With the news that Van Jones had resigned, I thought I'd skim through the left-wing blogosphere and see the reactions, and it didn't take long to find something to laugh at. It's Digby at Hullabaloo, who is often unintentionally humorous.
This is a witch hunt and it's quite depressing because Jones is a truly inspirational, exciting thinker and speaker and it looks like they are going to get his scalp and marginalize himYeah, it was real hard to "marginalize" Van Jones. Generally when you are sitting way off on a left-wing ledge somewhere, you are already pretty much on the margins. Also, a witch hunt actually requires you to go looking for something. Jones was right there in the open. It's not like his extremist views were hidden.
And who is responsible for undermining this "inspirational, exciting thinker."? Let me guess. Could it be the evil Fox News?
This is yet another example of Fox News annihilation strategy against anyone who criticizes them. And it works.That's right, Fox actually reports accurate things about Van Jones -- the horror! I guess that's an "annihilation strategy." Obviously someone like Jones should have never been appointed in the first place. If anyone remotely as extreme had been put in a "czar" position by a Republican administration, clowns like Digby would be shrieking with outrage, and howling about the media not doing its job reporting all the details. I know, I should expect that level of hypocrisy from a leftist, but it's still worth pointing out.
Murdoch and Ailes have made it quite clear that if you mess with Fox they will unleash the crazies.
That's funny on two levels. First of course, Digby referring to anyone else as "crazies." And second, the crazy in question was Van Jones himself.
But there was one big surprise in the post. Amazingly enough, there were no accusations of racism. Given that Jones is black, and has been attacked from the right, that situation triggers cries of racism from the left 99.9% of the time. Could they finally be realizing that constant false accusations of racism are counterproductive? Doubtful. It's probably just an anomaly.
As a rabid leftist, I really can't help but agree.
ReplyDeleteJones was a useful nut. That's about all I know about him. Most of the time when I hear that people think we were behind 9/11, I can't really take anything else they say too seriously. The part of my brain that views them as adults just ... shuts down.
You're right about the racism, too. The left is very aware of the right's sketchy history with minorities in this country, and many of us are all too happy to whip out the race card as if it were an invariably valid argument. The PC Police will jump all over any sort of misstep that seems to imply racism. Too many of my ilk are happy to take minorities for granted, and use their Official Badge of Tolerance as a bargaining chip.
I'm always fascinated to read the opinions of non-liberal atheists. In my experience it's much more refreshing and level-headed than the sort of stuff I get out of the religious right, and more conducive to real discourse.
Oh, and regarding Fox News: I don't see them as an evil, monolithic entity. I see them as honest. They have an agenda, sure, but at least they're not trying to hide it (apart from their slogan, which really does nothing more than make me chuckle). So much of the MSM these days seems to be people pushing their ideas while trying desperately to act like they're not. Whether I agree or disagree with their positions, at least Fox is willing to be honest about their goals.
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