Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Call Them Racists - A Response

The Daily News Record: Editorial Opinion





First of all, three verifiable instances of smearmongering were left out of this piece that should have been included if the editor is indeed to be taken seriously. Van Jones, Shirley Sherrod, and ACORN. All four of these events fit the editor's own description perfectly:


"As this page has observed before, such smears never harm those who make them. When a crackpot leftist calls someone on the right a racist, everyone knows the target of the smear might just lose his job, even if the charge is false. Everyone also knows that nothing will happen to the crackpot, even if the charge is false."


In the cases above, the charges of racism were made by the right wing, specifically Fox News and in each case it was the target of the smear that lost their job or went out of business. In each case the charges were debunked rather emphatically. Last time I checked Fox News is still in business and going strong. Mr. Jones, Mrs. Sherrod, and ACORN are limping along trying to get back their reputations and in Mr. Jones and Mrs. Sherrod's case succeeding pretty well.

In this case, I don't think anyone in the right wing noise machine has been fired or has lost their job because of these "leftist moonbats...." In fact, didn't the editor note that the Journ0list is now defunct? As K Parker via realist says, It is "is weak tea — a tempest in Barbie’s teacup."

@ editor - This type of crackpot editorial simply fans the flame of division. The obvious partisan slant does nothing to advance your arguments or positions. Again, you have nailed the obvious but have once again shown your own blindness:

"But it was sad to see what journalism, or at least a segment of it, had come to."

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