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The startlingly unconscious bigotry of NYT’s Steve Almond.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  June 10th, 2012 at 01:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The following is a list of the insults, negative potrayals, and generally offensive rhetoric found in this NYT article by liberal Steve Almond calling for… more civility from liberals.

Sean Hannity represented the bane of American civic life: a blow-dried blowhard paid to vilify his enemies and incite his imbecilic fans… his bullying…an escalating right-wing fanaticism…conservative folly…all the mean, manipulative things those people say…He’s just a businessman who is paid to reduce complex cultural issues to ad hominem assaults…liberals, both on an institutional and a personal level, have chosen to treat for-profit propaganda as news…the most vile and nihilistic voices on the right…The demagogues of the world, after all, derive power solely from their ability to provoke reaction…the fulminations of Fox News and the rest of the right-wing hysterics…conservative scoundrels…some part of me truly enjoys resenting conservatives…the same helplessness and rage that animates the extreme right wing of this country…blame those figures who, in my view, embody the decadent ignorance of the age…conservative demagogues…The Tea Party — inflamed and partly financed by well-funded lobbying groups…moral atrocities of the Bush era…right-wing misanthropy…I’ve come to regard all conservatives as extremists, a mob of useful idiots plied by profiteers…sadists…the very real pathologies of the modern conservative movement. The rich and powerful have clearly found in the Republican Party a willing collaborator. They’ve spent billions peddling Americans a failed theology of deregulation and lower taxes that is designed to foster and protect obscene wealth, not to serve the vast majority of our citizens. Thanks to the Supreme Court, the coming election will mark an unprecedented infusion of corporate propaganda into the political bloodstream…the childish arguments of paid provocateurs…demagogues…manipulate their legions into endorsing cruel and self-defeating policies…echo chamber of extremism…catering to a few million angry commuters…Fox News would be a popular fringe network, not the reliable conduit by which paranoid hogwash infects our mainstream media…conservative wack jobs…the cynicism of the Republican Party…what those special interests want: a nation too distracted by wrath to follow the money…conservative wing nuts…

But was the most offensive sentence at all? “We have to seek out those on the right willing to engage in genuine dialogue and ignore the rest.”

Why in God’s name would I want to talk to you, Steve Almond? You are a bad person.

Moe Lane (Crosspost)

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  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    Formatting on this one went spectacularly weird fast.

  • garfieldjl

    I’m going to state the obvious, the liberal that wrote that piece needs to take a look at what his own side does.

    If he were remotely objective he would know that hate-filled rants are more commonly dished out from Liberals…

  • http://stevemaley.com Steve Maley

    “…but why is it that the other side is always so stupid?”

    Almond sees the world as being populated by two kinds of people: reasonable people, and conservatives. He holds out hope that the conservatives that can be reasoned with can be converted into reasonable people.

    Such a worldview comes from cultural isolation. He can’t even form the thought that he might be wrong, or that there’s a persuasive, logical argument in support of a conservative position.

  • Mike Ferguson

    or if it is just a tool to try to paint with a wide brush. I used to think it was unconscious,but the more I read of these liberal hacks the more I think it is purposeful.

  • garfieldjl

    People often can’t recognize their own faults and will project those faults onto other people.

    So there is a pretty good chance that they don’t realize they are being as obstinent as they are accusing us of being. There are some people out there that you are right they know they aren’t being truthful, but not sure this author is one of them.

    I think he’s just an ideologue, and thus he genuinely believes what he’s writing.

  • Tbone

    doesn’t think it is hilarious.

    At least the freaks in the old sideshows knew they were getting laughed at. The freaks on the Left aren’t that sentient.

  • renl57

    He could have just written that condensed version.

  • zachv

    And I’m going to darn right enjoy every minute of it.

    … What surprises me is that the NYT has sunk to such a low that it’s willing to post this screed.

