[MD] PC Madness

[Ham Priday]

Arlo --

> The Chicks received death threats, there were protests outside
> their concerts, enough for many would-be concert goers to refrain
> from going for fear of violence. What you are doing is justifying PC
> against them because your sense of "patriotism" was offended by
> their speech. As such you are not really against "PC" at all, only
> when it is used against speech you agree with.

Your hypocrisy is as indefatigable as your paranoid defense of leftist 
politics.  (There, I've said it!)

Even a simpleton knows that insulting a U.S. president, particularly when 
the nation is under attack, is bound to enrage the citizenry.  Celebrities 
may be uninformed and naive, but they're not stupid.  The Chicks were 
country singers with a political agenda -- to voice their disapproval of the 
Iraq invasion.   I don't see this as a PC issue; I see it as a popular group 
choosing to subordinate or risk their musical talents to become "heroes" in 
an activist cause.  They took advantage of their celebrity and a public 
platform to denounce President Bush, and they got what they deserved when it 
backfired on the audience.

> I assume then you also find complaint with the music singers who
> play at the "Freedom Rallys" of Sean Hannity?

I'm not familiar with Sean Hannity's Freedom Rally singers, but if they 
insult the President they can expect to be harranged.

 [Ham]:
> I suppose one might consider attacks on perpetuators of treason an
> example of "political correctness", although for most loyal Americans
> they are simply an expression of our patriotism.

 [Arlo]:
> Perpetrators of treason? You can claim this when you have a court
> verdict so.

I don't need a court verdict to express my views.  Did the Dixie Chicks or 
Bill Maher have a court verdict to voice their contempt for George Bush?

> In the meantime, all you are doing is defining "treason" as
> anyone who disagrees what YOUR definition of "patriotism".

Patriotism is a commonly understood word.  There's no Doublethink or 
Newspeak implied here.  What's YOUR definition of patriotism, Arlo?   Does 
America's cultural heritage have any value at all to you?  Do you think Jane 
Fonda's remarks to U.S. servicemen from Hanoi in 1973 -- "The men who are 
ordering you to use these weapons are war criminals according to 
international law, and in the past, in Germany and Japan, men who committed 
these kinds of crimes were tried and executed. ...You are being used as 
cannon fodder for U.S. imperialism." -- was not the message of a traitor?

> "War against Al Qaeda" would be accurate. "War on
> Terror" is manipulative Newspeak.

Terrorists are not just Al Qaeda, but the Hamas in Palestine, the Taliban in 
Afghanistan, the Hezbollah in Turkey, and Jihadists in every corner of 
Islam.  What is "manipulative" about the designation "War on Terror"?

> Every single one of your examples aligns with right-wing ideology.
> How is that me playing the partisan game? By pointing that out?
> For asking you to apply the same critical light to your own political ilk?

Frankly, I'm not aware of Newspeak or Doublethink examples created by 
right-wing politicians.

You previously cited "Patriot Act" and "torture labeled interrogation 
techniques" as Newspeak.  I don't know who named the wartime 
message-monitoring and interrogation measures the Patriot Act.  Probably it 
was an act of Congress.  Moreover, the questioning of enemy prisoners for 
strategic information IS (has always been) "interrogation".  The fact that a 
few informants (I believe the number is 3) were uncomfortably stressed in 
order to make the questioning more productive is no reason to name the 
interrogation process "Torture".

Getting a tooth filled is torture for me, but I don't call my dentist a 
Torture Doctor.  That WOULD be manipulative use of the language -- perhaps 
Medispeak?

I suggest you get off your liberal warhorse long enough to consider 
political Newspeak and Doublethink as methods of thought control that have 
manipulated the values and ideals of the American public.  After all, that's 
the point I've been trying to get across.

Peace,
Ham