Freedom of Speech = Freedom from Responsibility?

[dwer.livejournal.com]

So, I know, I know. It's Glenn Beck. We expect the whacko from him. And, of course, he's got every right to speak his mind; I certainly don't think he should be censored.

But at what point does he become responsible for the actions of people who follow his advice?



Buy farmland. Move to places where everyone is like you. Buy guns. Buy ammunition. And then... what? It's not like enclaving really works long term. Eventually, one of two things will happen.

1) After Obama's term ends without the world doing the same, maybe some of these people will pull their heads out and say "why did we listen to that guy?"
2) Someone provokes an incident.

The message sent by the American people this election was quite clear. The President won a resounding electoral victory and beat his opponent by more votes than Bush beat Kerry. Every competitive senate race save for one was taken by the democrats, and these aren't blue-dogs we're talking about; these are real progressive liberals like Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin. And while the GOP retained the House, they did lose seats, and more people voted for Democratic Congresspeople than Republicans.

It was a fundamental rejection of GOP ideology. It was a rejection of the rape brigade, a rejection of the Ryan budget plan, a rejection of the concepts of the Makers and Takers, a rejection of the concept of the 47%, a rejection of conservative definitions of marriage, women, LGBTQ, race, immigration and drug law.

But the GOP doesn't seem to want to believe it. The constant refrain of "Conservatism cannot fail, it can only be failed" continues to sing in their ears, drowning out anything resembling the truth, which is that they lost and they lost big, and then they turn to people like Glenn Beck, and he tells them to buy farms, move to where everyone is like you, and get more guns.

Or this guy, who advocates cutting EVERY democrat in your life out of that life, to the point where he doesn't know if he'd rescue a democrat who was drowning, and thinks that he can get better brain surgery in Mexico than from a US brain surgeon who happened to vote differently than he did.

Or these people who think that losing an election is a national emergency so they, who so often rail about how burning the flag is treasonous, fly their flags upside down to indicate distress.



At their McDonalds.

And why do they do this?

Because they've been lied to, by the guy at the top of this post. By Rush. By Karl Rove. By http://www.unskewedpolls.com By every pundit who insisted that Nate Silver was cheating. Hell, GOP donors are angry because they were assured, ASSURED, I TELL YOU, that Romney was going to win based on bad data using bad algorithms, and a campaign that wasn't going to be dictated to by facts.

So what responsibility to these people have to tell the truth, I wonder? Of course, I think they should tell the truth. There are reasonable arguments to be made on policy. There are reasonable disagreements to have. I just wish we could see more of that, and less insistence that Obama is a kenyan radical christian muslim nazi communist.

Comments

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

US Military sure shut down the Iraqi press tho. Funny that.

And that was a mistake in my opinion. But then again how I would have handled the whole middle eastern situation were I dictator would be even less popular with the bleeding heart types than the one we eventually enacted.

Also, you are an intelligent human with a vocabulary. Try elevating your insults above female genitalia comparisons. After all, what did the genitalia ever do to deserve such derision? (Yes, I think its a low blow to cunt stains to compare them to....)

Sorry that it offends you, but that is how I see them.

Nasty little stains and blemishes left on the underwear of the world by that area between their mother's legs.

That said, I'll try to keep it a bit more "safe for work" going forward.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

It didn't offend me, but it made me think you have underlying respect issues with women. I doubt that is what you wanted to communicate.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Alirighty then.

Currently trying to think of a snappy 2-3 word term that would imply that the world would have been a better place had their daddies worn a condom on the night in question.

Alternatly just call them a murderous waste of perfectly good organic compounds.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

murderous waste of perfectly good organic compounds.

Ouch! That's a good sci-fi tone!

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

Now I think you have an underlying hatred of chemistry, possibly all physical sciences.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

I do have an underlying hatred of chemistry.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

They started it. Being all confusing and counter intuitive.

Clever sciences.....

[mikeyxw.livejournal.com]

Word. We humans used to have it made. We were the center of the universe... literally. The Sun revolved around us and we were made in God's image.

Then the smarty-pants physical sciences came along. First thing we knew, we were revolving around the Sun. Next, we were descended from monkeys. Then we were off in some backwater of the Milky Way around a completely unremarkable star. Most people probably couldn't pick out where we are on a map of the galaxy these days. Damn physical sciences!

Also, differential equations, WTF!?!