Like the World's Most Interesting Liberal Blogger, I don't often blog but when I do, I choose to blog at...Red State.com. Why, you ask, would I -- a Berkeley-educated, Reform Jew(ish)y/Agnostic secular humanistic, daily Daily Kos-reading, Noam Chomsky-hypnotized, Southern California-living, hybrid-driving, green tea-drinking, Aaron Sorkin-loving, Obama campaign-working defense lawyer and sometimes Constitutional Law Adjunct Professor -- post on Red State? Why?
Because...I. Am. So. Lame.
I never or rarely blog here. I rarely ever even post a comment here, even though I visit Daily Kos more often per day than David Vitter probably visited HottiesInPampers.com (made it up -- don't bother) during his heyday. Why?
Because...I. Am. So. Lame.
And because, notwithstanding my well developed Narcissistic Personality Disorder, I don't have much to add here. I enjoy and am generally illuminated by, the posts and diaries of the great writers here. (From tone thus far, you'll know I'm a huge Hunter and Meteor Blades fan). Most times, I'd just be another echo in the chamber of what I tend to perceive as, I suppose, truth. So I don't bother.
Red State, on the other hand, intrigues me to the point where I am far more likely to post a comment or two. Like the proverbial Xanax-addled moth drawn to the tequila flame of Erik Erickson, I cannot escape it. And also, truth be told, I harbor a deep abiding belief in the underdog. I am a Charger fan, a Padres fan, a frackin' Clippers fan and, of course, a California Golden Bear fan. I root for losers every single year. My heart is broken every single year, on every sport's field of combat, every single season. And yet I continue to believe.
And I believe in something else, even crazier than a Chargers Super Bowl victory or the Bears in the Rose Bowl. I believe that there are (or should be) common areas of human experience, moral values and political striving that join all of us -- conservative and liberal, Tea Partier and Occupier -- together, and I believe that if I could just get those guys over at Red State to listen to me for just a minute or two, well...then...unicorns and lollipops all around, people.
Which, of course, leads me to: I. Am. So. Lame.
So here's why I'm posting this diary now. While it didn't get a lot of play here at Daily Kos, over at Red State, they're doing Mary Lou Rettonesque double somersaults over David Sirota's somewhat agitpropy column at Salon entitled "Let's Hope the Boston Marathon Bomber is a White Guy," or something close to that. Here's the link, because it's a great piece: http://www.salon.com/....
Anyway, Sirota's general point (made yesterday) is that if the bomber(s) turn out to be white guy(s) (and as of fifteen minutes ago, it's kinda looking that way), we as a country and a political body are far less likely to douse our moral and political selves in metaphorical gasoline and set ourselves and our principals on fire than we would be if these guys turn out to be dark-skinned foreigners, especially Islamic. Reason being, of course, you know, history. And he cites to things like studies and facts and the pretty undeniable double standard our country has engaged in when reacting to terrorist acts (compare McVeigh to Bin Laden -- no Patriot Act, shredding of the Fourth Amendment, crapping on the Geneva Convention, or wars against the Midwest arising out of the former -- or, for that matter, go back to WWII and compare the reaction to potential Japanese spies on the West Coast and potential Italian or German spies on the East Coast -- somebodies were rounded up, had all their belongings and property stolen and shuttled off to friggin Utah and somebodies didn't).
Sirota is especially interesting when he cites to an article by Darryl Johnson, the guy who joined the Department of Homeland Security during the Bush Administration, led an investigation into domestic terrorism and then wrote the DHS report about the rise of right-wing home-grown terrorism in this country, only to have his report leaked and mischaracterized by shrieking and hysterical conservatives to such a degree that they actually shut down and dismantled the entire department and investigation. Shut down the investigation. Into terrorist activity in this country. Cause the guys the were investigating were white. So, Sirota seemed to have a point.
For my friends over at Red State, this article was not just wrong, not just historically skewed or inaccurate, but rather reflective of an evil, racist moral cancer that eats away at the "elite" (i.e., I think they're referring to that breed of evildoer known as the "intellectual") who read or subscribe or like or write for Salon.com. Here's the link to their featured diary: http://www.redstate.com/.... Even scarier than the article itself, were the comments, some of whom decided that what Sirota really needed was a lesson in how the true evildoers -- Islamic fundamentalist crazies -- are the real problem, and so they (completely falsely) ascribed to Sirota -- in Arabic -- statements about the prophet Mohammed of the sort that might get him killed by crazies. Which, I don't know, I tended to think was a little over the top. But that's me.
So, I had to comment, only I couldn't comment on the article because I was already on double secret probation at Red State for other comments I had made of an insufficiently batshit crazy nature. I could, however, for some reason actually post a diary about it, which I did. It was entitled, "David Sirota Is Not Evil." And, guys, really, it was super nice. Like I always do (because -- [see diary title), I have this naive abiding faith in human nature and I let it out on the page. As you can see: http://www.redstate.com/.... Really, really nice. In retrospect, wayyyy tooo nice.
Anyway, the comments section on it -- some were nice in their characterization of me and my point as the product of evil liberal brainwashing/douchebaggery/what have you. Other comments, not so nice, a little lengthy, disconnected, perhaps even mentally ill. You can see for yourself.
But, as to the nicer comments, I wanted to reply, which I could only do if I logged in to my Red State account. Which I can't do anymore. Because I've been blacklisted, or, redlisted, or kicked off. I have been apparently permanently banned from Red State and blocked from signing on to my account. For my unconscionably polite and respectful defense of David Sirota as not being evil and worthy of murder by Islamic fundamentalists.
I. Am. So. Lame.
And wanted to share.
[Sigh]
