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Cleaning your own house

I recently heard a liberal who I like saying some things about how mean and ridiculous Glenn Beck is. I’m not defending Beck. I don’t have cable so have never heard him say anything, the sole exception being except a youtube clip where he misinformed about the cars.gov site. However, the comment about him, similar to what I have heard about Rush, O'Reilly, Coulter, and other commentators from the Right, all have one thing in common: they come from people on the Left.

It’s my view-–and this is a view I cannot support with Scripture or anything else–-that people should be more prone to cleaning their own house that the house of others. In other words, liberals should be slamming the rude people who are in line with them politically before they go off on conservatives who draw their ire. And conservatives should do the same.

It’s incumbent upon us on the Right to let Rush, Beck, Coulter, etc. know that their tactics are unacceptable, and it’s up to those of you on the Left to concentrate on communicating the same message to Al Franken, Jeanine Garafolo, Maureen Dowd, Bill Maher, and Jimmy Carter. All in that list have said things as uncalled-for as anything Beck has ever said.

For instance, why did I not hear anyone on the Left bashing Carter for his statement equating disagreement with Obama’s policies with racism? That accusation is revolting, extreme, inflammatory, and untrue. But it wouldn't surprise Carter or his supporters to hear any conservatives point this out. However, if a liberal, or several of them, said something, it would carry some weight. To his credit, Obama did publicly disagree with the statement somewhat. It would have been nice if other voices from the Left joined in.

It’s easy to slam the guy you don’t agree with; it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Be different. Do the brave thing. This world would be a better place if we concentrated our complaining to those those with whom we are more closely aligned politically.

Would Beck listen to his own party members if they spoke up about this? If enough people said something, the answer is yes. (Note: if the answer is no, then what good does it do for anyone, including the ones on the Left, to complain about him?)

Comments

Jordan Green said…
James, I utterly reject you pigeon-holing me as "a liberal".

You can read my response to your comment on Burnside, but I want to point out the incredible hypocrisy at making this statement about how we should police "our own sides", then go on to not make a single critical point of any conservative.
James said…
Jordan, you are completely misunderstanding me, but I see it’s the fault of my own badly-chosen words, so I take the blame. Allow me to explain. I wrote that right after I read Emily’s remark about blaming Beck for a rift between her an her granddad. I don’t consider you a liberal, but I do consider her to be one.

To be clear, I am not slamming Emily. I like her, as much as you can like people you don’t meet in person. I have a great deal of respect for her, but it was her post that made me start thinking about how we tend to denounce rudeness in commentators who we don’t agree with.

You may agree with Beck or Rush sometimes, but I wasn’t talking about you: I was talking about all of us, starting with me, but spurred on by her.

What you read in my comment here, and in my adapted version of it in the blog, was me thinking this through, out loud. It was a response, not an argument, to her post.

I see where I have fallen short, and gotten very bent out of shape when I read Dowd, or hear something Maher has said, when really, I should save my criticisms for people like O’Reilly and Beck and Rush and especially Coulter, because they are screwing up a message I believe in. Not the message, but the delivery of it. I am convinced that the positions I hold regarding economics, in particularl, are the ones that are best for our country, and it pains me that the ones recognized as spokespersons for my viewpoint are only remembered for their rudeness. It is incumbent upon me to let them know the damage they are doing, and not worry so much what Franken or Carter just said.
Jordan Green said…
James,

Thank you for clarifying, James. I apologize for responding angrily. Like I said, I do agree with your thesis.

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