Posted on 06/11/2003 2:08:37 PM PDT by ummark
Hate Speech Now is not the time for quiet, well-thought rhetoric
by Alan Bisbort - June 5, 2003
PETER MORLOCK ILLUSTRATION
Problem! The problem is you, Peggy Noonan.
"Let them hate me, if they only fear me."-- Caligula
"Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you." -- Matthew, Chap. 5, Verses 44
In the best of times, I would agree with John Goggin, who wrote a letter to my editor last week about my habit of "labeling" a select cadre of right-wingers "hatemongers." I had in mind, when I chose that unfortunate epithet, people like Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge and Peggy Noonan. Mr. Goggin's well-meaning appeal to civility caused me to rethink my words. I was forced to ask myself if I had, indeed, overstated my case.
Then I did a little poking around. It's not hard. All you have to do is switch on any talk radio show and eventually one of these self-righteous "conservatives" will be found holding court, or simply flick through the hundreds of channels on cable TV where the more telegenic are regularly featured. Or those with a stronger cast of mind can check out the bestseller list where you'll find their words immortalized between covers, or comb the editorial pages of even "moderate" newspapers and you'll find them. Of course, the quickest way is via the Internet where, like insects and centipedes under an overturned rock, their rawest opinions are on display.
Here, for example, are some random thoughts I found on the popular Free Republic, "an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web." Free Republic posted an article about legislation proposed for a Slave Memorial in Washington, D.C. Among the barrage of nasty comments were: "Paradoxically, it's why slavery was RIGHT, in some weird sense. It's a condition of our existence, and in particular, a condition of black Americans' existence." Another: "Hell, what would it look like, a body swinging from a rope!" This is just the tip of their daily iceberg.
Michael Savage is a clear-cut "hater," and his book Savage Nation has floated through the bestseller list for months, held aloft by his lighter-than-air nativism, ignorance and intolerance. Like Rush Limbaugh, Savage hides behind his pseudonymous persona (his real last name is Wiener), and his radio show is one of the most popular in the country right now. His shtick is to regularly refer to the world's poor nations as the "Turd World," and a typical retort to those who complain about his rhetoric is: "I'm more powerful than you are you little hateful nothings ... you represent nobody but the perverts that you hang around with and I'm warning you if you try to damage me any further with lies, be aware of something: that which you stoke shall come to burn you, the ashes of the fireplace will come and burn your own house down." He believes the U.S. is "being taken over by the freaks, the cripples, the perverts and the mental defectives."
Ann Coulter, Fairfield County's Own Femme Fatale, is a best-selling author and regular talking head on TV. She says:
"We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too." And: "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."
Rush Limbaugh is always reliable for one hate-bomb an hour. How about these recent tidbits? "There's only one way to get rid of nuclear weapons. Use them." Or "Why should blacks be heard? They're 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?" And so on, day in and day out, three hours a day.
Finally, I agree that including Peggy Noonan on the list was wrong. She's not a hatemonger. She's merely insane. But her loopy pronouncements are given a veneer of respectability by originating at the Wall Street Journal. And, her nonsense -- she regularly "channels" Ronald Reagan in her columns -- is used to prop up hateful policies (e.g., slashing social programs for poor kids in order to reward fat cat CEOs). If the measure of a civilized society is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, Noonan's priorities (among which is pulling the plug on public education) are the sort that inspired Charles Dickens to write novels.
See how hard it is to keep from falling into their traps and habits of mind? The sad truth is that NOBODY LISTENS TO PEOPLE WHO SPEAK QUIETLY AND RATIONALLY. The dominant discourse in this nation right now is hateful, loud and relentless. You can not, and will not, be heard if you whisper into the teeth of this idiot wind.
I dearly wish it were possible to speak quietly and carry a big rhetorical stick, Mr. Goggin. I hope we can return to such a time in our nation's life. Now is not that time.
They'd just brush you off as someone like Clarence Thomas or Condi Rice and think that's an insult. :o)
Does that help?
All good speechwriters do, silly man. How else does one write good speeches in someone elses words?
Just damn!
I've been asked (via Project 21) to provide some commentary to Senator Bill Frist regarding the measure. It's been spearheaded by former Washington Redskin (and fellow black conservative) Darrell Green.
Gee, while I like the letter, I don't think mhkings letter will point it out any better than the original quote.
Well, it's not really worth dwelling on, but since I made the news and everything, what the heck.
I was responding to chachacha's remark that "Things like this prove that slavery was wrong for more reasons than one would expect. The fact that they are still here is one of them." - meaning slavery was wrong because it brought all those black people here. Rather mean-spirited, I thought, so I was responding in a "now, now" kind of way, and affirming the value of diversity by saying that was what made slavery RIGHT.
I then expanded in airy fashion on the immutability of past events. They are a "condition of our existence" - if we accept our existence as it is, and deem it good, we have to accept the events of the past as they happened. Note how this happens with wars. Think of Civil War reenactments. This is a recreational activity, and a positive thing. The Civil War is History, and History is a positive thing, no matter how horrible the Civil War was in actuality.
The whole idea is clear as mud ( I did call it paradoxical and weird ), but this was the nature of my musing. To have my very liberal-minded remark snatched up as an example of nastiness is certainly ironic, but it is not new to me by any means.
I would just further add, that my quote was actually edited. The short sentence "It WAS." expressing the immutability of the past, was deleted. It's hard to be charitable about the motive for doing so, short as it was ( ha ha ). I think it got in the way of his presumption that I was crudely expressing a belief that slavery should be reinstituted, and so - out with it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.