Eliminationist Rhetoric

[pecunium]

I complain about the way the Right speaks of the left.

Then I see things like this:



That, my friends is one of a line of products (coffee mugs to baseball caps, hoodies and softball shirts) all sporting the same thing. I look at that, and wonder where the idea that such a thing is acceptable to wear in public might come from. It's right up there with Liberal Hunting Permits



For more on that, see this piece of Orcinus.

People will defend this, say it's meant as a joke (never mind that when the tables are turned and someone on the Left tries to make a point in the same vein, and obviously; to me at least, in a satiric vein, the people who were saying Liberals ought to be strung up like, "strange fruit," are all of a sudden calling out the FBI (Dean Esmay which was a response to this. The contextual post of Sadly No can be seen here)

But it isn't, it's part and parcel of an environment of active hatred. One person, maybe a whack-job. A lot of people, might be a group of whack jobs, but when the people they are attacking make up a large group, and the people who have bully pulpits are some of those who do the inciting, and those who claim this is the fruit of a few bad apples don't take those bad apples to task, in fact continue to pay them large sums of money and give them access to the airwaves... then I must assume that, at the very least they don't care if one group is actively inciting another to go out and abuse the other. I might even be justified in thinking they wanted such a thing to happen.

Perhaps they think it will intimidate the oppostition. Perhaps they actually want (as Coulter said) some liberal to be killed, so the rest of us will know it can happen and shut up.

For a list of those who've said such things, and the things they've said (and this politicians in office, former politicians, religious leaders, pundits and and the like. These are names. People who can't really be brushed under the rug with, "nobody listens to them," because people do; and in the millions. Some of the people who listen to them think them worth electing as Representatives and Senators (one of my favorites, if that's the right word) is Phil Grahm saying, "We're going to keep building the party until we're hunting Democrats with dogs." and not in some back room, but in an interview with Mother Jones.

Or this gem from John Derbyshire, "Chelsea is a Clinton. She bears the taint; and though not prosecutable in law, in custom and nature the taint cannot be ignored. All the great despotisms of the past - I'm not arguing for despotism as a principle, but they sure knew how to deal with potential trouble - recognized that the families of objectionable citizens were a continuing threat. In Stalin's penal code it was a crime to be the wife or child of an 'enemy of the people.' The Nazis used the same principle, which they called Sippenhaft, 'clan liability.' In Imperial China, enemies of the state were punished 'to the ninth degree': that is, everyone in the offender's own generation would be killed and everyone related via four generations up, to the great-great-grandparents, and four generations down, to the great-great-grandchildren, would also be killed."

- National Review, 02-15-01

For more, go to Paperweight's Fair Shot

Comments

[prodigal.livejournal.com]

Jesus, and to think I thought the bumper stickers calling for Clinton to be impeached that went on sale even before he took office were as low as the GOP and its supporters would stoop...

[katallen.livejournal.com]

It's all fun and games until they build the railway line and the gas chambers.

what country do these people think they live in?

[bifemmefatale.livejournal.com]

There are a number of one-party totalitarian states available. These yahoos should just pick one and move there.

For all that I hate conservatives, good Lord, I would never advocate that we declare open season on them. Coulter, well, she calculatingly says whatever will shock liberals the most and make the dittoheads cheer. I don't think she even takes herself seriously, just her career. I ignore her. But Gramm? Sheesh.

[ourika.livejournal.com]

That liberal hunting permit - I saw one of those posted on a car recently, but it's a very tiny picture, and I couldn't figure out what the bumper sticker said from where I was. I kept trying to get closer. Now I wish I hadn't bothered :(

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I'm really tempted to get, "Gun toting Liberal" as a t-shirt, and bumper sticker.

Put NRA and ACLU tags on it too, just to make their heads explode.

TK

[ammitbeast.livejournal.com]

Now I really have to make that bumper sticker and t-shirt...

"Liberal hunting permit? Bring it on, cracker. I'm the worst type of liberal -- a liberal with guns...."

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

It never ceases to amaze me how the people who claim to love America most are the ones mostly loudly advocating the tactics of regimes we used to despise and rail against.

"Why do neocons hate America?"

[antiquated-tory.livejournal.com]

Why?
Seriously, I look at this stuff and I just don't get it. Why does America now have this hate-filled polarization in its politics?
The 'polarization' is between two poles that are about 6 inches apart.
How many Americans want a revolution? How many want an end to capitalism and its replacement with (socialism/fascism/etc)? And electorally, how much substantive difference is there? A bunch of single issues (abortion, gun control etc) and some technical differences over regulating individuals vs businesses, where to draw the line between helping the needy and requiring personal responsibiity, etc.
All real enough and meriting many hours of argument down the coffee house. But talk about shooting each other? (OK, talk from one side about shooting the other, where the other is in principle opposed to talking about shooting anyone.) W? T? F?
Within living memory, the Spanish had quite an internal political disagreement. Anarchism, communism, fascism were all on the table. Should the Church help dictate policy or should it be destroyed altogether? Plus all options in the middle.
When Franco relieved the siege of the military academy in Toledo, the gutters ran red with blood. Can we really imagine the gutters of Toledo, Ohio, running red with blood?
Certain politicians and media figures have been pumping up rhetoric to further their own careers (and to cover up their own weaknesses and the emptiness of their policies). OK, this has always been done. But it seems that the irresponsibility and inflammatory nature of this rhetoric is at heights we haven't seen since the 19th century.
Or maybe I'm overstating the whole thing. This kind of furore seems to come and go in cycles. Maybe our problem isn't one of politics but of tastelessness.

OT: Brigadier Aywin-Foster's article

[antiquated-tory.livejournal.com]

Sorry to go OT, but I just wanted to give a heads up regarding this Brigadier's critique of US Army shortcomings in counter-insurgency and its results in Iraq (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/aylwin_jan06.pdf), as published in Military Review. Would love some informed comment on same.

[jennae.livejournal.com]

That is so disgusting, and sadly true.

If you want to talk familial taint, I've got a better suggestion..... *sigh*

Liberal Propagandists

[killslowly.livejournal.com]

Lookie here. I guess they are making it easier for the evil Republicans to shoot at the liberals:

http://www.cafepress.com/votevotevote/417238

But then again, I used to wear Che Guevara's face plastered over t-shirts I hand made. Never mind that every time somebody wears the poster child for Marxism-Leninism on his/her chest, he/she reminds me of the millions of people communism murdered in the name of "equality and freedom".

But the best t-shirts and bumper stickers I've seen, are the ones that say: "I support the troops, but not the war" or any variation thereof. The only reason people say crap like that, its because it is "politically correct" or in vogue. They are to chicken shit to express their real feelings, like the progressive people of the 70s. At least those a**holes had courage, spitting at people and beating them up.

Terry, this is the lamest thing I've seen you blog. The lamest I tell you. then again, I am replying so that makes me lame too. Sorry. Some jackass redneck wearing a t-shirt with a donkey and crosshairs is pathetic, childish, sectarian, evil, stupid, or whatever words you choose to label these people. It is not a representation of our democratic process, its people or what out country stands for. They have hunting permits for Terrorists also. Is that also a bad thing? That does not mean that the same rednecks who plaster that permit on their cars are going to be courageous, join a service and go hunt tewowists.

Please, make a t-shirt about "Liberal with a gun" it expresses your real feelings and who you are. While you are at it, make me one that says: "I hunted Terrorists, while spreading Democracy". You can wear it too. (^_^)