Arrogance and Intolerance, Indeed

For those of you living under a rock, the Washington Post blogger William "I Support the Troops" Arkin posted a tirade Tuesday entitled "The Troops Also Need to Support the American Public" http://http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/01/the_troops_also_need_to_suppor.html

Cutting to the chase, this was a hit piece, dripping with condescension, in which Bellicos Billy pretends to thoughtfully "mull over" a story run on NBC sunday in which the troops on the ground were asked what THEY thought about a few things. Understandably, Billy was upset because asking those in the know what they thought rather than trying to tell the rest of us how it isn't deviates significantly from the script used in the major media outlets. The reporter responsible for the story, Richard Engel has taken a huge risk by going to the horse's mouth, and will no doubt face ostracism and a career stall, but predictably, the hollowed members of the fourth estate stick together and instead of unloading on his collegue Dick, Billy decided that the real scolding should be given to the troops. These troops expressed their displeasure with the two-faced reality behind the sacred liberal meme "I support the troops, but I don't support the war." More than one soldier expressed an opinion that this is utter hooey, and in so doing, damaged poor little Billy's psyche enough that he lashed out in response showing his true colors.

"I'm all for everyone expressing their opinion, even those who wear the uniform of the United States Army. But I also hope that military commanders took the soldiers aside after the story and explained to them why it wasn't for them to disapprove of the American people."

This one statement speaks volumes. The implecations are staggering. No one possessing reason and logic would question the propriety of an American soldier expressing discontent with the military or civilian leadership. Such an event is destructive to order and morale. But when an American soldier expresses dismay with the insincerity of the American left, and their darlings like Cindy Shehan and Michael Moore for making rediculous statements without support and instead of being challenged by the media, they are embraced, they are doing two things: speaking out against another, more pernicious morale-killer, and exercising their rights, yes, the very rights they are defending, that they have as citizens of this nation.

But if wasn't enough for Billy to show his true face. He decided to compound his error with condecension and insults. You can read the column yourself, but to whine about the way we care for soldiers and their families, to call them mercenaries, and to stupidly allege that we "ship obscene amenities in to the war zone for them", well you understand that poor Billy was in full froth. It was the kind of moment when other, wiser people would have hesitated before pressing "SEND", just on the off-chance that maybe it was a little too over the top. Not Billy. Billy was so supremely confident that his opinion had merit that he felt compelled to speak for the "American Public" (and no, Billy, you don't) in his childish outrage that American Soldiers dare make remarks that suggest that they don't buy the impassioned statements of "support" that he and his ilk desperately foist upon us whenever anyone dares question their patriotism.

Poor Billy. He really didn't foresee the sheer numbers of the American Public who did not appreciate his usurpation of their voice when he lashed out. The next day, he posted a half-hearted retraction of his use of the word "mercenary", but of course, when people continued to let him know that he didn't speak for them, his yellow feathers got ruffled and stiffened in the self-perceived righteousness of his opinion. Never one to miss the opportunity to show the world his ass, Bellicos Billy sat down at his keyboard to again to elequently convert his detractors by clumsily shaming them into accepting his opinion. In so doing, he gave us yet another priceless insight into the liberal mindset in the now classic work of irony "The Arrogant and Intolerant Speak Out"
http://http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/02/the_arrogant_and_intolerant_sp.html

His reaction to the blowtorch of criticism he pointed in his own direction was to paint his detractors with a broad brush, portraying them all as believing that he shouldn't express his own opinion and that he should just die. While many noted he expressed his opinion, they did tell him what he could do with it, which was a fair expression of their own opinions...a dish too difficult for Billy to swallow, but such is life. In a nod to the possibility that perhaps he was wrong about some of his earlier statements, he attempted to rehabilitate the prior column with a characterization that God in all his omniscience could not reasonably infer from the prior offense:

"I said I was bothered by the notion that "the troops" were somehow becoming hallowed beings above society, that they had an attitude that only they had the means - or the right - to judge the worthiness of the Iraq endeavor."

