Sunday, October 4, 2009

Tone Down Your Rhetoric


We are hearing a lot of "tone down your rhetoric" advice lately. I don't remember hearing such caution from anyone while under a Republican president. Now the air is full of soul searching. We expect these appeals from politicians, so chalk that up to typical and obvious politically left hypocrisy. Conservatives don't often make "tone down" appeals. Possibly conservatives really do believe in free speech and are grown up enough to hear mean words without running home to Mommy. Sure, we know it is political posturing and we are not expected to take you seriously, but still; I find it tiring.

But an interesting trend is coming from the "Christian" community. Christian in quotes because these are church people from the left end of the scale. But let's assume for argument's sake that they are truly Christians: howbeit Christians who are still confused about whether profit is really a good thing (especially someone else's profit). Their appeals are directed at the Christian right. This appeal is not so much Christian to Christian but left to right. Attempts to disguise the appeals as Christian brotherhood are disingenuous and offensive. They are supporting a liberal political agenda and delivering it in a religious Trojan horse.

How bad is our memory anyway? The conversation now is tea room level compared to the knife fights we went through during the Regan and Bush years. Mostly I hear conservatives discussing facts and context. I remember the scathing diatribes coming from the left previously, full of personal attack. Even now you will notice that conservative ideas are not refuted but the harshness of the language is attacked. But language is harsh only when coming from the non socialist. Like Muslims who can burn our leaders in effigy, spit on our flags and symbols and bomb our buildings, then riot when a critical Muslim cartoon is published; liberals can murder and rape our conservative women but we can not say that public option health care for a bad idea, we can not even utter the word socialism, and God knows we can not even think of disliking Barak Obama's crony politics.

What is really meant by "tone down rhetoric"? Stop disagreeing with us because we are right. We all know this but I get sick of hearing it. On the bright side, such lame appeals are worn so thin as to now sound foolish to all but another liberal. But speak away, it is your right. Preach to that choir. Just don't be too disappointed when we do not buy what you are selling despite your wearing a collar and wrapping your socialist politics in religious language.

Oh, and yes, I know, I am just plain mean.

Yes, appeals for civility are always appropriate. The timing is suspicious.

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