd, their devotion to dominance. As other commenters here have pointed out, it's a strangely adolescent trait, common in young people desperate to escape the control of others, and to establish some control over themselves, but rare in adults who are for the most part well-established in the world, and unthreatened by anything significant. I'm not as sure as Paul Rosenberg or Professor Altemeyer are that there's a definite pathology at work in this sort of mental state, but it does seem to have a whiff of collective hysteria about it. The right wing has spent so much time and effort in creating a demonology of liberalism, that they seem to have convinced themselves -- even those who know better -- that we are ruthless and formidable enemies. The War on Christmas, for example, which would seem to be a pure propaganda gambit, actually seems to have been accepted by these folks as a genuine threat to the sanctity of their homes and hearths.
The upshot ise that they've convinced themselves that they're fighting a brutal war with us, even though the evidence suggests that they've already won what there is to be won. If they feel that their certainties are now under renewed attack, it has little to do with us, and everything to do with the fact that their assessments of how the world works are flawed. The Will to Power, which they seem to think is the sole guarantee of dominance, is in fact a delusion, and can't maintain any enterpise which is otherwise founded on a misperception of other people's motives, or, for that matter, on an overly grandiose assessment of the resources available to the willful.
Hence the imperious tone, the accusations of dishonesty, and of hate, and the tendency to wrap themselves more tightly about one another even as their projects fail. That seems to me to be the true nature of their sin; the idea that they can dismiss the world they were born into simply as a means to an end, and to contend not with us, but with God Himself.
Even for someone like me, who for all practical purposes is an atheist, it seems foolish, when discussing the actions of will in the world, to overlook the fact that the will of individual human beings is rarely the will which is decisive, except for the purpose of creating human misery.
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Trolling is hard work
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[Read more letters about this article: Here]Alluding Republicans to Nazis is vicious... -- shooter242
And virtually impossible to do, as the verb in question is intransitive. Won't keep a shooter's accusations at bay, though. It's his destiny to accuse.
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Turning defeat into an opportunity
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[Read more letters about this article: Here]The lingering idea that Iraq is ours to dispose of because of the superiority of our morals afflicts both Democrats and Republicans. To both, I say that American leadership is an oxymoron, and has long been one, thanks to interventions like the one in Iraq. Americans are virtually the only people on earth left who still believe that we do -- or can -- lead the rest of the world, and the fact that we still believe it is not to our credit, moral or otherwise.
Republicans differ from most Democrats in thinking that if the rest of world doesn't accept our moral right to lead, our leadership can -- and should -- be imposed on them by the superiority of our arms. No matter how much the convinced right wingers bluster, or as they've started doing lately, whine about it, that superiority is what is now being tested by the rest of the world, not the strength of our will.
A strong-willed America would put its own house in order, and we could do worse than start by sending virtually the entire Bush administration back to Jesus camp, and begin the process of determining what our place in the world, for better or worse, actually is, and to act accordingly. If we manage to do so, I think we'll discover that Al Gore and bebop-o have lately been making more sense than the entire host of pundits, hand-wringers and millennialists have ever made.
Time is short.
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In defense of the vernacular
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[Read more letters about this article: Here]Karen M., I've avoided weighing in here, because I'm of two minds about what you've been advocating. I believe that civility is worth defending, in that responding to an adversary only with revulsion is often only an indicator of how fragile you believe your own position to be.
Beyond that, I do think that argument's primary goal is to clarify, and to accomplish that goal, one must concede even to an outright enemy the right to be heard without the clouding effect of vilification.
On the other hand, I don't believe that the use of four-letter words is automatically an offense against civility. Barnyard epithets often have a wonderfully unique clarity, one which I would hate to see banished in favor of the sterile etiquette of the Edwardian drawing room. It's not wrong to encourage the better angels of our nature, but the fact remains that it isn't our nature to be angels.