Thin Skinned Whiny Bitches

I don’t have a whole lot of patience for most people who self-identify as liberals or leftists anymore. There are a few around who are articulate, thoughtful, and reasonable, but the number seems to be dwindling rapidly. As many other people have remarked, it’s rather pointless to try to debate with someone whose idea of reasoned debate is making some bizarre assertion and then engaging in ad hominem attacks.

What I really find funny is lefties who engage in name-calling and then get huffy when people return the favor. I guess that's because the hypocrisy of the left never ceases to amuse me. There’s a guy who lives near me. His blog consists mainly of reposting copyrighted material, pictures of cats, insulting Bush, and calling people dumbasses. Yet somehow, when someone insults him, he has the cast-iron gall to make comments like:

“if the only argument you can muster involves calling me names…well, ‘tis better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”

Keep in mind, this quote is from a guy who has a running list of people he thinks are dumbasses. Oh, pardon me. He‘s too much of a PC wank to actually use the word, preferring instead to use dumb@$$ as some half-assed euphemism. A guy who says the man taking over from the assassinated mayor of Baghdad has an “obvious case of political penis envy” doesn’t really have a leg to stand on when he complains about somebody calling him a worthless human being, now does he? Nice how he can dish it but gets huffy about taking it.

Where did people get the idea that you can insult people freely and constantly and no one will mind? Or in some cases, that it becomes bad form for the insulted party to fire back? I’ll be the first to admit I don’t much mind somebody calling me a motherfucker if I called them one first. Well, I might mind a little, but I’m sure not going to act surprised and indignant. I pretty much expect it, actually. Is anyone actually surprised when calling people names results in a return of the abuse? Only people that think they’re telling the truth as revealed by the blinding light of an epiphany, I guess. After all, it’s not mean if you’re just being honest, right? Too bad truth is a perception.

Moving on to another semi-related point, why is it that people find it so goddamned necessary to set up straw men in their arguments? Don’t ask me to defend an argument somebody else made. If I didn’t post it, I don’t have any obligation to defend it. I may or may not, depending on my mood, but it’s far from an automatic proposition and not something you should even expect. Closely linked is the automatic assumption by some idiots that because I voted for Bush, I’m a proud efenant and therefore can be called to task over every obnoxious thing ever done by some moron elected with an R after his name. It doesn’t work that way, people. I am partially responsible for putting Bush in office along with 52 million other people. What he does after the fact reflects on him. My voting for him makes me culpable for his actions only in the broadest possible sense. (Think 1 divided by 52 million as a rough guide.) You have a beef with the GOP, take it up with them. Guess what? They even have a website.