  • bushhog

    when they fail to acknowledge that “progressives” have a goal — and, like Muslims per the Koran, lying is not a sin when it is in pursuit of your “legitimate” goal. They are not “unaware” — they lie!

  • persiflage

    treats readers to a delusional rant, filled with cognitive dissonance. I only read the excerpts above, and I am incredulous. More…civility, is that what you’re calling for? I want my wasted 60 seconds back Mr Almond.

  • westcoastpatriette

    Deceived, deranged. The three d’s. There is no other explanation.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    “Dooooommmmmed!”

  • westcoastpatriette

    doomed

  • romeg

    than Bill Clinton’s comments to the crowds in Wisconsin on the eve of the Scott-pocalypse:

    “For 100 years now, people have looked to Wisconsin from all over this country to see a place of small towns and vibrant cities, ? to see a place where there were vigorous political debates, closely held elections and then people got together and figured out what the heck to do. And now, they look at Wisconsin and they see America?s battleground between people who want to work together to solve problems and people that want to divide and conquer.”

    He ignores the fact that it was the unions and their Democrat stooges that attempted to overturn the results of lawful and valid election; that it was union thuggery that was the order of the day for the last year-and-a-half and projects Democrate/union bad behavior onto the law-abiding conservative/Republican/Tea Party movement drive to restore fiscal responsibility to state and local government in Wisconsin.

  • goodolboy

    I have come to the conclusion that they are just flat nuts and ignorant. They have absolutely no understanding of the Constitution. They resent the “Rich White” guys who wrote it. But think for a minute…who else was around to write one…blacks from Africa, a place that had no written language or educational system? How about illitratates who could barely read or write? Just who in the world would have had the background in history, law, religion, the classics, philosophy and other skills necessary to write the wonderful words of the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution? The next time I hear the president or some other ignorant (not stupid…there is a difference) leftist say the Constitution was not revelant because it was written by a bunch of rich white guys, I wish someone would ask them those questions.

  • hunter

    Nothing outs a cheap shallow bigot better than to simply quote him word for word. Almond is clearly the bigot in the public square, from his own words.
    But let us be merciful: His world is crashing down and he is going through, in the political sense, the Kubler Ross grieving process. His Chose One is imploding like Marie Antoinette and “Let them eat cake”. Wisconsin and California leftist enclaves are rejecting the pillars of the democratic/progressive movement. And perhaps even in the insular echo chamber of the NYT they can hear the rumbles of a tidal wave to make 1980 look mild. So a little bit of bitter projection by Mr. Almond can be understood.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    let me be the first to say that any liberal who claims that their side doesn’t more than provide its fair share of hatespeech to any dialogue is deluding him/herself.

  • Joliphant

    Complaining about hate filled rants.

    The only real question I have is, “Does he drink the Kool Aid or does he just sell it ?”

  • teapartypatriot4ever

    To the far left, the truth is all subjective, meaning say whatever the truth is to them and pawn it off as the truth, and not as it is in reality.. It has to be subjective to them because that’s the only way they can justify and explain their own insane illogical thoughts, words, and actions, which is contradicted by evidence of facts, logic, and reason, aka the truth. Thus this is their whole premise of being and their paradox of existence, to make the insane sane, the illogical logical, and the lie the truth.

    This is what and why they use lies, projection,and self-righteous indignation of moral relavitism, as their propaganda tools to deceive the people, thus to control the people.

    As quoted from Mr. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a former Soviet prisoner of conscience, author of Gulag Archipelago, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, a titan of moral clarity warned us about the coming failure of our society back in 1978 in a speech given at Harvard University.

    Equivalence is the essence of Moral Relativism- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines moral relativism as something that one accuses another of, rather than something to which one proudly admits.

    Quote-

    “The rise of Moral Relativism, whereby equivalence and mediocrity (or outright evil) trumps value and quality continues to be the grim reaper of our national life. It will soon eat us whole”

    Of course this is why we must defeat these people, not appease them, or reason with them,, as that is a useless gesture and cause.

