They Just Don't Get It

Last weekend, the Guardian (UK) newspaper proposed assassinating President Bush. A minor scandal ensued, prompting an apology from the paper. Sort of:

The final sentence of a column in The Guide on Saturday caused offence to some readers. The Guardian associates itself with the following statement from the writer.

"Charlie Brooker apologises for any offence caused by his comments relating to President Bush in his TV column, Screen Burn. The views expressed in this column are not those of the Guardian. Although flippant and tasteless, his closing comments were intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action - an intention he believed regular readers of his humorous column would understand. He deplores violence of any kind."

Yes, yes, the left deplores violence and property damage, except against Bush, who--as we all know--is Hitler. They even abuse pretend Republicans, as Richard Rushfield discovered when trying to measure the balance of intolerance:

Driving home, I rip off my Bush-Cheney shirt so I can walk the streets of my neighborhood unjeered at and without terrifying little children. Reflecting on the sting of being called "asshole" during my travels through Blue America, I wonder: If I were truly a Bush supporter, how long would I be able to endure a life filled with epithets before I gave up on the shirt?

The myth of the "saintly left" is nonsense. Today, the demonizing of opponents is principally a disease of the left. And James Lileks understands:

Look, you lackwits: we're not that stupid. Of course it was an ironic joke, at least if you define "joke" as "mirthless adolescent japery along the order of drawing a Hitler moustache on your teacher's yearbook picture." What's noteworthy is that it got through in the first place. Slid through like mercury down a mirror, probably. No one gave it a second thought. Stands to reason any sensible person would want the tosser done away with, no? . . .

Anyway, let's tote up the number of American "TV writers" who've called for the assassination of Tony Blair. None? Of course. We're too crude for ironic jokes.

It's a strange pacifism that sanctions using Republicans for voodoo dolls.