Although the title of this diary doesn't exactly bring the message across that I a hoping to bring to you today, I thought it appropriate, considering the surreal conversation that I had with a commentor on Michelle Malkin's website last evening and what I discovered this morning.
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It began an just an average skim through the fetted waters of Malkin's blog. It was laden with the 'hot' topics of the day: immigration, the state of Iraq and what the media is and isn't covering that does or does not satisfy Michelle's delicate tastes, what Obama said at some point in the last few days, ad infinitum. And then, a curious topic: whether or not Racheal Ray and Dunkin Donuts were - in fact - supporting Paletinian sponsored terrorism.
It's quite the common theme for pundits and paranoid delusionals like Malkin to see something innocent, commonplace, and draw direct inference to something sinister, evil, something that is so unamerican that it must be stopped.
In this instance, it was a scarf of Indo-Persian origin with a design on it that more than likely predates Islam by several centuries. In an attempt to discover why so many saw this as 'shocking' - as well as discern why others just accepted Michelle's declaration by essentially stating, "oh, that's just how she is" - I thought I would engage some of them in the comments section.
Naturally, the common-place labels were tossed my way. The opening salvo of 'TROLL' was launched with textual venom in the hopes that this simple word and it's following exclaimation of "L-O-L" would send me shreaking with terror, never to return again and question the likes of Michelle Malkin and her band of jubulantly ingorant compatriots.
Other's made valiant attempts to engage in honest debate, but soon devolved into rehashing talking points and gramatical twists of illogic.
For example:
On May 25th, 2008 at 6:01 pm, atheling said:
I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think, troll. However, I will disabuse you of the mistake you made when you initially posted your rant on this thread.
- You cut and paste my comment about Meghan McCain’s scarf, accusing me of some kind of double standard in that I call her accoutrement a "scarf" because it’s convenient to do so, as her father is a Republican.
- I correctly point out that I also did so with RR’s accoutrement, demonstrating the fact that you didn’t even bother to read all the comments here.
- You make some lame, fumbling excuse that you did not mean to make your point out of ME, personally.
THAT’S BULLSHIT. You’re a liar, libtard, as most are.
Then you pretend that you’re some patriot by hiding behind the gravestones of your relatives? What a pathetic crock! And you have the gall to accuse us of such?
Libtard, stop projecting. Everyone knows that people like you HATE AMERICA, HATE OUR TROOPS, AND HATE CONSERVATISM.
If anyone is coming off as a vacuous toss-pot, it’s you! You invoke the sacrifice of your relatives, who are probably ashamed of you, to somehow validate your "patriotism"??? Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way. Their sacrifice DOES NOT MAKE YOU A PATRIOT, libtard. Indeed, it only deepens the shame you and your ilk should feel for betraying what they defend.
Now, go pound sand.
To be fair, so that this quote can be seen in it's proper context ( you know, that word that conservatives use to often but don't understand the definition of ) we traded comments on what we did on what were we doing this Memorial day weekend, an I mentioned visiting the graves of my uncle and grandfather as well as attending church with my cousins that had served in the military.
A few things that this faceless, short-fused character obviously couldn't understand:
1 - I have family that has served
2 - I honor their memories in ways that they would be pleased with
3 - My family members don't believe the way he/she does
4 - I go to church ( certainly a shocking revelation to an obviously devout conservative that someone with progessive ideals and a liberal philosophy on life would attend church. You remember that scene in te movie Scanners where the guys head exploded? That's what popped in my head when I read the reply )
5 - I was attempting to engage in conversation with someone of opposing political ideology.
So, as the conversation quickly mutated into a 'holier-than-though' testimonial on the part of our good friend here, I noticed more and more that the argument was no longer about the scarf, about a double-standard that is and would be applied to people like Meghan McCain, but about what patriotism is to a conservative and how that conservative knows the true motives of ALL people of liberal or progressive thought.
Then, this challenge was put to me:
On May 25th, 2008 at 6:09 pm, atheling said:
BTW, libtard, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and pontificate your projection to all the other conservatives on the Memorial Day gratitude thread, instead of just to me?
I’d like to see the thrashing you’d get.
But then of course, libtards aren’t exactly known for their courage.
And there it was. Courage, as defined by this series of letters and spaces that is meant to invoke a person on my computer screen is that I post a comment in Michelle Malkin's 'Memorial Day' thread.
Many of us know that Malkin is often heard espousing that they aren't 'allowed' to quesiton the patriotism of liberals, of progressives, of Democrats. If they wish to do so in regards to me, I say let them. No, I don't fit into their scewed version of reality, I don't have a military records, I have and I never will believe the things that they do. So, no matter what I do in life, I will never be a patriot to them. That isn't what bothers me. What does, is the fact that this person claims that simply posting your 'support' for troops, your 'blessing' for America on a website controlled by one of the most fringe commentators on the planet is equal to courage.
I had read many comments there, and it honestly made me a bit sad. Sad that this, in many respects, is a substitute for 'support' for many in the conservative movement. Nothing more than empty words used to make their own ego swell and create a false sense of 'patriotism' in an online community populated by far too many that couldn't possibly grasp the true meaning of the word.
So, in keeping with the debate as my newfound friend had framed it, I issued this response to his pathetic boast:
so, courage - as you seem to be defining it here - is posting in a blog-style circle-jerk where you and various other faceless, conservative blog commentors try to one-up each other on how much bigger their patriotism is from the next person’s - try to see if your "God Bless America" is more resounding than the person that has posted before you?
Of course, it would be foolish to think that these words which I stand by would not be thrown back at me - and they were. It was, as were many of the comments last night, predictable.
But I was still stuck on this notion that was planted in me by whomever it was that I was debating. At points it seemed like it might be an actually person, with ideas of their own, a unique perspective, then there was the remainder of the time when it could have been a pre-programmed bot, a conservative paid to comment against people like me. It could have been Michelle Malkin in diguise for all I know. The point is, that this person felt completely at ease with maligning anyone with whom they even partially disagreed with along-side everything that is wrong with the world.
It wasn't just the fact that they refused to acknowledge that they had completely given-in to the fear that is planted within them day in and day out, the talking-points that have been repeated to them so often that they honestly see them as conventional wisdom, but within the context of Memorial Day and what they claimed to feel about that day they thought they had found their 'straw-man' to tear apart.
They couldn't seem to see the difference between dispproving of a policy, the anger at a person, a foolish idea, or even the unblushing disappointmet and shame in regards to George W. Bush and 'hate' towards an entire country.
I stood by my words and that seemed to anger this person, this self-styled 'patriot'.
Then, this morning, I saw this:
Of course, sending care packages to the military abroad is a great way to show support. However, the mere fact that Malkin, Melanie Morgan, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin are atached to this is beyond disgusting.
This isn't the campaigns like I have participated in, where you would actually put the care-package together and they would be collected and sent to the troops ( wherever they may be stationed ). This is an organization asking for money ( ranging from $16 to $900 ). Considering how Hannity's alleged FREEDOM CONCERT played out when one simply takes a look at the numbers, I am especially leary of this idea.
However, it may just be my nature to be just a shade skeptical when people like Morgan, Malkin, Hannity, and Levin are lending their names and 'celebrity' to something like this. And I think that that is what makes it such a difficult pill to swallow. To see these ego-inflated, prattle-heads of the lunatic fringe using the military to somehow polish their image, create a false sense of honor and patriotism around them, it saddens me.
That is the overwhelming feeling that I get when I see Malkin and all of her little drones 'blessing' and 'supporting'. I honestly can't believe that they mean a word of it, at all.