Pearls Clutched
By Mitch Berg
I was thinking the other day that, in the Twin Cities’ leftymedia, many of the same people who last month were ready to indict Rep. Michele Bachmann for “aiding and abetting” in the death of census worker Bill Sparkman are the exact same people who are demanding absolute forbearance in the case of Maj. Nidal Hasan; one tried to conclude on Sunday that the investigators had determined terrorism wasn’t involved at all.
Jeff Goldberg notes that it’s not just a local thing:
Remember when Andrew Sullivan fretted about “Southern populist terrorism” in the death of Kentucky census worker Bill Sparkman? (Investigators now believe it to have been suicide.) Remember how Frank Rich interpreted the NY23 special election as “nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war,” demonstrating how “the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult”?
The tendency of elites to leap to hysterical, far-fetched interpretations when dealing with phenomena associated (rightly or wrongly) with the Right is counterbalanced by their “nothing to see here” reaction when confronted with events that implicate pet causes of the Left.
The nature of elite reaction is not strictly a matter of the potential political ramifications of events. There is also the matter of complexity and nuance, which are specialties of the intelligentsia. When events seem to teach a simplistic liberal lesson, there is no need to seek out any mitigating factors. Yet when the simple lesson would seem to favor a conservative argument, there is a frantic search for mitigation, or else the event is dismissed as meaningless.
See: all of the hoax “hate crimes” that swept college campuses, the Duke Rape Case, the implication of talk radio in the Oklahoma City bombing…
The murder of Matthew Shepard was interpreted as evidence of mass homophobia induced by Christian conservatism, even though the murderers were a couple of two-bit hoodlums with no known ties to the Religious Right. Yet here we have Nidal Malik Hasan reportedly screaming “Allahu Akbar” while gunning down U.S. troops and . . . well, this means nothing.
On Twitter yesterday, I watched, somewhat slack-jawed, as a couple of reporters argued about how many angels could fit on the head of a pin debated exactly how unconfirmed the “Allahu Akbar” rumors really were. Neither had heard anything about Hasan’s alleged links to radical clerics who’ s been linked with Al Quaeda, or had at least neither had opted to address them. We’ll see if that ever fits into the template.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Dude, another “I talked to some anonymous guy” post? Why don’t you link to the Twitter posts you’re talking about? Cause Angryclown doesn’t think any MSM types are rejecting the possibility that Hasan was motivated by Muslim extremism. I think this is just one of your “I bet this is what those lib’rals are thinking” without any actual support.
November 10th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Assertions based on facts not in evidence:
– never said “this is what those lib’rals are thinking” – or, rather, I’m saying that
some “lib’rals” are much more diligent about fact-checking when
it’s not a conservative icon in the crosshairs.
– Never said they were “MSM”.
– Discussion is ongoing.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:19 am
angryclown said:
“I think this is just one of your “I bet this is what those lib’rals are thinking” without any actual support.”
It is very funny that you, of all people, would object to the sort of thing you’re accusing Mitch of right now.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:40 am
[…] Shot in the Dark » Blog Archive » Pearls Clutched […]
November 10th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I’m going to have to put you on Cliche Watch, Mitch. You’ve used “pearls clutched” three times in as many months. I can understand why you like it, of course. Lib’rals are “elitist.” And even if they’re men, they’re actually more like ladies.
Which is no problem for you wingnuts, after all. Cause you don’t hate women. You know, like you just told everybody.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:19 am
“Cause Angryclown doesn’t think any MSM types are rejecting the possibility that Hasan was motivated by Muslim extremism.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/06/obama-visit-walter-reed/
http://newsrealblog.com/2009/11/05/to-msnbc-the-least-important-thing-about-killer-army-doctor-is-he-was-a-muslim-who-compared-suicide-bombers-to-soldiers-who-throw-themselves-on-grenades-to-protect-others-meltdown-with-keith-olberma/
November 10th, 2009 at 11:22 am
“pearls clutched” — isn’t that a reference to a gay sex act, like teabagging?
Read the Mudville Gazette to see what CNN did to a wounded soldier’s eye witness account of Hasan shouting “Allah Akbar”. I didn’t realize Michael Moore is freelancing for CNN.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:23 am
We don’t hate women AC, because dontchaknow most stay-at-home moms tend to lean right. They may have mistakenly voted for Obama last time but they come around. Also, what Mitch said about the tea parties is right. Of course you wouldn’t know anything about that AC because you never went to one of those rallies. Women are a powerful force in the conservative movement. Better for you to dismiss it though, 2010 and 2012 will wake you up to the fact that you are dead wrong about this.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
AC has a point, Mitch. Pearl clutching is definitely a Margaret-Dumont-as-Mrs.-Rittenhouse kind of thing.
.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Clownie is going to put Berg on “Cliche Watch”. Clownie has a encyclopedic knowledge on the topic, as demonstrated in the threads.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Here’s a link to a WSJ piece about Dr. Phil being shocked that someone would have the gall to suggest Major Hasan was anything but in the grip of some tornadic psychological storm.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704402404574525831785724114.html
November 10th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Dr. Phil has a Republican accent. Probably even says “nukeular.”
November 10th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Sure, AC, but you say “Joisey”.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
…and, more importantly, you also say any number of facepalming nonsense.
And a couple of good jokes.
November 10th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I’m sure there are more than a few different accents AssClown hears in those voices…
November 10th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
But he looks just like angryclown.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Cause you don’t hate women. You know, like you just told everybody.
No. Just stupid people.
Probably even says “nukeular.”
I was listening to an old Dennis Miller bit the other day on my ‘pod. Back when he was still a flaming libtard. “So how DO you proncounce it – NucLEEEar or NukeYOUlar?”