Media Matters for America, for example, has detailed coverage of Bill
O'Reilly's despicable comparisons of The Daily Kos to Nazis, David Duke and the
Ku Klux Klan, and more on his Fox News program The O'Reilly Factor. (See too, my
Bill O'Reilly Hate Tour.) Jeffrey Feldman of Frameshop today urges us to contact
the Wall Street Journal about yet another, more sophisticated smear job against
the progressive blogosphere.
I think that it is time to retire this language. This is something that is being done by people on both sides of the issues. It is similar to that song by Bob Dylan, which talks about how everyone is claiming that god is on their side. In this instance, people who make these claims are not only claiming that the devil is on the opponents side, they are claiming that they are the devil. The evils on the holocaust are perhaps the most evil of all humyn acts in recent history. To compare the activities of any member of a functioning democracy to that is to belittle the crime that the Nazis committed. Websites may say things that you don't agree with, they might threaten to cut off funds, they may support ideas that you believe are wrong headed. Presidents have different views on the world than you, the media covers news in a way that you don't think is balanced, politicians are not as responsive to the needs of the public as you believe that they should be.
These are first of all not crimes in this country. Second of all, websites are not placing people into ovens, presidents are not running internment camps, and the media doesn't force you to consume the product that it delivers. There are real crimes that have taken place, what we see most often is disagreements, that can be worked out through discussion. That discussion does not happen though when either or both sides resorts to name calling, slander and baseless comparisons to crimes so vile there is honestly very little that can be compared to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment