Spring Break
Palin debate continues:
Fighting fire with fire
Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: Opinion
I received just one e-mail in response to my "Sarah Palin is an unctuous and bilious person who wants to be president" column.
Maybe people are bored. Maybe they're afraid their comments will end up in print. More than a few people congratulated me in person. I'm sure others want to pillory me. Humanities major Matt Brumit wrote to ask me if my column was intended to be satire, or, if not, what "literary technique" I was using. He admonished me that "anti-hate arguments work a lot better when they are not riddled with hateful statements.
I told Brumit that in most circumstances I would agree.,but this is not most circumstances. I then quoted America's greatest satirist, Mark Twain, who wrote: "In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer."
I told Brumit that those more religious than I might call my comments 'righteous anger," adding that sometimes firemen must set fires in order to extinguish other, more devastating fires. I guess you could call my technique "fighting fire with fire."
I understand Brumit's point. The Democrats are the good guys. The good guys aren't supposed to stoop to Karl Rove's level. Rhetorically, it's counterproductive to engage in ad homonym attacks rather than address the flaws in your opponent's argument, and it's paradoxical to accuse someone of hate speech by using hate speech.
On that point, Brumit and I do not disagree. However, I don't agree that what I said qualifies as hate speech. Unlike Palin, nothing I said was intended to cause anyone to act violently.
I think Palin is a hatemonger. It is not hatemongering to point that out. I think Palin must be defeated. I don't, however, believe she deserves to have her head cut off, a sentiment her followers have expressed toward Barack Obama.
Let me make this clear: I do not advocate or condone violence against Palin.
It should bother everyone that the Secret Service is investigating death threats made against Obama at Palin rallies. It should bother everyone that Palin has not condemned the hate comments her followers are spewing, with greater frequency and vehemence.
Maybe people are bored. Maybe they're afraid their comments will end up in print. More than a few people congratulated me in person. I'm sure others want to pillory me. Humanities major Matt Brumit wrote to ask me if my column was intended to be satire, or, if not, what "literary technique" I was using. He admonished me that "anti-hate arguments work a lot better when they are not riddled with hateful statements.
I told Brumit that in most circumstances I would agree.,but this is not most circumstances. I then quoted America's greatest satirist, Mark Twain, who wrote: "In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer."
I told Brumit that those more religious than I might call my comments 'righteous anger," adding that sometimes firemen must set fires in order to extinguish other, more devastating fires. I guess you could call my technique "fighting fire with fire."
I understand Brumit's point. The Democrats are the good guys. The good guys aren't supposed to stoop to Karl Rove's level. Rhetorically, it's counterproductive to engage in ad homonym attacks rather than address the flaws in your opponent's argument, and it's paradoxical to accuse someone of hate speech by using hate speech.
On that point, Brumit and I do not disagree. However, I don't agree that what I said qualifies as hate speech. Unlike Palin, nothing I said was intended to cause anyone to act violently.
I think Palin is a hatemonger. It is not hatemongering to point that out. I think Palin must be defeated. I don't, however, believe she deserves to have her head cut off, a sentiment her followers have expressed toward Barack Obama.
Let me make this clear: I do not advocate or condone violence against Palin.
It should bother everyone that the Secret Service is investigating death threats made against Obama at Palin rallies. It should bother everyone that Palin has not condemned the hate comments her followers are spewing, with greater frequency and vehemence.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Matt
posted 10/10/08 @ 3:04 PM CST
Oh, George, how your self-loathing shows through.
Post a Comment