Flamed!
April 06, 2004 ~ 5:23 p.m.
My, oh my�when I started the spring-cleaning, I had over 400 entries. Now, including this one, I�ve got 360. Yes, there was a lot of stuff I had to haul overboard, but the results are great. It makes for a much more streamlined diary, especially for first-time readers. Everything I�ve said in the past that�s relevant has remained (mostly my political entries). Anything that was pure frivolity is gone.
Anyway, now that I�ve returned from my well-earned hiatus, I�ll kick off my eleventh season here with some good old-fashioned entertainment:
I recycled this column on the new site recently. A highly intelligent and erudite liberal named Shark left me the following flames. I include them, along with the remarks of Eric, the site�s editor, who bravely jumped into the fray, and myself:
SHARK: Very few people, liberals included, opposed the war in Afghanistan. So set up another straw man while I pull up a chair and ponder your banana slug IQ. re: �For those who wish to complain that Bush dragged us into two wars, I ask: Did those lives that perished on 9-11 mean anything to you at all?� Is your IQ high enough to understand what a hideous, despicable remark that is? To use 3,000 dead as leverage to berate the dreaded liberals? As if ANY �LIBERAL� values human life less than you? Manning, you�re either a moron or a worm with no conscience. And I�m pretty sure the relatives of those 3,000 dead would probably agree with my sentiments when I say: FUCK YOU.ERIC: I would have to agree that all but the far left and way-way far right were for the war in Afghanistan. The big split comes with Iraq, which is indeed more problematic than Afghanistan but I have never doubted was the right, if not, in retrospect, the immediately necessary thing to do. But I would also agree with Mark that those who decry Afghanistan are beyond hope. They are. I remember talking to a woman science writer who I much admired at the time about Afghanistan right after the bombing started and she was beside herself with indignation that we would dare do such a thing. Suddenly it occurred to me: this woman is an idiot, which in subsequent dealings is exactly what she turned out to be.
ME: Thank you for the back-up on the matter of whether or not the Afghanistan war was right, Eric. It sure seems as if there are those who, at least subconsciously, wish we�d lose badly at the W.o.T. ... and to what end? Isolationism? Even if we did, I think it�s evident that the terrorists wouldn�t leave us be. Their war against us has started, and although WE might like the war to stop, we don�t have any choice. I think peace is a great concept; it�s also an ideological concept�I wish it were anything but, but it isn�t.
SHARK: It sure seems as if there are those who, at least subconsciously, wish we'd lose badly at the W.o.T. ... and to what end? Isolationism? Manning, it wasn�t enough to trot out 3000 dead bodies in order to demonize the dreaded �liberals��who don�t value life like somebody who votes differently? And now they're �subconsciously� hoping we lose the �war on terror?� Man, you are one despicable motherfucking worm. Oh, and FUCK YOU.
ERIC: Shark, I am not sure why you are taking this personally: there really are people who think like that, who think we �deserved� it, who would like to see us �lose� in order to �humble� us. And I�m talking about Americans and Europeans who think this way. I know you aren�t one of them, so I am not sure why you would take something addresses to real people who DO think that way personally.
SHARK: It�s just another technique of the Right. Equate the word �liberal� with FILL IN THE BLANK. I�m tired of sitting back and taking the �unpatriotic� shit, whether it�s implicit or explicit. I�m tired of these motherfuckers trying to claim the 3,000 dead in NY as their own territory to exploit as they see fit. Look, this entire FARCE of an entry began as a Straw Man that expressed criticism at an imaginary horde of �liberals��when in reality, it�s maybe a handful of extreme nut-bars who didn�t support the Afghan invasion. And now you�re telling me that Manning�s critique is legitimate because there �really are people who think like that.� AREN�T ANY AROUND HERE. I�VE NEVER HEARD IT FROM ONE FUCKING LIBERAL IN THREE YEARS. So bingo, another implicit smear tactic used to link the word �liberal� with the notion of �wanting to lose� the war on terrorism. It�s despicable. It�s the lowest of lows, and it shows what an evil pig Manning is that he�d stoop to use it. It�s not even worth considering, let alone debating. This ENTRY isn�t a debate about Afghanistan; it�s some mindless Right Wing Propaganda meant to further the MAIN AGENDA, which means to impart a Pavlovian response in Americans when they hear the word liberal: ummmm � don�t value dead on 9/11 � ummmm � want us to lose war on terrorism � appeasers � donuts � donuts � etc etc etc. These people are incredibly desperate, and will stop at nothing short of a cultural �civil� war. I�m just fighting back. (�cause I ain�t no traitor; I�m a true patriot. And these colors don�t run!)