  • mikeymike143

    its why so many people nowadays turn to the internet instead of the print media for their news.

  • macwell

    I think we’ve beaten that dead horse enough. After all, Rand seems to be on our side, and Ron is his father. How do you think it makes Rand feel when he sees all the trash talk about his dad?
    With all his faults, Ron Paul is still an American, and not a liberal. He doesn’t hate America, and given his advanced years, we need to give him a break. He just needs to retire and give some young blood a chance to fix America.
    We the people, the former silent majority, must stay diligent. It’s not going to be over in November, it’ll be just starting. I believe it’s going to take 3 or 4 election cycles to rid this country of the career politicians that have turned OUR Congress into a den of lawyers and thieves. We must return to what the founders envisioned, citizen government. We’ve been run by professional government for a long time, and it’s been a failure. All the money in politics is too much of a temptation for most people. We must do away with the lobby, where all the money comes from. We must elect more (Joe the plumbers) to Congress. Lawyers have been running the country for too long and all we get for it is 2700 page bills that “we have to pass to find out what’s in it”.
    We the people must remove all those who believe that America NEEDS to be “fundamentally transformed”.
    Remember, “if your government isn’t working for you, then it’s working against you.”

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    And we ban Ronulans you know, so watch it.

    Try reading Ron Paul less and the Constitution more.

  • funwithknives

    for plastering this where we can see it. I know I’m not alone in stating that The N Y T is not ever considered here, and you are to be commended for examining and posting this.

    Now, I’ve got to look their site and do some of this myself.

    Is there a ‘recommended list’ of “writers” to survey at intervals?

    Don’t want to hang around there longer than needed, you see.
    Suggestions, kids?

  • edintexas

    So you believe that Ron Paul is not an American, is a Liberal, hates America, is not old and should not retire from public office?

  • edintexas

    Dang that slipped finger, that should be an apostrophe and not a semi-colon in “He;s”.

    Doesn’t change what I was trying to point out, The OP stated that Ron Paul is an American, is not a Liberal, loves America, is old and needs to retire and let younger people take over the seat in the House, I’m not a Ron Paul supporter, but I don’t see how that is wrong, and certainly not worthy of the willy-nilly threat issuance of “banning”.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    .

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    “Fox News would be a popular fringe network, not the reliable conduit by which paranoid hogwash infects our mainstream media” – uh perhaps a perusal of the Nielson ratings is in order. Looking at the prime time hour ratings, the lowest rated our is O’Reilly’s 11-12 recast. Seems reasonable right, except that O’Reilly’s reruns would be the highest rated show on MSNBC and triples any hour on CNN. Hannity spends a normal night with anywhere from 67% – 100% more people eyeballing him than Maddow and really you need a magnifying glass to see the ratings for Ol Big Eddie or Chris Tingle Legs. I need not even bother to mock CNN’s ratings, they speak for themselves. Fringe network, I think not…to quote the famous Inigo Montoya…”I don’t think that word means what you think it means”.

  • justperhaps45

    Liberal, Lemming. Start with the same alphabetic sort character.

    Coincidence?

    I think not.

  • justperhaps45

    Liberal, Lemming. Start with the same alphabetic sort character.

    Coincidence?

    I think not.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    you live in a left wing enclave, attend left wing schools, work in a left wing environment, and only hang around with left wingers.

    He is so damn clueless, and can’t understand how anyone with a brain would not be a liberal, therefore, everyone who isn’t must be just stupid or evil.

    There is no hope with a dope like that, let him stew in his own vomit.

  • cbartlett

    Heard a very wise woman (our long-time ex-City-mayor who is now over 70) say one time that there is most definitely a difference between stupidity and ignorance. Ignorance can be cured with proper education. Stupidity can’t.

  • gekster

    You just can’t fix stupid.

  • mikeymike143

    and his code pink loving paulbot followers are the underbelly of society.