It is simply a tweak of the golden rule: Do unto others as they do unto you.
It is epitomized by Abu Ghraib, and Gitmo. There is quite an uproar from the wingers regarding Dick Durbin's comments on prisoner abuse. Durbin used words like "gulag" and so on.
The wingers actually like "terrorist" prisons, and they don't have a problem with violating Geneva conventions. They like torturing terrorists, and are not the least bothered with them even being killed.
The justification is always the same: Muslim terrorists are worse.
This is a great exchange between John at Americablog, and a winger.
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First, here's what he sent me:
Can you please post a link to this petition to dump Dick Durbin? We have almost 200 signatures already. With your help, we can get to 1000 in no time at all.Here's how I responded:
Why in God's name do you think I'd sign on to that? I'm a liberal blogger. It's outrageous what we're doing in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.
Then he wrote me this:
Just be grateful that you are not Nick Berg. He didnt get filet mignon and a free torah before they sliced his head off for Al-Jezeera audiences throughout the middle-east. Im sure that he would have loved to be a prisoner in Gitmo rather than dead like he is now. If you need a reminder of who Nick Berg was, and what happened to him go to www.michaelsavage.com. And, if you have the stomach for it watch the video of Nick Berg getting his head sliced off while his captors praise ALLAH. Dick Durbin is a LIBERAL IDIOT - probably a lot like you John. Keep supporting Durbin and the DNC, and you will be facing MECCAH 5 times a day that is if they let you keep your head! Happy Blogging John!So I wrote him this:
Have fun, little child.
Then I got this from him:
Hey John,-------------
Did you watch the video of Nick Berg getting his head cut-off by your terrorist buddies, or are you too scared to watch it?
Nick Berg didn’t have Dick Durbin coming to his defense on the floor of the senate. Nick Berg didn’t have people like you and the ACLU fighting for his rights while they sliced his head off and chanted to ALLAH! Go ahead! I dare you! Watch the video of Nick Berg’s execution! I dare you to watch it! You probably do not have the guts! Watch the video and then get back to me!
Happy blogging,
US CITIZEN and PROUD OF IT!
See? He's A Merkin!
The main symptom of wingerism is the irrational relation of two isolated incidences. Because Nick Berg was killed by some Islamic terrorists, the implication is that the prisoners in Abu Ghraib and Gitmo are somehow related to that, and therefore deserve very harsh treatment. The disconnect is obvious.
Somehow, the wingers think that liberals and Democrats are anti-American and enjoyed the fact that Nick Berg was executed. They somehow think we don't care that terrorists are killing people, and that we only want to coddle the terrorists.
That could not be further from the truth, but the wingers just aren't smart enough to understand our point of view. They are unable to logically grasp cause and effect, in as much as issues are related, and as issues are NOT related.
For the wingers, they will watch very graphic video, or see very graphic images of violence. They become consumed by the emotional response to that, which is natural, but they are not capable of retaining a sense of logic. Through that twisted sense, they conclude that Dick Durbin and liberals are supporting terrorists.
Many of the prisoners in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib (as well as other detention facilities) are innocent, and quite undeserving of being tortured and killed while in custody. Even those that are involved in terrorist activities must be granted due process of law.
The wingers would say "Why give them due process? They didn't give Nick Berg due process!", which again completely misses the point of unrelated cause and effect. Liberals believe that moral decency is a right that belongs to everyone, and that means everyone regardless.
Wingers believe that if we don't abandon our core principals, we will be invaded and occupied by Muslims, and forced to convert to the Islamic faith. That's not a joke - they actually believe that.
But, then, ask them to turn the thinking around from a Muslim point of view. America did invade a Muslim nation. We are occupying them. Is it a stretch for an Iraqi to believe they will be forced to convert to Christianity?
It's a matter of perspective. What the wingers in America fear most is what is happening to Iraqis, which is why you see "insurgents" blowing themselves up on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the wingers are incapable of looking at the issue from outside their own point of view.
You can see the same exact mentality at nearly all the right wing/freeper sites and blogs. They are -exactly- the same as those they fear, but simply of a different nationality.
It's unfortunate that they don't understand the implication of that type of thinking. This Administration has given away America's right to be a moral judge in the world. We can no longer shame or cajole another nation into ending abuses when we are guilty of it ourselves.
When the United States has not just lowered the bar, but taken the bar away, all bets are off for everyone else as well. It is the end of justice.
Finally, my favorite phrase is that "I'm American, and proud of it!" line. It is always set in the context of American failings. The US Air Force bombs a wedding ceremony, thinking it's a gathering of Iraqi insurgents and you get "I'm proud to be an American!", as if anyone who is disgusted by the lack of judgment and the futility of innocent people dying is "un-American".
A winger would read this and say "If you don't like it, you can just go live in France!", which of course completely misses the point, and just confirms my hypothesis.
But hey.. I'm A Merkin - and I, for one, don't think being "An American" means excusing horrors perpetuated in our names. I think being an American means defending the principals of what that name means - not by drawing a moral equivalence between Islamic terrorists and American values.
The real un-Americans? The wingers of course. They are trying to destroy the moral fabric of this nation by excusing the most horrific acts imaginable.
And of course, that person that wrote to John? A yellow elephant if I ever saw one. Just another idiot who wants to type out his "support the troops" bull shit, but doesn't want to be one of the troops...
** update **
By the way, American soldiers are being asked to buy their own body armor. That's what this administration has done to our military. Link:
Marine Pfc. Jeremy Tod, 19, called home with news that his superiors were urging him and fellow Marines to buy special military equipment, including flak jackets with armor plating, to enhance the prospects of their survival. The message was that such purchases were to be made by Marines with their own money.
"He said they strongly suggested he get this equipment because when they get to Iraq they will wish they had," Tod said. Total estimated cost: $600.
** Update 2 **
Atrios sez:
...just to add, we see versions of this everywhere. For some reasons conservatives believe it isn't actually self-evident that the terrrorist act of capturing/killing/beheading someone is a bad thing, that one must confirm this by pointing it out over and over again. I shouldn't be surprised as most of them also don't think that it's self-evident that it's a bad thing for the policy of the United States of America to be to torture people.
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