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February 16, 2005

From the dishonest fingers of James Taranto

The right wing has worked very hard to cast the label "liberal" into a light so negative and digusting that no ethical human being would wish to be attached to it.

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal editorial page, James Taranto practices this exercise in completely dishonest labeling:

Things That Don't Appall Liberals--I
Did you know liberals aren't appalled by child molestation? Before you send us angry letters about this, let us explain: We're not saying it, Reuters is. From a dispatch about the Michael Jackson trial:

Legal experts say prosecutors will look for jurors who are older, conservative, less taken with celebrity, willing to accept authority and appalled by child molestation.

Jackson's attorneys may look for more liberal jurors who have advanced degrees and are critical thinkers who question authority.

Is it possible that Reuters has a heretofore undetected conservative bias? After all, not only does this dispatch make liberals look like degenerates; it also omits the scare quotes around the emotive phrase child molestation.

So for Taranto: People who question authority + willing to listen to both sides=people unappalled by child abuse/liberals. But of course he's not the one actually saying it...Reuters is...so don't send your complaints to James. Even though he's the dishonest boob floating the charges.

And Tarantino isn't finished!

Things That Don't Appall Liberals--II
Folks who complain about American "torture" of terrorists don't seem to have much to say about the conduct of U.N. "peacekeepers" in Africa. The Associated Press reports:

The Moroccan mission to the United Nations has announced it arrested six U.N. peacekeeping soldiers in Congo accused of sexually abusing local girls and discharged the contingent's commander. . . .

There have been more than 150 allegations of sexual exploitation of girls as young as 13 by U.N. peacekeepers in Congo.

Annan last Wednesday urged the Security Council to add at least 100 military police to the peacekeeping mission in Congo to help prevent sex abuse by the U.N. forces.

Great, the U.N. is going to send troops to prevent U.N. troops from abusing women. But hey, at least it's all multilateral, right?

In Tarantino's mind, it's perfectly okay for US soldiers to abuse and torture prisoners, because some UN peacekeepers sexually exploited young girls in the Congo.

This is the kind of dishonest rhetoric that causes the intellectually honest to shake their heads in wonder. How is it possible that this guy works for one of the premier newspapers of the MAINSTREAM MEDIA? The Wall Street Journal allows this sort of stench to eminate from their paper only to be swallowed up as the oxycontin of the conservative mindset.

But don't you dare call them stupid.

Posted by Carla at February 16, 2005 02:08 PM