FAR-LEFTIST RAGE

Excerpt:

The Far Left has seen their ideology resoundingly rejected by the American populace. While it may well be that a majority of Americans have grown weary and disgusted with the Iraq War and willing to punish the Republicans for our failures there, in fact, socialism and socialism-lite, ie the European model, have been found wanting by the voters. This is partially recognized by the fact that the Democrats routinely eschew calling themselves liberals and focus on the language of their politics rather than the ideological beliefs that underpin their policies. The recent unearthing of the memo from the early 90s suggesting achieving universal government run health care in stages, by stealth (re: the S-CHIP debate), is another example of the Democratic perception that a straightforward approach to their goals of increased government control over the economy is a losing proposition.

When one's ideas are rejected, especially when those ideas form an important part of one's self-image, it is a personal injury. People respond to personal injury with pain and anger. When the anger is internalized, the risk of depression and despair becomes significant. Many find it more tolerable to eject the anger, ie defense known as projection, and are then drawn into all the psychological problems that flow from that. One's opponents then become evil, rather than wrong, misguided or simply in disagreement, and every reverse simply fuels the rage burning inside. Such a cycle would appear as follows:

Anger -> Projection -> Attribution of unacceptable impulses to the "enemy" -> Fear of the projected/disowned anger being returned (retaliation) -> Overt paranoia -> Further rejection -> Intensified anger

Under the influence of such rage, encapsulated by the feeling that one is manifestly correct and no other possible interpretations of others' behavior are tenable, reason is lost. We see this rather graphically in the imbroglio over Rush Limbaugh and his supposed anti-military comments. I rarely listen to Rush and have not read a transcript, however, on the face of it, the charges against him are risible. No one with any sense is going to believe Rush is anti-military and people like Harry Reid and Tom Harkin are pro-military in comparison. Even the Far Left should be well aware that this is a losing argument. Yet they convince themselves they have a winning argument and only the weakness of their champions in the Senate and House prevent them from beating Rush and getting him off the air. Jane Hamsher, the proprietor of a major website on the Left, (see Siggy for a rather witty and biting appellation) can barely contain herself:

Is That A Fat Lady I Hear Singing? Pills Limbaugh just keeps diggin' and diggin'. I've been delighted to see that it's been all over cable news today, and Wes Clark has been promoting the move to get Limbaugh off Armed Forces Radio Network.

She goes on to approvingly quote Digby:

Newtie's now irrelevant. Delay is gone. Only Rush remains and he is probably the biggest prize. On a purely practical, hardball political basis, the Democrats should have been working to take him out for years. Now is their chance to turn the Republicans' patented hissy kabuki back on them and hoist an avowed political enemy with his own poisonous petard at the same time. There are many others who will happily take his place, no doubt about it. But his voice is uniquely associated with the radical wingnuts, and it is an important symbolic message to the country if they can finally make an example of him.

I have become extremely reluctant to link to any Left wing sites because when visitors come here from their sites they come armed with invective and rarely read and understand what I write. For any visitors from the Left, I am not here commenting on your ideology; I have no problem with your distaste for Rush and I have no reason to support him. Beyond the fact that he hardly needs my help, I rarely listen to him, preferring NPR when I am interested in gaining any depth on issues (despite the fact that I so rarely agree with NPR's point of view.) I am suggesting that your tactics and strategy involved in going after Rush Limbaugh suggest an inability to adequately appreciate how your attacks are being and will be perceived. Your anger is blinding you and confusing you. As for the Democrats, ultimately, unless they can find a way to repudiate the most angry within their party, they will find themselves irredeemably tarred with all the worst aspects of the Far Left.

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