I saw an article before I left on vacation that caught my attention.
It’s been blogged about on American Power and other spots, but I have a slightly different take on things.
While I don’t disagree with Donald Douglas (of American Power http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/obscenities-in-blogosphere.html#136398) who says, “How might we explain all of this? Well, in my view, these folks are essentially Marxist, and at base, we might consider Marxist thought a doctrine of hatred, a secular demonology:
“We hate those, whose existence urges us to reconsider our theories and our vocabularies. We hate what places a safe and irresponsible categorization of the world in jeopardy. We hate what threatens the purity and predictability of our perception of the world, our mode of discourse, and in effect, our mental security.”
“Thus, for the left, rather than consider that vulgarity has no proper place in the respectable exchange of ideas, crude language is a tool to beat down those who would challenge their way of seeing the world, especially those allegedly in the right-wing superstructure of greedy imperialistic designs.”
I think it also has to do with another misperception from the left.
Since the advent of Ronald Reagan and the rise of Conservatism, some liberals have claimed that “The angry Right just yelled louder and was able to sway the debate despite their vacuous and wrong-headed arguments.” They’d point to the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity as proof of this phenomenon.
As a result, many liberals felt that they needed to respond to anger with anger to counter the Limbaugh’s and Hannity’s.
Of course, that tact has failed, so far and failed miserably, in fact. One reason it’s failed is that one of the primary reasons that listeners of Conservative Talk radio claim to listen to that venue is the “upbeat, hopeful and positive messages” and “support for traditional American values” that venue consistently delivers.
Air America Radio, trumpeted and defended by big media mavens, like the NY Times, well-funded by left-wing financiers, failed because its “anger” didn’t come across as “righteous indignation” so much as “scolding the American people.”
Likewise, in the blogosphere, left-wingers have bought into this “we’ve got to get angry to get more of us mobilized” mentality.
The result is the 12 to 1 disparity in profanity among left-wing blogs, like Daily Kos, Huffington Post, Democratic Underground, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, Atrios, Greenwald, MyDD and Firedoglake to Conservative ones like Free Republic, Hot Air, Little Green Footballs, Townhall, NewsBusters, Lucianne.com, Wizbang, Ace of Spades, Red State and Volokh Conspiracy.
From my perspective, once again the left has substituted vulgarity for passion, just as they routinely substitute decadence for culture and lust for love.
Not surprising, since they get the context of the issues so wrong, why wouldn’t they get the sub-context wrong as well?
It’s been blogged about on American Power and other spots, but I have a slightly different take on things.
While I don’t disagree with Donald Douglas (of American Power http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/obscenities-in-blogosphere.html#136398) who says, “How might we explain all of this? Well, in my view, these folks are essentially Marxist, and at base, we might consider Marxist thought a doctrine of hatred, a secular demonology:
“We hate those, whose existence urges us to reconsider our theories and our vocabularies. We hate what places a safe and irresponsible categorization of the world in jeopardy. We hate what threatens the purity and predictability of our perception of the world, our mode of discourse, and in effect, our mental security.”
“Thus, for the left, rather than consider that vulgarity has no proper place in the respectable exchange of ideas, crude language is a tool to beat down those who would challenge their way of seeing the world, especially those allegedly in the right-wing superstructure of greedy imperialistic designs.”
I think it also has to do with another misperception from the left.
Since the advent of Ronald Reagan and the rise of Conservatism, some liberals have claimed that “The angry Right just yelled louder and was able to sway the debate despite their vacuous and wrong-headed arguments.” They’d point to the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity as proof of this phenomenon.
As a result, many liberals felt that they needed to respond to anger with anger to counter the Limbaugh’s and Hannity’s.
Of course, that tact has failed, so far and failed miserably, in fact. One reason it’s failed is that one of the primary reasons that listeners of Conservative Talk radio claim to listen to that venue is the “upbeat, hopeful and positive messages” and “support for traditional American values” that venue consistently delivers.
Air America Radio, trumpeted and defended by big media mavens, like the NY Times, well-funded by left-wing financiers, failed because its “anger” didn’t come across as “righteous indignation” so much as “scolding the American people.”
Likewise, in the blogosphere, left-wingers have bought into this “we’ve got to get angry to get more of us mobilized” mentality.
The result is the 12 to 1 disparity in profanity among left-wing blogs, like Daily Kos, Huffington Post, Democratic Underground, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, Atrios, Greenwald, MyDD and Firedoglake to Conservative ones like Free Republic, Hot Air, Little Green Footballs, Townhall, NewsBusters, Lucianne.com, Wizbang, Ace of Spades, Red State and Volokh Conspiracy.
From my perspective, once again the left has substituted vulgarity for passion, just as they routinely substitute decadence for culture and lust for love.
Not surprising, since they get the context of the issues so wrong, why wouldn’t they get the sub-context wrong as well?
No comments:
Post a Comment