Why would I say such a thing about the Supreme Blogger? All will become clear.…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
InstaPundit Glenn Reynolds, fascist hatemonger - Comments Page 2
Why would I say such a thing about the Supreme Blogger? All will become clear.…
Article comments
26 - dave
The wingnuts dogged insistence on attempting to tar MEChA as a racist organization will throw the election to Bustamante (or better yet, Davis) yet, the ever-more-obvious lack of Ahnold's qualifications aside...
27 - slacktivist
Wow.
One measure of Reynold's apparent power in the blogosphere is the level of obsequy displayed in defending him. Getting a link from a high traffic site is nice and all, but let's not grovel people. Show some dignity when you're begging for Instalinkage, you'll feel better about yourself in the morning.
28 - Eric Olsen
Dave, as an apparent target of "wingnut" I will say Arnold's qualifications to run the most populous and diverse state in th enation are suspect at best, I don't think Davis should be recalled, and I don't care one way or the other about Bustamante.
I do care about Glenn Reynolds being attacked as a demagogue in a demagogic manner on this site, which is the subject at hand.
29 - Mac Diva
Slack, dignity in the blogosphere when there are links to be gained? Lay off the vodka, dear.
David, if you are reincarnated as a breeder in the next life, we're on.
I don't believe Reynolds mistranslated a short, simple phrase in Spanish by accident. It was a calculated spin for his audience -- the Right, not centrists.
30 - David Ehrenstein
Correct.
Always remember that to Instahack and Co. today's "left" was yesterday's center.
31 - Steve Rhodes
Irony folks. Irony. Don't get so upset.
You can listen to Dr. Velia Garcia, chair of la Raza studies at San Francisco State University, talk about La MEChA.
It seems to me that Bustamante is far more vulnerable on the campaign cash he is raking in now (though so is Arnold).
And I'm more disturbed by his support for the death penalty than anything he may or may not have believed when he was a student.
32 - Grand Moff Texan
Wow. In defending ignorant right-wing hate mongering, most of the defenders of Reynolds have managed to produce nothing but. Beyond that, they've only linked to old "translations" by people who don't know the first thing about Spanish.
You've really managed to pull the sheet off of the right. The only shock is that there's nothing under it. They're still carrying water for "American Patrol" and are too ignorant to know it.
"Useful idiots" indeed. Suck on it, trolls!
33 - mr p
There's a lot I'd disagree with in this post.
That said, I think the comments from Mark Kleiman are particularly on point: labeling someone as a "fascist hatemonger" is bad enough -- merely "updating" when that turns out to be incorrect is far, far worse.
Before you jump on me for that, think -- what if the New York Times buried a correction in the Arts section that said, "We're sorry we called the President a puppet for Dick Cheney -- those facts turned out to be incorrect."
I'm sure if that happened (ha!) you'd be seething and demanding a front page retraction.
I don't know the state of things well enough to say, "Oh, if this were a Republican, Glenn would be more vigilant in a public correction."
Instead, I'll just say that a more prominent correction is appropriate regardless of party affiliations.
34 - sidereal
" the pinko party line"
Holy Jesus, people still use the word 'pinko'? Hilarious! Where's my bell-bottoms?
35 - Al Barger
Yeah, "pinko" is a cool word, ain't it? It feels like 1972 with some of these pinko nutjobs such as Howard Dean. He is SO George McGovern. What's Dean's platform: acid, abortion and amnesty?
36 - John Mudd
You know, I have a feeling that all of the anger in these posts could be so easily washed away after you view some of the absolutely beautiful newly listed homes for sale on my real estate website.
There's nothing better to make you forget all about your ideological cares than the soothing comfort and joy that you feel when buying a new home or vacation home here in Florida's lovely Tampa Bay area.
Click here so you can started on discovering that new, spectacular place where you'll post your fabulously intellectual, and perhaps even ideological, rants from, straight to the blogosphere.
You'll be able to enjoy the pleasures of a new home or vacation home, invest in a spectacular piece of real estate and drive more traffic to your blog(s) all at the same time, and maybe even get some free publicity, too. Now that's showing your fellow bloggers just how "superior" you really are. Wow!
-John Mudd
37 - David Ehrenstein
Think Pink!
38 - Mac Diva
But, then we would have to try to vote in Florida.
39 - John Mudd
You could always vote absentee in your home state, MD. It's not uncommon here.
40 - Mac Diva
That's an idea, John. We vote by mail exclusively in Oregon, so I already have experience with ballots and envelopes.
41 - Paul
To me, there's no difference between the right wing and the left wing (at least as they appear on the internet). They're all assholes who use the exact same arguments and employ the same exact tactics, only they change some of the nouns to fit their ideology (like MadLibs).
In fact, I'd say that there are only two "wings" in the blogoshpere: normal people and assholes, with asshole-ism being an ideology unto itself. The whole "I'm a neocon" or "I'm a liberal" thing is just the framework the asshole provides himself with as a vehicle for proving just how much of an asshole he is.
