Dissent is now unpatriotic...........................
by Warlock 10 Replies latest jw friends
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leavingwt
It looks as if I agree with Hillary Clinton on this topic...
“I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration, somehow you’re not patriotic. And we should stand up and say we are Americans, and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration!”
She's a lawyer with a firm grasp of what the First Amendment is all about.
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BurnTheShips
Garofalo herself seemed visibly angry. Why were she, and Olbermann, and many others on the left, so apparently troubled by a virtually powerless opposition?
I asked William Anderson, a friend who is a political conservative, a medical doctor, and a lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard. "They are angry, but I think they are also scared, and I think it's because they have a sense that their triumph is a precarious one," Anderson told me. Democrats won in 2008 in some part because of the cycles of American politics; Republicans were exhausted and it was the other party's turn. Now, having won, they are unsure of how long victory will last.
"They see that they have a very small window of opportunity to do all the things they want," Anderson continued. "They see the window of opportunity as small because they know in their deepest hearts that the vast majority of the American people wouldn't go for all of the things they want to do." So they are frantic to do as much as possible before the opposition coalesces. And the tea parties might be the beginning of that coalescence.
Then there is the question of self-image. Watching Garofalo and Olbermann discuss the tea parties, it was impossible to avoid the sense that they saw themselves as two good people talking about many bad people. "One of the things about narcissism is that it looks like people who are just proud of themselves and smug, but in fact narcissism is a very brittle and unstable state," Anderson told me. "People who are deeply invested in narcissism spend an awful lot of energy trying to maintain the illusion they have of themselves as being powerful and good, and they are exquisitely sensitive to anything that might prick that balloon."
Again, the tea parties could represent a threat. What if the protesters weren't racists, weren't violent, weren't mentally defective? What if their point was legitimate, or even partly legitimate? Those are questions better batted down than answered.
Finally, there is the sense of anxiety and fragility that stems from the liberals' newly-won power. They control everything in government, and some fear what the responsibility of governing is doing to them.
Their president of hope and change has chosen not to prosecute the authors of the Bush-era "torture memos." He is escalating the war in Afghanistan. He seems determined to bail out the nation's richest bankers. For some on the left, it can be difficult to abide those actions and still maintain the image of one's self atop the moral high ground. So they lash out at the easy target presented by the tea parties.
And that is how political triumph can produce anger and unhappiness. Don't be surprised if there is much more of both in the days to come.
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sir82
Yeah, next thing you know, the president will say something like "If yer not fer us, yer aginst us".
Boy wouldn't it be awful for that to happen!
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jeeprube
Dissent became unpatriotic under the last administration. You guys are just on the other side of it now. It's ok, take a deep breath and focus on the important things in life. Before you know it 4-8 years will have passed. Life will continue.
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beksbks
Dissent became unpatriotic under the last administration. You guys are just on the other side of it now.
Exactly Jeep. Only it's been "unpatriotic" a lot longer than that.
Warlock, I started to read that article, and ended up giving it a quick skim. It's full of misinformation. Looks like JW publications that tell you how to think and interpret the bible. I hope you don't buy into that guys bullshit.
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Warlock
I hope you don't buy into that guys bullshit.
beks,
Forgive me, but I'm sure not going to buy into yours.
Warlock
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BurnTheShips
It's full of misinformation.
Like?
BTS
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beksbks
First of all the very idea that the DHS report is somehow something new, is just disingenuous. Second, I honestly haven't heard any lefties saying that the tea party stuff was "unpatriotic" or "why do they hate America?". So to begin with that premise as if it is truth is guiding you into thinking his way at the outset. The comment about trying to silence Rush Limbaugh is idiotic. It's schoolyard.
I saw that Garafolo thing on Olbermann. I shook my head and thought what a dork she is. Olbermann didn't seem angry or concerned in the least. As a matter of fact, I got the impression he might be thinking exactly the same thing I was. She came off like a looney.
Burn, you yourself said on some other thread that you're glad authorities are watching extremists. It's pretty straight forward stuff, and it's nothing new.
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leavingwt
I saw that Garafolo thing on Olbermann. I shook my head and thought what a dork she is.
Beks, thank you for coming on here and saying that. Her comments were disgusting.