Politics and Culture

The video below is part of Penn State's diversity program. It's entitled, "The Worrisome Veteran."

Powerline, the best blog not aligned with a magazine, analyzes the message Penn State intentionally sends, here.

Now, let's play that favorite conservative parlor game, "substitute X for Y." How about, "the worrisome feminist?"

Obama almost always mentions PTSD when talking about soldiers.

Next, watch the exchange between Joe Solmonese and Maggie Gallagher of NOM. Notice the name-calling on Solmonese's part, "bigot," etc.

This study attempts to prove how men with negative feelings towards homosexuals ("homophobes") are themselves hiding homosexual tendencies.**

The use of "negative" in the following statement from anti-abstinence activists:

"Virginity pledgers are very different than most U.S. teens -- they are obviously more conservative, they have more negative views about sexuality and birth control and so, even if they didn't take a pledge, these would be teenagers who would be very likely to abstain anyhow," says Rosenbaum. About 40 percent of the study subjects were born-again Christians, she notes.

Is thinking that sex is only appropriate within marriage, necessarily "negative?"

Then, today, the report from the Department of Homeland Security suggesting that the nation had better beware "right wing extremists" (you, me, my dad, the Walmart checker who voted against same-sex marriage). I'll add a couple of things to another excellent Powerline opinion.

1. About gay marriage: Isn't the exact opposite of the DHS's report the reality? Wasn't it left-leaning, pro-same-sex marriage individuals who terrorized Mormons and other groups that tended to support Proposition 8?

2. The labeling of groups who haven't actually terrorized anybody as "terrorist" or "potential terrorist" while insisting on hyper-PC language like "man-made disasters" and anything other than "terrorist" for people who really are, exposes another left tendency, which is to concern itself more with independent-minded citizens than real enemies (a blatant example is here, that while Bush sought to intercept terrorist calls, Obama wants the ability to shut down the internet for everybody).

You're familiar with the lefty blog habit of calling anybody right of Dennis Kucinich a "wingnut" (the right does this too with "moonbat").

You must see these examples in the context of the left tactic-- present since Marx declared religion an "opiate" (Freud, as well, would have also declared St. Francis and every other saint, neurotic) and continuing through the Soviet-invented concept "political correctness, Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford's Authoritarian Personality, to the left's grand projection project of linking fascism with conservatism-- of insanitizing dissent.***

Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology: Authoritarian personality by Gale Reference Team

In other words, "anybody who opposes us is crazy." It can be a powerful tactic: simply to declare a certain opinion a disorder, beyond the pale, or dangerous and attribute that disorder to your political enemies.

Pro-gay agenda people use "Homophobic" and "hateful" for anybody who believes the the government should encourage opposite-sex relationships; in doing so, they imply that traditionalists or utilitarians don't have a legitimate point of view. It makes it very difficult to for conservatives to discuss this legitimate policy area. Just notice the defensiveness on conservatives' part or count the number of disclaimers they use (I have one myself) before offering their opinion, when they attempt it. In most cases, conservatives just keep quiet to avoid the aggravation.

Anyways, don't fall for it. This is a "sticks and stones" case where the names only work if you let them. I don't want to be as overly-sensitive and chip-carrying as my brothers on the left (obvious projection: Doesn't the veteran act like the way campus ______studies departments encourage their students to?), but we should stand up to this Orwellian bullying. Gallagher, above, did well when she told Solmonese that he was being "unkind."

**What makes this strategy of de-legitimization especially effective is that all of the above declarations have a hint of truth: I think that people obsessed with homosexuality may be trying to distance themselves from their feelings (and people especially sensitive to racism probably harbor very deep racial feelings) and some very extreme groups are dangerous.

***Insanitizing isn't attempted right away. Usually, the left tries to gather sympathy for the favored group first, and then tries to insanitize when they feel strong enough.

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change by Jonah Goldberg