Posted on 11/10/2004 1:53:23 AM PST by kattracks
In 1862, says the California novelist Jane Smiley, William Quantrill's guerrilla raiders killed 265 unarmed men in Lawrence, Kan., and there you have it: Ignorance and an impulse to violence drove red-state "types" to murderous mayhem then, just as these attributes drove the same types to vote for George W. Bush on Nov. 2.She's wrong, first off, about the year and probably about the number fatally shot: It was in 1863 that the event occurred, and estimates of the dead range mostly below hers. But she is more drastically, obtusely and unbelievably wrong in seeing something continuous between that bloodletting and the varied mix of political conclusions that led voters to give President Bush a second term.
It might be pointed out to Smiley that a frenzied abolitionist born in the blue state of Connecticut John Brown joined with four sons and others in Kansas to hack five men to death in front of their wives and children seven years before Quantrill struck. Maybe Brown was tainted by being raised in the red state of Ohio, although he also lived as an adult in blue states, and maybe he directed the murders instead of participating. But nevertheless let's ask whether his act demonstrates that anti-Bush, blue-state types would rather cut you than abide you if you don't see things their way.
Using the logic employed in Smiley's slashing post-election article in the online magazine Slate, you would think so, but you would of course be wrong. Name any large group you like, visit a good history book and you will find an atrocity or two or a thousand committed by progenitors or their friends or acquaintances. Nothing definitive is thus learned about the character of people in the here and now, although the information might prove useful if bigotry is your game and a rant is your strategy.
An intense political bigotry and a healthy helping of conspiracy theorizing are both at work in a Smiley thesis that breaks down into three main parts:
- She says that capitalists, "who have no morals," decided to wage "class war against the middle class and against the regulations that were protecting those whom they considered to be their rightful prey workers and consumers." To accomplish their end, they would "cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry," making special use of the "religious right." In this war, Vice President Cheney has come to be "the capitalist arm" and Bush "the religious arm."
- A whole huge chunk of America was susceptible to these machinations. "I suppose the good news is that 55 million Americans have evaded the ignorance-inducing machine," writes our would-be intellectual. "But 58 million," she tells us, "have not." It's the inhabitants of the so-called red states the ones that gave Bush a majority vote that most inspire her contempt. "Listen to what red state citizens say about themselves, the songs they write, and the sermons they flock to. They know who they are they are full of original sin and they have a taste for violence."
- Try as she and her fellow progressives will, they have been unable to get these dummies to see the errors of their ways, she tells us. "The history of the last four years shows that red state types, above all, do not want to be told what to do they prefer to be ignorant," she writes. "As a result, they are virtually unteachable."
The conspiracy stuff is bunk, of course. Capitalists are no more in league in a dastardly plot than are novelists. Immoral? That's a leftist invention without basis. As for the broadside at half of America, suppose for a moment that Smiley was evoking a stereotype of a minority group telling us about its benighted state, its numskull faith, the proneness to violence seen in its music, proclivities indicated by an event that occurred more than 100 years ago and you understand what is so reprehensible here. As for Smiley being less ignorant than those she would teach, we get a mighty lesson from her article. Despite an arrogance that would wither flowers, she isn't.
So why pay her any attention at all? Because, in my estimation, she represents the actual point of view of many of those she calls progressives. Most are clever enough to whisper their condescending attitudes to each other instead of exposing such views on the Internet, but Smiley has done us a favor. While no one was crying, "Take it off, take it all off," she has, and the naked truth stands before us. It's not so pretty.
Jay Ambrose is director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard Newspapers and can be reached at AmbroseJ@shns.com.
"Take it off, take it all off," she has, and the naked truth stands before us. It's not so pretty.
That is uncalled for. :(
I'd like to know what Smiley's take on the draft riots of 1863 would be.
Sorry to offend your sensibilities. I wonder if that pearl necklace was given to Helen Thomas by Bill Clinton.
I'm sure there has got to be a story to go along that, but I'm almost afraid to ask. Didn't he have a thing for giving special books?
I have got to tell you that most of the truly stupid people I know are Democrats. Flyover suburbanites have higher IQs than most of the urbanites.
The Uriah Heeps of the world would manhandle the social conservative victory----and dilute the presidential mandate conferred by proto-conservatives----for their own self-serving agendas.
