So I realize that lately I've pretty much been using this to put up articles from my new job and haven't been doing much original writing, but I was late night Stumbling last night (yeah, I do that) and came across an article in the Huffington Post that seriously disturbed me. I wouldn't say frightened me, because despite how ridiculous all the retaliation against Obama right now may be, I'm still, perhaps naively, not yet ready to jump on the Keith Olbermann bandwagon and say that this sort of rampant bad taste in protesting led by Glen Beck and other such newspeople will lead to "domestic terrorism." I'm not that scared...yet. But I do believe he makes some very good points, and the article does present some evidence to support his theory (see picture of man holding a sign that suggests Obama be...waterboarded?) By the way, I was going to put that picture up, but decided against it, because I think that is only contributing to the problem, and here I'll get to my point. These people, who come up with signs like those found on that article, do not care so much about the issues that they are fighting so strongly for as they do about simply having some sort of issue to fight for. As with anything, by giving it press you are perpetuating the idea, not necessarily an opinion about it. Especially on the internet, images and media content are so readily separated from text that even a site like the Huff Post, which is obviously against such protesting, can serve to merely propagate the images alone, and the messages in them. But I digress. There is obviously blame to be had on both sides; while I smirked conspiratorially with author John Wellington Ennis' quick-witted comments after each picture, those are as unproductive as the methods of the protesters themselves, if maybe slightly more informative. That being said, I wholeheartedly agree with his feeling of frustration and outrage with these people. I must say, all of this town hall yelling and such seemed like passing news, something quirky and slightly funny, but nothing more harmful than the joy of the inevitable local color that is a product of our town hall system. But a sign that is a digital composite of Hitler, Obama, and ...the Joker? Now that takes some hate. And a lot of time, time that I think should be spent perhaps writing viable counter-proposals and phrasing coherent arguments. It looks like since the ultra-liberals got their turn with Bush, all the people who thought the "hate the president" shctick looked fun but were on the wrong side of the party line are finally getting their chance. And although I count myself in on those who publicly defamed our late president for his many apparent failings, perhaps now we are reaping what we've sown?