He neither said nor implied any such thing, but as any good little liberal, he wasn't about to let fact get in the way of an attempt to cover his ass. And also true to liberal form, he falled to see the stupidity in his own arrogant belief that the troops, the ones actually on the ground day in and day out, did not have a valid opinion about the Iraq endeavor. It isn't like the media has tripped all over itself in a rush to ask the troops what they think. That would mean that the American Public that Billy claims to speak for might hear something different than the daily servings of "Bush is bad, Bush is an idiot, Bush is losing this war" that the media shovels around with reckless abandon. Even worse, such a practice might allow the American Public o hear that a war the left keeps claiming is unwinnable might be won if we agree to unshackle our troops by abandoning the Rules of Engagement that practically require troops to die before their fellow soldiers can respond.
But Billy just can't help himself. Behind the safety of his keyboard, he takes yet another shot at these soldiers, showing even more of what he REALLY thinks:

"These men and women are not fighting for money with little regard for the nation. The situation might be much worse than that: Evidently, far too many in uniform believe that they are the one true nation. They hide behind the constitution and the flag and then spew an anti-Democrat, anti-liberal, anti-journalism, anti-dissent, and anti-citizen message that reflects a certain contempt for the American people."

Wheeew. Where do we start?
"These men and women are not fighting for money with little regard for the nation. The situation might be much worse than that: Evidently, far too many in uniform believe that they are the one true nation. "
Hmmmmmm. How should we interpret this? That our soldiers, whom we expect to embody our best and brightest do not have the right to think of themselves as such, even though, for better or worse, we are ambassadors for our nation? AND how dare they have an opinion that he does not approve of? Back to the re-education camps with them!

"They hide behind the constitution and the flag and then spew an anti-Democrat, anti-liberal, anti-journalism, anti-dissent, and anti-citizen message that reflects a certain contempt for the American people." Projecting a bit, aren't we Billy? They don't hide behind the Constitution, they defend it. The only people I see hiding behind the Constitution are journalists trying to defend statements and stories that in other eras would have garnered the authors one-way trips to the pokey in a place where they could blab all they wanted because NO ONE would evry hear them. As for anti-Democrat, they have the right to vote. If you were in their places, you wouldn't be too eager to support those who look upon you with contempt and derision, so you can't really be upset about this---if you concede they have the same rights as you. Anti-liberal? Nothing more needs to be said about this indictment from the liberal court of Bellicos Billy. Anti-journalism? Let me put it this way. If you walk into my room daily, and smack me in the face and spit in my eye, I'm likely to hold and express the opinion that Billy and the rest of his tribe, who behave the same way, are all assholes. No shock there, truely. Anti-dessent? Dissenting from dissent. Nothing more American than that, but any liberal must automatically assume that this means their rights are being infringed upon, so I understand his confusion.

Anti-citizen. *sigh*
You just don't get it, Billy. These people don't volunteer because their masocistic fascists who enjoy long tours of duty away from their homes and loved ones to go to places where they could get killed and where they must follow a set of rules that their enemies are unhindered by, all for the priviledge of so-so pay, Dear John/Dear Jane letters and the chance to hold a firearm. They do it because they believe they are defending our country, because they believe they are making us all safer, because they believe that they are contributing to something greater than themselves. They have an espirit de corps that people like Billy will never understand. He may catch a glimmer of what motivates these fine people, like something flashing in a bright room, but always out of reach. Unable to see beyond his own sense of self-importance, his own delusion that his contribution to society and freedom is superior to theirs, he will always be like a bitter old man, lamenting the spark in others that he miself does not possess, and can never understand, and so resolve himself to attack it instead at every turn. The sad thing is that he knows this. That is why he claims to speak for the American Public when he delivers his steaming offerings for the perusal of the reading public. He intends it to be a talisman, to ward off the freightening and destructive realization that his opinions are his own, and they are offensive. This is my opinion Billy. I don't claim to speak for the entire American Public. I speak for myself, and I know my opinion is worthwhile because it matters to me. I don't hide from it and I don't apologize for it, only take it back at a later date. You are a small man. I don't mean in stature. I mean that something in your character never fully developed. That would be ok, except you know it, and this knowledge drives you to say outrageous things. That is your right, but perhaps you should be man enough to accept the consequences of your keyboard.