Sunday, January 16, 2011

Hypocrisy 101

The act of blaming is like hurling a boomerang through the air.  If you indulge, don't forget to duck.

The hypocrisy on both sides of the post-Tucson argument is appalling.  Yes, BOTH sides.

BobOnARoll tries (imperfectly) to model the idea that it's better to assume responsibility than to assign it, and to be accountable rather than hold someone accountable.  But....human nature being as it is, we sometimes point the finger and flee from responsibility for our words and actions, myself included.

We progressives expect shameful language and behavior from the Right, but when the Left fails to acknowledge its own responsibility in soiling the public domain, it's cause for a pause.

This hypocrisy was brought home to me in a big way the other night with David P at the movie theater.  Sitting through wave after wave of violent movie trailers, I wondered aloud whether Hollywood, that bastion of progressivism and liberalism, might not share a big piece of responsibility for perpetuating a climate of hate through its gun-toting, dehumanizing rhetoric and violence in our movies and our music.  Put me down in favor of lightly regulated free speech and free expression.  Yet, while it may be true that  there is a weak causal link between shoot-em-up at Saturday matinees  and gun-em-down in real life, aren't both sides of the political divide accusing the other side of creating a climate in which unbalanced minds can seize upon provocative ideas and take criminal action?

BobOnARoll is not arguing for equivalency here.  But, let's face it, when it comes to dehumanizing words and images, Rush and Sarah have no monopoly.  Progressives: let's be bold about the conversation we need to have among ourselves first.

Shakespeare's Cassius had a point:  the fault lies within ourselves.  Didn't much care for his solution in the drama, however.....

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