The Uriah Heeps could care less for the rights of the unborn and the restoration of conservative values to our Nation-----the proto-conservative issues that drove millions of Christians to the polls. The agenda-laden, elliptical thinkers lurk in the shadows plotting ways to take over conservative victories. It ain't gonna happen. Any mucking up of our hard-won conservative victory will be met with fierce resistance.
Moral issues were this election's key to victory, and moral issues will set the agenda. Every card-carrying conservative worth his/her salt knows what "moral issues" means. Karl Rove knew where to get the "values voters" to give Bush the majorities he needed to win. Rove is not the only one who knows where the "values voters" are.
It's a new day. Libs need to live with it. (Bush won Iowa later).
Bill liked to give books - poetry if I recall. Monica bought him a copy of Vox, a phone sex narrative. Bill was purportedly fond of giving pearl necklaces to women too. When Helen received one is unclear, but her columns certainly reflect that kind of loyalty to Bill.
Ewww, I knew it was something I didn't wanna know. LOL
That the left now regards as its savior these two despicable utter failures
says everything we need to know about this defunct, defective, decayed political organization.
Indeed, ickes, the clintons, and the entire left, by making this ludicrous argument, are denying the reality of the horrific danger of terrorism.
Never mind the presidency.
These idiots are demonstrating in real time why they must never again occupy any position of power in America.
Well, I never!!! - there goes the buzz from last night's bottle of scotch that I cozily woke up with! (/sarcasm~horror)
The internet is the key. Thank God this woman who considers herself a God (perhaps that is why she so resents the Christian God) has exposed her "progressive" ideas on this vast medium, the very thing which has enabled people to debate the ideas her kind has spent many years censoring through the courts and political correctness. She is a true minority in the realm of ideas in 2004. Our nation is at risk now and will not tolerate illusions about anything. In good times, the ideas of the self-indulgent, situation ethics, secular types will be tolerated regardless of what they do. However, in hard times people keenly perceive their own mortality and, in addition to standing against irrational thought, they will look for a higher power. Some believe that man has a void inside himself/herself that only God can fill. Some people, when they are still quite young, feel immortal and depending on their opportunities and their hormonal state (women or men with too much testerone), they become very aggressive in trying to enslave others and usually push their own agenda regardless of how many people disagree. If they can gain enough power they will not allow any dissenting voice. Ms Smily can write to her heart's content, a testiment (to use that Christian term) to the freedom we all are entitled to. However, the rest of us are entitled to respond with our ideas because guess what? Freedom of speech does not require a litmus test of what position one holds, how many books one has sold or what level of education one has. I will venture to say though, that many people I know with advanced degrees and high level positions vehemently disagree with Ms Smiley. It is just a matter of who gets enlarged through the media limelight or in her case, who gets attention because of unusual and "out of step" thought processes.
But Smiley's words emphasize that she and libs like her are not nearly as smart as they think they are. Because basically they simply don't understand conservatives and they don't understand what drives America and makes it great. But that's alright. As long as far-left liberals like Smiley run the Donkey Party, we'll win the elections. As with everyone else so it is with the Dems, writ large: what you don't know hurts you more than what you do know.
The myth of democRAT intelligence comes from the confusion between the educated RAT elites and actual rank and file democRAT voters, as well as from blurring the line between actual intelligence and the pseudo intelligence of educated fools.
While I will agree that there is a certain amount of stupidity present in a sizable portion of the Dem voting bloc, don't kid yourself that most of the are stupid. Ignorant is a better adjective.
I'm glad to see such moronic left-wing snobs like Smiley revealing themselves. I hope all red-staters hear of her comments and I hope she and heer ilk are seen as the face of the dim party. Meanwhile, we'll just keep winning.
Everybody missed this little gem. We are ignorant because we refuse to be told how to vote?
The author is plain silly.
Well, if they were Liberals, then '265' works for me....
There is no state or region that voted 100% for either candidate or philosophy. In RED State Texas Kerry got 2,800,000 votes. In BLUE New York Bush got the same number.
The bashing on each side is equally destructive and those who want culture war in America are standing on the Left and Right sidelines chortling at the ignorance and gullibility of those doing the snarling.
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