ERIC: Shark, there is nothing in the post that says it addressed to �us��it is addressed to the very real people, some of whom he names, who DO feel this way. He addresses �some liberals� and �old-school conservatives,� who I again insist, really do exist and who really do feel this way. You are responding very angrily to something that is not addressed to you at all. I think Mark might have more accurately used a term stronger than �some liberals��like �some deranged leftists��but again, if the shoe doesn�t fit, why curse the cobbler?
SHARK: It sure seems as if there are those who, at least subconsciously, wish we'd lose badly at the W.o.T. FUCK HIM.
ME: Again, Eric, thanks for interpreting my arguments like a truly intelligent person. As for you, Shark�you really are showing just how intelligent you are. Gosh, I feel so chagrined for ever accusing bleeding-heart lefties like yourself for being so immature. �FUCK YOU! FUCK HIM! FUCK YOU! FUCK HIM!� Who taught you how to argue so effectively? Your public school teachers? Your beloved Daily Kos or Salon.com columnists? Ho-hum. Give it up, Shark. If you�re so offended by what I write, don�t read it. Is it worth the heart attack you�re earning yourself? Honestly! Just don�t think you offend or scare me in any way, because you don�t. I will say what I please here, given my right to free speech (which I know nutty lefties such as yourself are just itching to deny me and other true Americans), and I don�t care one damn bit what you have to say about it. The more stridently you shout, �FUCK YOU!� and call me a moron, the harder I laugh. I DON�T GIVE A DAMN WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY! If you think you�ll force me off, you�re cruising for disappointment. Now be a good little girl and go write Jean-Bertrand Aristide a nice letter of sympathy explaining how much you admire his attempts to curb democracy in Haiti? I�m sure he�d love a penpal and you're just the type to provide him comfort.
SHARK: Manning, you haven�t produced any arguments. You�ve trotted out a few straw men, a few absurd generalities, and a few incredibly obnoxious, insulting implications. Believe me, if you ever have the balls or the brains to lay out an �argument,� I�ll be more than happy to have a nice rational unemotional debate. But until that time comes, well, you know the routine � FUCK YOU.
Did you enjoy that? Let�s delve into some points that Shark brought up. No liberal values life less than I? One word: Abortion. Who�s mostly for it and who�s mostly against it? �Nuff said to settle that one.
Exploiting the 3,000 dead from the New York attacks? Nah, I�m just reminding people of them, in the same way Bush did with his ads.
Notice how many times she referred to this creature called a �straw man.� That�s liberal codespeak for any viewpoint that doesn�t chime with theirs. Conservative dialogue is routinely dismissed as �straw men.� It�s a very convenient way to label things�unfortunately, there�s hardly any substance behind it.
But most of all, you gotta love this: Accusing the Right of launching a cultural civil war. Oh Lordy, how does that rate on the dipshit scale? Abortion-on-demand. Fatherless families. Sex education in schools. Christian bashing. And now, gay marriage. Anytime and anywhere the lefties can throw a divisive wedge into the social mores of society, they will. And then one of their by-the-book representatives has the nerve to accuse me and my political brethren of starting a culture war? When it�s more important to you to force a judge in Alabama to strip the Ten Commandments from his court than to transform Iraq, you can�t even stand in my shadow, never mind talk to me.
� M.E.M.
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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
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