06-11-01
REALITY CHECK


Recently, a fellow on a discussion list asked a friend of mine if she felt that the liberal/progressive groups she supported had any shortcomings. The question was phrased in a very reasonable tone, yet the underlying suggestion was that my friend was not being terribly objective in her condemnation of the right-wing lunatic extremists running amok through the smoking ruins of our democracy.

Because I, of course, am scrupulously objective, I'd like to belatedly respond to the question - even though it wasn't aimed at me, and even though I sent the fellow a very cranky note asking him why on earth we should waste time listing any real or perceived 'shortcomings' amongst patriots.

I am not blind, and I know that liberals have faults. And here's our number one fault: we are waaaay too wrapped up in notions of fairness and objectivity. We're too quick to insert an "in my opinion" or "well, the way I see it is" into our arguments. Why do we do this? The right-wingers sure as hell don't...when is the last time you heard a regressive say "This is just my opinion, but..." unless he/she was wearing the tired old 'I'm just a polite little Republican trying to deal with these immoral and godless liberals' hat? (And even then, their comments run along the lines of "This is just my opinion, but I think that the Communist Clinton Regime and their radical leftist plan to undermine the morals which are the very bedrock of our Judeo-Christian society was not in keeping with what the god-fearing citizens of this great Republic of ours believe"). When is the last time you saw a regressive decide to be fair and do a little Republican-bashing just to prove that he/she was objective? And why the hell should WE have to spend time 'proving' that we're objective to anyone?

REALITY CHECK -- OUR DEMOCRACY WAS STOLEN! WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO BE OBJECTIVE! JESUS!

Okay, that felt good.

Here's the thing - we liberals are too wrapped up in notions of fairness and objectivity because we are ethical people. And that's a good thing; and we shouldn't abandon our ethics just because our opponents have none. But there are limits, and it's about time we set them.

We should NOT allow ourselves to be distracted by right-wingers who demand that liberals give equal time to both sides when engaging in criticism. There are plenty of regressives out there who work their little tails off to present every single liberal politician in the worst light possible - and those regressives do NOT need our help to get the job done.

Because we do not always stop to say "yes, liberals sometimes make mistakes and do bad things as well" does not mean that we are pretending all liberals are perfect; it means that we don't have time to criticize liberals when there are so many right-wingers doing their damnedest to wreck our country. The typical right-winger, when he/she hears us criticize Shrub or other troglodytes, will immediately spew out a long diatribe against President Clinton and then demand that we address Clinton's real or perceived failings. The only way to respond to such ridiculous demands is to flatly refuse to take part.

I, for one, refuse to spend my time either apologizing for or criticizing people who share my belief in democracy. There simply aren't enough hours in the day.


~Rose




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