Late on Saturday night I published a diary titled What is she waiting for?
After receiving what I considered to be several off base comments I called it quits for the evening and turned in. The next morning, after going a few rounds with the Sunday Morning morons, I logged on to DK and was greeted by this ...
You've Been Warned...
2008-03-23 03:12:01
Suggesting that Senator Clinton is waiting for Senator Obama to be assassinated, and hinting that she might even have a hand in such an event, is beyond the Pale. Cease and desist. You will not e warned again.
I understand the above warning (posting is no longer allowed until this is acknowledged).
To be perfectly honest, I was completely taken off guard by the implication contained in the message, that I had "hinted that she [Hillary Clinton] might have a hand in such an event [assassination of Barack Obama]".
However, after mailing copies of the diary around to a few trusted friends, I learned that a significant number (almost half) had read that precise implication into my words.
Please follow me over the fold for my mea culpa and explanation ...
First, the simple fact that the "Cease and Desist" order was delivered without more than perfunctory commentary and without return address added to my sense of offense taken.
Second, though my diary was and intended to be slightly provocative, I was caught unaware that what I thought was its clear implication and POV (that the Clinton campaign was trying to elongate the nomination process to keep the window open for scandal or worse) had been taken to mean something far more sinister. Namely, that the campaign was wishing for, or worse yet was behind, a plot to assassinate Barack Obama.
On reflection, much of that mistaken impression was my own doing. By structuring the diary with a lengthy introduction centered on my strong childhood memories of the serial assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK, I not only buried the lead, I overwhelmed it with the shadow of conspiracy.
That is not what I was wanted to say or convey. However, what I do think is this.
One of the several Clinton tactics since Super Tuesday has been (and continues to be) to stretch the the primary and caucus process out as long as possible in the hope that some news or scandal of Spitzerian proportions knocks Obama off his high horse and into the ditch.
Obviously it was not so clear to all readers. To set the record straight, I was trying to address two specific issues in the same diary.
One, that the Clinton campaign is desperate and thinks that only an Obama campaign screw up or scandal can save them. Two, that many people I've spoken to (especially African Americans) believe that Barack is in very real danger of getting taken out by a cabal of rascist neo-nazi klansmen or people with a real interest in the divisive and divided status quo.
I'll admit to having latent fears of his assassination since the start. That is what I was expressing in the opening of my previous diary. In any case, I've pretty successfully tamped them down by convincing myself and others that they're based only on our own fear and the insidious messaging of the MSM and right wing hate radio. Also, I've taken it on faith that his secret service detail is composed of superheroes who can and will protect him from evil.
Anyway, what I really learned from this episode is that everyone writes and reads with their own set of life experiences, prejudices, hopes and subconscious fears and desires.
It's been a good lesson for me.