When You Can’t Argue … Ridicule

September 7, 2009 by Cato  
Filed under Blogging, Healthcare, Media, Virginia, Virginia Politics

If you live on the Northern Neck AND you oppose ObamaCare, you’re just dumber than a sack of hair.  At least that’s the view of certain members of Virginia’s lefty blogosphere.  Why not?  The Obamamaniacs can’t win the argument on merit, so let’s ridicule the good voters in Virginia’s First District.

It seems that Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) had a town hall meeting in Warsaw.  It appears that most of the overflow crowd was opposed to ObamaCare.  According to some probable “come here” on the Daily Kos (and repeated on Fred2Blue), these were just about the dumbest folk he’s ever come across:

Unbelievable.  My first exposure to true lunacy.

People who live in glass houses …

Were there a few people there who were a little misinformed?  Probably, but no more than you would find at your local Democrat committee meeting.  Sure, I’m a little dismayed when people take everything that Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or even Mark Levin say and treat it as gospel.  Unfortunately, that’s the way of world.  As an example, when Democrats attempt to argue that the “public option” isn’t a form of socialized medicine they are either lying, deluded, or simply parroting (the vast majority) what they have been told.  Yet, it would be rude for us to call them stupid.

It is, unfortunately, the reality of modern public discourse that too many of our fellow citizens are not sufficiently informed about Issue X or Bill Y.  I’m as guilty as the next guy.  In an age where our elected representatives don’t even have time to read the bills they are voting on, how can the average citizen?  Even if we did, you can’t understand most of them (which is, I believe, deliberate).

Back in the day, most engaged citizens relied on the media.  Perhaps the media was semi-objective back then.  However, in my nearly half-century the media has never been particularly objective.  Citizens realize this.  They now have options and tend to self-select media that has a bias most like their own.  Glenn Beck may be funnier than Katie Couric, but he certainly isn’t any more biased.  At least Beck is billed as “conservative”.  CBS makes the laughable claim that Couric is “objective”.

We can only hope that these people are critical in their interpretation of this information.  However, if / when they are not, there is little we can do.  However, to simply call citizens stupid because they MAY be misinformed or because you don’t like the source of their information simply gives evidence to the weakness of the left’s own arguments.