Don’t you hate it when you just know you’re right about some perspective you have but, of course, you don’t have the actual evidence at hand at the exact moment you need it?
I’ve been watching and listening to various conservative outlets with respect to the violent rhetoric issue since the Tucson episode. Numerous times I’ve heard various hosts claim that no one on the Right has compared anyone to Nazis and to suggest that if anyone on the Right ever did all hell would break loose in the “mainstream media” (code for liberal media).
As I’ve heard many conservatives on these shows do exactly that countless times I knew this was yet another case of selective memory that few, if any, of their listeners/viewers would hold them accountable for. It’s come up in my own conversations with conservatives. It’s rather difficult to, in mid conversation, state, “Why yes, one classic example is on October 19th at 4:19 PM when X said to Y…..” You know it happened but knowing those specifics off the top of your head is for the truly memory-gifted of which I’m not a member.
It was with great appreciation that I watched a segment last night on The Daily Show where Jon Stewart, in classic fashion, exposed this outright lie for what it is. If only we all had the ability to put a staff to work compiling all such examples in short order to respond to our detractors.
That such realities are both so black-and-white and yet so misunderstood underscores the challenge that lies before us as a nation with respect to our future growth. None of the rhetoric is going away. We have nearly half the country on the Right and they’re not going anywhere. We have nearly half the country on the Left and they’re not going anywhere either. The sad fact is that until we find a way for everyone to talk to one another and work together then, as a nation, we’re not going anywhere.
We’ve got to stop wearing the blinders and not accept this blatant hypocrisy when we encounter it regardless of the side of the aisle it originates in. These pundits are stirring the pot for their own purposes and it’s time we realize that their best interests are very likely not in our best interest.
With regard to Megan Kelly, I can only say that, at best, she’s ignorant. Any other explanation suggests pure malice on her part and such motives have no place in our desire to grow.
