Lending yourself to the evils that you condemn

"Most of all, I must see to it that I do not lend myself to the evils that I condemn" -- Henry David Thoreau

One of the things that have driven me crazy over the years are when you see each side of the political aisle sputter and hyperventilate when those on the other side say negative things about them.  Nowhere is this more applicable than on political message boards.

A website I used to frequent, Newshounds, is a sort of watch dog site for everything Fox News.  They will record the shows, and upload clips to highlight what they see as bias.  They also from time to time love to go on Fox Nation's website (sort of a social gathering for fans of the Fox News way of thinking) and screencap comments showing vicious and vitriolic comments towards the President or other Democratic politicians.

And a common theme is this idea of "look at how mean those people are!  Look at those racist pieces of crap!  Look at how vicious they are in their attacks" all the while criticizing their moderators for not taking these things down and letting them stay up until they absolutely HAVE to take them down.

Now I'll admit that these comments that are typically highlighted ARE outrageous.  They SHOULD be highlighted and called attention to.  That said, often many people on the left will bristle at the idea that they themselves are guilty of this exact same thing.

And when you call them on that they'll scream "False Equivalency" and say "we aren't calling for the death of the President!"

Well, that's not always the truth, but I understand the point.  The amount of death threats and things of that nature are a bit weightier on the right.   Yet there is also a whole lot of viciousness on the left as well.   I remember when Oral Roberts passed away, there were some nasty horrible things posted on sites like Raw Story, Crooks and Liars and Huffington Post among others.   Same with Tony Snow when he passed away.

And then there's this story today about Rick Santorum taking leave of his Presidential campaign because his young daughter is sick in the hospital.  Their daughter has a serious health condition that she's dealt with her entire life, so this isn't a case of Santorum leaving because she has a cough, alright.

Yet look at these responses on Raw Story taken just a few minutes ago from their piece about Santorum's daughter..

But I thought it was the Republicans who were vicious and personal in their attacks?  I thought the moderators on the progressive/liberal sites were on that shit!   Some of these comments are 8 hours old and counting as of 2:37am on Monday morning.

The point I'm trying to make is that assholes are not strictly a monopoly of the Right.   There are assholes on both sides.  There are insensitive pricks on both sides.   And THAT is not a false equivalency.

EDIT: and here it is almost a day later, and not only are those comments still there (despite allegedly being flagged) there are even more.  And while there are those on there who are criticizing those who are mocking and questioning the illness of Santorum's child, the moderators should be doing their jobs, especially if the website is going to be attacking other sites of another political persuasion for that very same thing.

And the thing is I can't STAND Santorum.  I'm morally and fundamentally opposed to just about everything this man stands for.  And that goes for everyone else running in the GOP primaries.  That said, we should be above this type of thing.  Politicians should be fair game, their children should be off-limits, no matter WHO it is.  Whether it's Chelsea Clinton, the Bush twins, the Obama daughters or Santorum's children. 

Attacking children is low class behavior and proves you are no better than those that you criticize and claim to be offended by. Print this post