I Know, It Must Suck Being Wrong So Often.

[20score]

But why do you pundits insist on demeaning those who get things right? It’s now the conventional wisdom that those who are pushing for torture investigations and prosecutions are either the far left or people who are just trying to politicize torture. And by the word, “politicize” they surely mean that these ‘backward looking people’ are trying to gain political advantage by making light of a serious issue. Even Chuck Todd has put this argument into a ‘he said she said’ type of framework.

Of course I would say that those trying to deflect the country away from accountability are the ones “politicizing” the issue, hence projecting once more. A fairly regular occurrence for the pundits on the right. But we have a legal obligation under the UN Convention against Torture to prosecute those at the top who facilitated torture. That is a fact. Therefore, under the colloquial definition of “politicizing an issue” it is those trying to block investigations and those pretending to look forward that are doing the politicizing.

So once again the Punditocracy, to borrow Eric Alter’s word, has tried to marginalize the people who have real common sense, who are less susceptible to propaganda and who don’t throw away their ideals at first fear. These are the same people, for the most part, that understand evolution and global warming. These are the same people, again for the most part, who understood what was happening in the lead up to the Iraq War, who were slandered with calls of traitor and terrorist for stating facts such as, Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. The same people who were laughed at for stating that the Bush administration is a danger to our civil rights. Now they are standing up and saying, “Torture is not okay.” This isn’t something that should be up for debate. The jury is not out on torture in civilized, modern societies.

Once again these people are on the right side of history. With many pundits acting as though this should be consensus driven. “Well, this poll says…” It really doesn’t matter how many people understand the issue at the moment, because facts are not consensus driven. Just like with the Iraq War, and Bush’s supposed strong leadership, the people the pundits love to coddle - the moderates - will catch up. They always do.

It may be asking a lot, but it would be nice if you purveyors of conventional wisdom would stop acting as though being right were some sort of disease. The people who understood what Copernicus and Galileo were saying in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are not looked back on as a crazy fringe because they were in the minority. And neither will those who are standing against torture now be looked back on as strange, in the near future.

[The Straight Story]

1. whew - thought this was an op about me for a minute

was wondering what the hell you had been smoking... :)

[20score]

6. Now that was funny!

Now I've got to go smoke something and write an op about The Straight Story. :fistbump:

[The Straight Story]

8. I don't think I have ever had the pleasure of someone doing that

Of course, it would degrade into a flame fest faster than you could say DU :rofl:

[annabanana]

2. k&r. . . n/t

[ihavenobias]

3. K & R

Of course!

[me b zola]

4. K&R

[gratuitous]

5. Yeah, where did this obscenity get going?

How are we going to tell our kids and grandkids that there was actually a serious discussion about torture in the 21st century? Certainly the Office of the Inquisition debated the finer points of torturing people in the 15th and 16th centuries, but 500 years later, we're talking about how much waterboarding is too much? How long a stress position can be enforced before it qualifies as torture? Just how long can you deprive a man of sleep before you've crossed some line?

We sure can't dismiss the Inquisition, the Khmer Rouge, the Central American Death Squads and the Taliban as backwards savages and brutal barbarians. Not after what we've done in the last eight years. And the media cheerleaders, pretending that there's a case to be made for any of this? A sin, plain and simple.

[20score]

11. It is strange.

[suede1]

7. Excellent! K & R.

[20score]

9. Thank you!!

[suede1]

12. I don't expect them to change, but people need to be aware of how they twist things.

[20score]

19. Exactly! Most people (not here of course) don't have a clue how badly they are being manipulated.

[Hannah Bell]

10. why do you expect honesty from whores?

they're whoring actors, end of story. they'll mouth any storyline for a check, 99% of them. up to & including rationalizing death camps.

[riderinthestorm]

13. You hit this one out of the park. Excellent. nt

[20score]

14. Thank you!

And hello to a fellow Illinoisan. From Homewood originally.

[Obamanaut]

15. After 41 years married, one becomes accustomed to it. nt

[suede1]

16. Kick for this.

[20score]

17. Appreciated.

[punkin87]

18. Right on! K & R

[ihavenobias]

20. Kick n/t