Rep. David Scott - Swastika Graffiti and N-Word Letters

[JimboDaMan]

My life experiences and cynicism has taught me me to be skeptical of the things that just don't smell right and this doesn't smell right to me. Perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps not, but I'll reserve judgment until I jump on the bandwagon of reporters tales. I have a tendency not to buy things hook, line and sinker

That only works one way with you. There are plenty of Tailgate threads where you've bought in hook, line, sinker, rod, reel, oars, and the entire boat. But that's when things are pointing the other way.

[Burgold]

And there you have your answer as to why there people can't condemn anything no matter how despicible. Find an instance, no matter how obscure, of something that gives you an excuse to brush it off. Or better yet, that gives you the excuse that its really the other guys doing it. Then forever after you can decide in your own little mind that every instance of something like this is further proof that the other side is just terrible. Its almost like magic, how well it works.

Part of me get that, human rationalization is a great protective mechanism, and believing that this stuff happens (and all that goes along with it is hard) so it's preferable to keep one's eyes closed. Why deal with the friction of reality? I'm not mad at people who do this, but it does tire and frustrate me.

In the Kilmeade case, all that was needed was a and a what a doofus! Even a "What was he thinking? What a dumb thing to say!" Instead, it is defended and then they go on the attack. I even think it's fair to condemn the act, but defend the institution and the speaker. We all say dumb things occassionally.

Simultaneously, what Kilmeade did was a show of ignorance and very probably a show of prejudice, but not really an act of hate. Acts of hate like the one above, acts of violence like we have begun to see more often deserve unfettered condemnation. They deserve our attention.

If it turns out we are wrong, then that condemnation turns on the con artist and honestly, it gets doubled. Because any ___________ who pulls out a swaztika to score political points deserves no sympathy. I said the exact same thing when people called Bush and Cheney Hitler. It's inexcusable and needs to be condemned. That diminishes the reality of what Hitler did and softening reality allows for one to dismiss it and a new one to rise.

If the act of hate seems to come from within your "group" you should condemn it even more strongly because you should not allow or accept it within your group. It should not be welcomed in your tent. It should find welcome nowhere.