This is all too funny. Teabagging. Republican party/talk radio infighting. Fundamentalist Christians running scared enough to remove Rachel Maddow segments from youtube, and on and on.
I fear, though, that focusing so much on the follies of a dying party might produce something other than their last gasp. Mightn't it likely galvanize the crazy? It's possibly better to just let them burn it out in their own corner. We should be scrutinizing the Obama administration anyway, since there's clearly not an honorable or even coherent opposition party, at the moment.
Meanwhile, that horrorshow is entitled to believe whatever sub-literate lunacy it chooses. There'll be something new next week, and the week after that. We're giving their tea-parties lavish attention this week because it's hilarious television, not to mention thoroughly reassuring to liberals.
I voted for Obama partly in the hope that these thundering know-nothings might gasp their last political gasp and yield a better Republican party, not just a better Democratic party. I think we all voted for him because we wanted the political tenor to change. Focusing on the right wing rabble drowns that out. I don't give a damn what Sarah Palin said last week. She lost, and I thought our reward for that was not having to hear her voice anymore.
We should, no doubt, keep vigilant watch against the insane. Let's not, however, aid and abet Glenn Beck's ratings by scrutinizing every whacko nugget that falls out of his mouth. I'm not sure we have that kind of time, and besides, Obama's message is much, much better for us all, be you pro or con.
2 comments:
Small groups with wacko ideas have done quite well with re-packaging goals and rallying large groups of people in the past. We should focus on promoting scrutiny against everything and scale concern with the number of crazies involved. It's best (and, to be honest, really nice) just to laugh at some of the latest eruptions. Otherwise I'll just start crying again. And there's no crying in Obamaland, right?
I don't disagree with any of that. I'm certainly not suggesting we just ignore them and hope they go away, and it is ridiculously fun. But I do think we're getting too much right-wing paranoia in all forms of news, pro or con.
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