Stoopid Stuff

Sorry, But you can't Have it Both Ways

One of the things that bothers me about these standard Wingnut Positions (beside the overarching illogic, hatred, bigotry and blood-lust) is the inherent contradictions required by the wingnuts holding these beliefs. And their willingness to look you right in the eye and make the most twisted, self - canceling arguments to support their most reprehensible positions.

The number one example, by far, is what I call the "Existential Threat" position. Wingnuts will tell you that America is the most powerful nation in the history of the world, both economically and militarily, the source of all that's good in the world, freedom and democracy and market capitalism. Then, in the very next breath, they will tell you right to your face that a few thousand religious extremists living in isolation thousands of miles away are a dire threat to our nation and our way of life, only a hair's breadth away from creating the Caliphate from the crippled, fragile United States, forcing us poor, helpless Americans to live under Shari'a law and the tyrany of the Burkha. Now this argument usually comes out when they want to do something horribly cruel and unamerican, whether it be torturing some poor Afghan taxi driver or putting Muslim - Americans in concentration camps. They know that unlike them, good Americans tend to be pretty kind people, and the only way they would ever accept behavior like that is in the face of a desparate threat. So even though it flies in the face of even their own logic, they bring out a desparate threat.

When you begin to listen to them, you hear this same sort of construct in virtually every case. Want another example? Global Warming. Any wingnut will tell you that America is not only an economic powerhouse, primarily due to our free markets, our democratic institutions and our Judeo-Christian heritage (huh?), but also, precisely due to those same things, THE hotbed of innovation and technology. And yet, in the very next breath they will tell you earnestly that we are utterly unable to develop renewable, sustainable energy solutions that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions without crippling our economy. Therefore we cannot act on Global Warming. So let's just call it a fraud, a hoax, in spite of the overwhelming scientific support.

Somehow I have trouble with your honesty and integrity when you're willing to refute your own strongly held positions in order to get people to do things they otherwise would not. I just keep waiting for the world to catch on to these lying, venal, bloodthirsty thugs. Ah well, maybe this year...

posted by mikey @ 10:39 AM