Inspired by the recent dust-up involving the rancid dishonesty of one Bill Strong, PB moderator Scott Tribe suggests here that we on the progressive side of the aisle aren't going to let this sort of crap go unchallenged anymore.
This appears to have provoked the following response from a Blogging Tory:
Fair game, but mind the sign.
suggesting that the right-wingers are ready to play that game, too. Which is exactly the way it should be.
If the Tories want to call the Progressives on their bullshit, more power to them, I say. Go nuts. If a Progressive starts spewing crap, you have every right to hang them out to dry for it. But I'd take this idea one step further.
There's nothing that says all of us can't police our own side of the aisle. If someone from, say, PB.ca, starts posting rubbish, I have absolutely no problem pointing it out and tearing them a new orifice if that's what the situation calls for. No one should be immune from criticism, and I'm going to challenge my fellow progressives to be just as critical and snarky of other progressives and left-wingers as they are of the official opposition. Are those on the right prepared to do the same?
It sure as fuck doesn't look like it.
Consider the recent incident involving serial liar Bill Strong who, in the space of less than two days, has changed his story on the recent U.S. HoR vote twice. First, according to him, it was a Democratic proposal (which it wasn't). Then he actually knew what was going on all the time. After which, it was back to being a Democratic proposal. (Advice to Mr. Strong: If you're going to lie, leave a few days between the lies so people have a chance to forget the last one. It works better that way.)
But who exactly was it that hung Mr. Strong out to dry? Why, it was us progressives, wasn't it? Admittedly, I haven't looked very hard but, to the best of my knowledge, not a single Tory has criticized Mr. Strong for his blatant dishonesty.
So, if you wankers want to start holding us up to scrutiny, you're more than welcome. And if you find actual dishonesty, I guarantee that I'll be right there, backing you up.
But if you can't find the intestinal fortitude or integrity to lay into one of your own when he is so clearly and obviously spewing nonsense all over the blogosphere, you really don't have the moral authority to be lecturing us, do you?
Clean up the shit going down on your side of the aisle first. Then we can talk, OK?
JUST TO MAKE THIS PAINFULLY CLEAR: I realize this has been explained several times but I'm going to do it just once more, since some folks over there are still having trouble understanding the problem.
Mr. Strong has repeatedly referred to (and continues to refer to) a "Democratic resolution for immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq." There is no such resolution, as you can read here. The Democratic proposal was for a troop withdrawal "at the earliest practicable date." It was the Republicans who countered with the knee-jerk "immediate withdrawal" response that almost everyone rejected, leaving the GOP members of the House looking like total dumbfucks. Is this clear? Have I explained this adequately to everyone's satisfaction? Good.
Despite the actual facts and now being corrected publicly several times, Mr. Strong, even in his most recent post on this topic, continues to refer to "the Democrat's proposal for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq." At this point, given that he must know the facts by now, Mr. Strong is simply a lying sack of shit.
More importantly, Mr. Strong is also a member of the Blogging Tories and yet, to my knowledge (although I'm willing to be corrected on this), not a single Blogging Tory has upbraided Mr. Strong, even a little bit, for his blatant dishonesty. Until that happens, I suggest that the Blogging Tories are the last people who have the right to be lecturing anyone else about honesty or integrity.
If the Blogging Tories want to start holding the progressives to a high standard of ethics and integrity, cool. I'm all for that. But if they let one of their own members spew bullshit all over the Internets and let him get away with it, they really don't have the moral authority to be lecturing anyone else on the subject.
BONUS TRACK: If any of you really want to know why were on the "Left" are so pissed off these days, here's an example somewhat related to this whole Congressman Murtha episode. Note carefully how U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld flat-out lies about what happened.
Are you finally starting to understand why we just don't feel like playing nice anymore?
No comments:
Post a Comment