Still Racists?

“Conservatives are described over and over as mean-spirited, war-loving, greedy, bigoted, racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, homophobic, sexist, intolerant and oblivious to human suffering.”

Not much of a news flash. I’ve known about this, personally for some time… and later discovered that others were subject to the same smears and distortions. (See Ann Coulter’s “Slander”.) Left-leaners say this, especially online, almost reflexively. With some left-leaners the response comes so naturally you begin to wonder whether or not these folks actually believe it sincerely.

The quote comes from a recent column by Dennis Prager (The Left and the Term “Islamo-Fascism”). He discusses a recent speech… where he disarmed university students with his reasoning, sense of humor, and otherwise simply by being himself as opposed to the distorted image they expected.

“For the last couple of decades now, name-calling has been the principal argument liberals have deployed against conservative arguments.

“If Republicans opposed the National Endowment for the Arts, they were said to hate art. If Republicans opposed the Department of Education, they were said to hate teachers. If Republicans opposed the Environmental Protection Agency, they were said to hate the environment. Opposition to the government spending money on anything was invariably attacked as hatred for the thing money was to be spent on.”

As I mentioned earlier, Ann Coulter wrote a book on left-leaners targeting conservatives and Republicans with unrelated comments like hate, racist, ugly, mean, etc. Some simply diminish conservative arguements and politcies down to mere intolerance and bigotry.

It gets said all too often... and the recipiant, or his comrades, rarely seem to stand up against the smear. If it wasn't so sad it would be funny.

“Liberals are like the monkeys in Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" who explain: "We all say so, and so it must be true."”

The monkeys who think they understand conservatives and believe they cracked the reasons why we simply don't think like they do probably wouldn't hold on to these rediculous ideas if only more conservatives would speak up.

It happens at work. My boss and at least one immediate co-worker appear to be big anti-Bush folks. Not only that, they occasionally denigrate conservative political views. I simply respond in a friendly and jovial manner. I use humor the way they use it... and I make it clear that I like talking with these people regardles of the subject and whether or not we agree.

Someone else at work maintains the quote section of our home page... always an anti-Bush comment. Someone had changed things around for a while and we were getting various humorous or historical quotes... however, it was not to last. We're back on the "classic" stand-by quote. So be it. Some folks need to feel secure.

Again, mention it. Just point it out. Simply remind the person that, for example, “My support for the war doesn’t make me bigoted… it simply doesn’t follow.” Someone disagrees with who I support in the 2008 elections and calls me intolerant, so I say, “An interesting argument, please explain.” About two years ago some rabid woman proceeded to claim that I was intolerant as well as mean... all after speaking with me for about an hour. What’s more, she acted quite rudely. You can’t imagine my delight in pointing out that her intolerance made for a rather unpleasant evening out with friends.

All of this reminds me of my old man’s take on Dennis Prager. About a year ago I visited my mom and dad and the subject of radio came up. I mentioned to my mom, who enjoys Limbaugh, that if she doesn’t like one of Rush’s guest-hosts she should tune in to Dennis Prager. When talking to anyone about radio I always refer to Prager as a great radio tonic for anyone who simply doesn’t like Rush Limbaugh… regardless of whether the listener is more conservative or liberal. My mom took the advice, but my dad pooh-poohed Prager. He dismissed him as just like all the others… or words to that effect. He’s not a liberal, but he doesn’t have time for talk shows other than Soucheray. I told him that in spite of what he might have heard from others, that’s not Prager… he’s very fair with callers and fair with discussion. His responses are measured and thought out.

Go ahead and disagree with Prager, but you’ll have a hard time likening him to a guy like Savage or Levin or the late Morton Downy, Jr.