42 - Mac Diva
Paul, though he sweetens the language, my good blogfriend Rick Heller woud mainly agree with you. Rick considers himself a centrist and has done a bang-up job of getting me to reconsider some liberal positions. He is putting together a loose-knit group of centrists in Bloggersville. Rick can be read and contacted at:
Smart Genes
43 - Dan
Mr. Flemming, Reading your central theme about the compelling nature of the Right Wing subculture to be likened to a "cult", I had a thought of how fittingly that label could be applied to lefties as well. I caution that I make no personal attack on you or even your idea, and I consider you a superior writer, but this is a way you could see it from a different perspective:
"1) It has a dogma to which one is forbidden to apply reason," ...like diversity worship.
"2) It personally attacks its critics (because the dogma can't be defended by more reasonable means), " ...like when people are called racist, nazi, or worse for questioning things like the fairness of race based preferences, or the wisdom of unprecedented levels of third world immigration and the resulting effect on social services. (California)
"3) It insists that the cult itself is the only trustworthy source of information about the cult." ...presumably someone outside of the "distortion shelter" (I like that terminology), such as "on TV (Fox News), newspapers (Washington Times, New York Post) or talk radio (talk radio)."
I've always thought of myself as fair minded or at least trying to be. Sometimes I'm not sure of where I am on the political spectrum, or if everybody's got the same scale, but when I read Mr. Barger's "extremely repulsive post", it seemed to me like a reasonably indignent response to an undeserved attack on his character by Ms. Diva, a powerfully persuasive personality, with good passion and thoughtfullness, but nonetheless race obsessed.
Mr. Barger thinks erroneously that he, who absolutely considers himself non-racist and a lover of all peoples (the guy even enjoys going to concerts where black militant rappers march around with plastic machine guns}, should be afforded to retort in kind, to the attacks he has suffered. But not in the world of the multi-cultis. Only they are allowed to make ugly charges of hate, etc.
It can be kind of creepy to watch. At first there begins a kind of clucking, like "I'm not confortable with that statement". Then a demand for clarification of view, and a last chance to grovel. Then as more lefties pile on, there are suggestions of evidence gathered, ties to "racist" organizations and such. Then finally the shrieking of inflammatory charges, accompanied by belittleing insults. It really puts me in mind of the movie about the Salem Witch Trials, the scene in the church. (except for the actual burning at the stake).
As far as Bustamante and Mecha are concerned. If it is simply a benign organization, why doesn't Bustamante simply explain. (maybe he has?) Sort of like how all Sadaam Hussein had to do was to show the required disposal records of all the WMD's he, admittedly had at one time.
I don't know much about Mr. Reynolds. It was fascinating to learn that people of color are more likely to be sniper killers though. Thats the kind of thing you wouldn't hear even from a "reality distortion shelter".
D
44 - Al Barger
Dan- Thanks for your understanding words. Your best part was the description of the debate process in your "creepy to watch" paragraph.
a last chance to grovel Oh Jebus, that is SO right on. I've felt that feeling a FEW times around here. Your explanation in that paragraph confirms to me that I am not just crazy.
On the other hand, Glenn has had PLENTY of chances to support some simple common sense gun control in order to prove that he's not a FASCIST NAZI NEO-CONFEDERATE DEMAGOGUE WHITE SUPREMICIST HATEMONGER- in short, a Republican. He has not availed himself of these NUMEROUS opportunities, so one can only conclude that he is REPUBLICAN, or to put it more simply, EVIL.
That is all.
45 - Mac Diva
Will someone please cue the music from The Twilight Zone?
46 - Infide
Years on the Blogosphere and the only example you can come up with are some links to the spanish/english translation of MECHA'S mission statement? You accuse Glenn of being pure evil and that is the BEST example you could come up with?
Lame.
47 - Eric Olsen
Infide, you are late to the party but better late than never.
48 - Lucy
O.K., here are two websites which talk specifically about the goals of MeCHA. Both of them claim to follow 'the plan'. Read 'the plan' and tell me it is not racist.
http://www2.sjsu.edu/orgs/mecha/ & http://www.berkeleymecha.org/about/
49 - BB
Spewing out vitriol such as "fascist", "nazi" or "cult" isn't a personal attack? Bottom line is any extremist point of view, left or right, is going to crash and burn in the public arena.
50 - Celebrim
It's funny that this essay denounces the left for being incapable of arguing from logic and reason with what is essentially a long personal attack. Doesn't anyone realise that this same tired line is trotted out by 'the Right' whenever they can too? Replace a few nouns here and there, and this whole essay could be a Rush Limbaugh radio spot.
51 - Gary
To show that Glenn Reynolds resorts to name-calling, you call him a "fascist hatemonger." Did I link to The Onion by mistake?
52 - Eric Olsen
same situation here Gary, the post is from '03, the writer long gone