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Cross-posted locally.
OK, technically Wikileaks is a website, and websites can't pull triggers.
Unless it's Sarah Palin's website.
And so the Republic is tested again.
This is the only story in politics right now. The House could declare war on Canada, and I would hardly notice, as long as the Senate hadn't voted yet.
I want Gabrielle Giffords to get well and hold a press conference. I want her to crack a joke, and to announce that her next "Congress on the Corner" event will take place as soon as she is healthy enough to do it. I know that I may not get this, any of it, but that's what I want. And all of that is to say, I'm not making fun of her, the victims, or the situation.
But I find it odd that, last month, so many people were defending Wikileaks, which was dealing with matters of life and death and war. This month, some of the same people are saying, "Words matter. Words have consequences."
Um ... yes. That's why we use them.
I've read the threads at Blue Mass Group and Blue Hampshire with great interest. Three comments spoke the loudest to me: this one by elwood, this one by Tim C., and this one by Mr. Lynne. Everything said, in all three of those comments, is absolutely true. The Michael Moore quote in the last link is killer. The Tom Tomorrow quote right under it is even better.
But none of this matters. We could debate, for the next 10 years, about the rhetoric of the left and right, and (in my opinion) the left would win, every day. But we would win nothing, because that is the wrong battle to fight.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
-- (probably never said by) Voltaire
Sarah Palin and Sharron Angle are not at fault here. If Palin opened a chain of gun shops, and offered guns personally signed by her and had a store in Arizona, she would not be at fault here. Sharron Angle is a Senate candidate who lost, a powerless goofball somewhere in Nevada. The man she lost to has real power, and he used it last year to (among other things) vote for an Afghan war funding bill proposed by his president, the most articulate, reasonable, and well-spoken politician in the country. Use of words is a big part of why Obama is president, and part of why Sharron Angle has no power. Words matter. Words have consequences.
But those tanks in Afghanistan have even greater consequences. It's hard to reply to bullets.
Why do we accuse others of causing actual harm through inappropriate speech? Do we not recall that such accusations have been made about us, and will be again?
Political speech is dangerous. Politics is dangerous.
It is dangerous because it matters. It is not good that it is dangerous, but it is good that it matters. This is the price of freedom. With great freedom comes great irresponsibility. God bless America.
As people who care about political speech and engage in it, we have to grant others the same freedom we grant ourselves. That means, in part, that we give them the broadest possible benefit of the doubt. We should assume that they mean well and want the best for our country. We should not hurl accusations over what we consider their irresponsible behavior.
Of course "Second Amendment remedies" is over the proverbial line. But who gets to draw the line? Any satirist will tell you that you don't know where the line is until you step over it.
It might help that I'm in my 40s, which means I've had 30 years or so of Baby Boomer media telling me that I'm screwed up. A grieving Dad decided to sue Judas Priest over his son's suicide, and some goofy judge dragged the entire band into the courtroom for months. I didn't even like Judas Priest, but anyone could see that there but for a bit of luck went a lot of bands I do like. Tipper Gore became nationally famous for crusading against rock lyrics, and then came to regret it, even asking the PMRC to disband before Al ran for president (they refused). The Clash's Combat Rock tour was called their "North American Campaign," and I'm pretty sure the T-shirts had something on them that looked like targets, over the cities. So clearly ...
Until a couple of years ago, we still used Blockbuster Video in our town, which is named after "blockbuster" movies, which are named after blockbuster bombs. Speaking of war, strafing is a good strategy if you play DOOM, which you should if you never have. I'm pretty sure that game made me less violent, not more so.
When I write about politics, I tend to avoid profanity because I know its power. I want to be read, and I don't want to give someone an excuse to ignore me. But that's my choice, and it's meaningless if profanity isn't allowed. I use a music analogy: I sing (poorly) in one key, but I want all keys available.
I cite no less an authority than John Candy.
I was taught that the word fuck is something sacred, something that could always get a laugh when needed.
Fuckin' A right, John. RIP.
I don't like Sarah Palin or Sharron Angle, and I really don't like Mike Huckabee (who I predict will be heard from next, after Pawlenty). But I want to defeat these people at the ballot box, because we won a battle of ideas, not because they said something stupid and irresponsible. I wouldn't wish that on our candidates, and I don't wish it on their candidates.
On to 2012. Here's to a speedy recovery for Rep. Giffords. If she decides to run in 2016, I'm with her. I've learned a lot about her in the last few days, and she seems to be the kind of leader we need.
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