The liberals cannot take anything at face value.
On The Joker Poster: The ubiquitous Joker Poster, the one where President Obama is depicted as the archenemy of good, a clown, a socialist masquerading as something else; the Joker. Well, that poster is "racially charged" according to the liberal elitist Philip Kennicott at The Washington Post.
He even goes so far as to distinguish between the 'urban' Heath Ledger Joker and the 'urbane' Jack Nicholson Joker, as if splitting that hair somehow enhances his argument. What to make of this hopelessly complicated argument? Earth to Philip... EARTH CALLING PHILIP KENNICOTT... ATTENTION MR. KENNICOTT: Half the country believes President Obama to be very liberal.
The country believes President Obama is a socialist, something the elite want to ignore. So, they just invent an alternate reality, a thought crime on the part of the artist. The artist must be a racist they assert. They invent and ascribe an intent to the artist.
When choosing alternate explanations Occam's razor applies. The simplest explanation is the most likely one. Ergo, the socialist poster is simply a wake-up call to the liberal elite and MSM. The message? Socialism is Bad and Obama is a Socialist. You are not fooling us. Deal with it.
On the Spontaneous Protests of Big Government: It seems half of America is crowding into their representative's office with shouts of "You work for us!" The unprecedented constituent interest in communicating with their elected representatives during this recess -- never before in the history of this country has such a vocal interest manifested itself -- well this historical first amendment expression, you people are not authentic, the crowds were ginned up by insurance companies, lobbyists and the Republican National Committee. The liberal elite and the main-stream media label them as "anything but real people expressing real views." They simply will not take that at face value.
By the way, if you think the current rallies are big, just wait until August 22nd. Deal with that reality.
In the case of Sarah Palin, there was no bounds to the intent invented: she was pregnant, running for office, not running for office, planning a coup, quit to pick lettuce in Yuma, divorcing Todd, she was avoiding a nervous breakdown, she was hiding a sausage. She famously quipped in response "You know why they're confused? I guess they cannot take something nowadays at face value."
They will not take the plain speaking Sarah Palin at face value, they will not take artistic expression at face value, and they will not take protests of big government at face value.
Liberal Response to Plain Speak: Attack an Alternate Reality.
"Invent Intent" When plain speak crosses the liberal ideology, the message is pure and difficult or impossible to refute. The elitist response is to invent an intent. They must invent a message, an intent they are able to refute.
In the case of the spot-on Joker Poster, they label the artist with a thought crime... racism!. Sometimes they invent racism, sometimes sexism, sometimes it is accusations of some other wrongdoing, such as fraud, waste or abuse of power. Invent Intent. Once they nail the target with an intent, be it a thought crime or unfavorable intent, well they are now free to criticize that invented reality. By the way, it is the liberal elite that embraces racism and sexism; one needs look no farther than Sotomayor for examples of both.
Inventing Intent is not just a weapon of destruction, it is also used to defend the liberal ideology. When you read elite-speak phrases such as 'is trying to' 'attempting to' and the like, those are the gotchas, that is the intention invention. President Obama is trying to live up to his campaign promises... President Obama is attempting to form a partisan coalition... and the like. It is easier for the left to invent that intent than to report the facts. The left loathes facts.
The liberal elite and the main-stream media do not take America at face value. And America tires of it. Oddly now, it is the intent of the liberal elite and the main-stream media that is being questioned. With Good Reason.
4 comments:
Absolutely right. It seems that Democrats simply can't cope with the idea that what they think is the only truth that exists. Their antics during the Bush years--Code Pink, et al.--seem to be forgotten. People are going to continue voicing their opposition, and maybe the message will eventually get through. I suspect some Democratic members of the House will be the first to hear it, given that they'd like to keep their jobs.
I had pretty much the same reaction when I read the Washington Post article that managed to make the Obama poster an expression of racism. It seems that everything certain people disagree with these days is racism, and we've reached the point where a real example of racism will probably go unnoticed among all the fake claims.
> where a real example of racism will probably go unnoticed among all the fake claims.
What, you mean like the Gates case?
Where a black man falsely accused a white man of racism solely because he was white? That kind of blatant racist behavior?
Such stuff goes unnoticed all the time in my experience.
A reader writes to me on my application of Occam's Razor: "Technically, you are using Occam’s razor incorrectly. Occams razor does not say that the simplest theory is the preferred theory. If it did, then the simplest theory would be the preferred theory no matter how stupid and illogical it is.
Obviously, the theories have to be evaluated for their predictive value. I agree that the most likely explanation for the poster does not involve racism.
You can find a better explanation of Occam’s razor at the bottom of this page. "
He has a good point, and I have to agree with him: from his source "... indicates that the most simple explanation that fits the available data is the one which is preferable." I postulated that the mesage of the Joker Poster is that Socialism is Bad and Obama is a Socialist. You are not fooling us. Deal with it." The alternative message/hypothesis is that "the Joker Poster is a baseless racist ad-hominem attack."
The data shows that half the country believe President Obama to be "very liberal" so "baseless" does not fit the data. Racist does not fit either, as there is no data to support that part of the hypothesis. (Who was the artist? How is the racism manifested? It is an absurd argument.) Therefore, as he points out, the latter hypothesis cannot compete with the former, and thus the reference to Occam's razor is not a correct one.
Whew -- it is hard work keeping up with the fallacious arguments of the left. I'm going to have to hire a fallacy checker.
Tom Carter: Even Code Pink uses the 'intention invention" modus operandi, their entire operation depends on it.
Also I saw a great summary of the left's pronouncements on 'racist attacks' of President Obama. I just cannot find it right now! I hope to come back to it.
Post a Comment