Don't Debate, Demagogue

I was going to leave the shooting in Arizona alone. But, no. With Sarah Palin calling, “Blood Libel” I can’t.  No thinking liberal SHOULD leave it alone.  I am tired of the Rights assault on reason and willingness to ignore facts that don’t fit its narrative.  I’m tired of Sarah Palin getting a free pass with her idiocy.  I’m tired of people who knowingly accept what Sarah and the Right tell them.  I can’t do much, but I will add my voice to the debate.

 

First off, it’s not Sarah’s fault that some nut job killed people and injured others.  But a person with what one would call a soul, would at least feel bad or feel even a measure of guilt about putting cross-hairs on her district and making her a “target”.  Heck, when my grandparents died, their children each felt they could have done more.  They felt responsible, even though they couldn’t have done anything.  When a person in a fit of pique says, “I wish you were dead!” and then something bad happens to that person, the person who wished death FEELS BAD.  Heck if a sane person says they “hate” someone and that someone gets hurt, well, only an asshole doesn’t feel SOMETHING.

So when Sarah Palin, instead of showing a little humility, attacks those who would dare to say that maybe, “Don’t retreat, Reload,” was perhaps a poor choice of phrase, I get angry. 

The other problem is: it’s not just about Sarah Palin. 

If told a friend, “This morning I woke up and my tires were flat.  I think someone’s trying to kill me.”  He would rightly think that maybe I was a paranoid schizophrenic. Without context it seems crazy, and that’s what the right is hoping to accomplish.  By making the debate about Sarah Palin, they make our argument seem crazy. 

To go back to my telling my friend I think someone’s trying to kill me.  What if leading up to that statement I’d also had someone send me threatening emails, put a target on where I live, hosted an assault rifle shooting to “get rid of me”, and shattered the windows at the place I work.  Well, maybe then I’m not so crazy.  By focusing on Palin, and by Palin making the debate about herself, we can ignore the 2nd amendment remedies, we can ignore the guns at rallies, we can ignore everything else that might contribute to someone committing murder in the name of political cause. (like this and this and this and all these) 

This time it wasn’t about any of this, just like when someone drinks and gets into an accident, it isn’t always their fault.  But we still refuse to allow people who drink to get behind the wheel. We do that because more often than not drinking is the cause of accidents and death. Just because this time it was just a coincidence, does not mean we should continue to act in an irresponsible manner.