Thursday, January 13, 2011

A Quote You Need to See

From George Packer in The New Yorker, shooting down the false equivalency lie that "both sides" are equally guilty of using violent and inflammatory rhetoric:


In fact, there is no balance—none whatsoever. Only one side has made the rhetoric of armed revolt against an oppressive tyranny the guiding spirit of its grassroots movement and its midterm campaign. Only one side routinely invokes the Second Amendment as a form of swagger and intimidation, not-so-coyly conflating rights with threats. Only one side’s activists bring guns to democratic political gatherings. Only one side has a popular national TV host who uses his platform to indoctrinate viewers in the conviction that the President is an alien, totalitarian menace to the country. Only one side fills the AM waves with rage and incendiary falsehoods. Only one side has an iconic leader, with a devoted grassroots following, who can’t stop using violent imagery and dividing her countrymen into us and them, real and fake. Any sentient American knows which side that is; to argue otherwise is disingenuous.

(The full article is here.)

I'm sorry, Mr. President. I know you've called for civility and restraint in our political discourse.

But I'm not unilaterally disarming. And I'm not just going to forgive and forget the people who have done nothing but pour out ranting hatred for thirty years.

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