On Tigers
I'm going to paraphrase an example here that I used in comments on the Colbert affair.
If you were to meet a tiger in the open and you poked a stick at it, some might put aside your obvious lack of common sense and call you brave. If you put that same tiger in a cage, then poked a stick at it, you'd be nothing more that an animal abuser. People would – rightly – shun you.
Well, here are the words of the newest heroine of the left, Jean Rohe:
More importantly, I feel obligated to respond to one thing that McCain told the New York Times. "I feel sorry for people living in a dull world where they can't listen to the views of others," he said. This is just preposterous. Yes, McCain was undoubtedly shouted-out and heckled by people who were not politely absorbing his words so as to consider them fully from every angle. But what did he expect? We could've all printed out his speech and chanted it with him in chorus. Did he think that no one knew exactly what he was about to say? And it was precisely because we listen to the views of others, and because, as I said in my speech, we don't fear them, that we as a school were able to mount such a thorough and intelligent opposition to his presence. Ignorant, closed-minded people would not have been able to do what we did. We chose to be in New York for our years of higher education for the very reason that we would be challenged to listen to opposing viewpoints each and every day and to deal with that challenge in a nonviolent manner. We've gotten very good at listening to the views of others and learning how to also make our views heard, even when we don't have the power of national political office and the media on our side.
I think we must remember that as big as this moment may seem to me today and perhaps to other supporters who are reading this article, this is a very small victory in a time when democracy is swiftly eroding under the pressure of the right wing in this country. We all have much work to do, and for the most part the media do not represent us, the small people who don't hold any special titles but who feel the weight of our government's actions on our backs each and every day. I never expected to get the opportunity to speak the way I did yesterday, but I'm so glad that I did. I hope that other people found strength in my act of protest and will one day find themselves in my position, drawing out their own bravery to speak truth.
And that last paragraph kind of says it all, doesn't it? Jean sees herself as a hero. A little person with no voice. A person fighting back against the monstrous oppression of the right. To the barricades! Fight the evil! NO BLOOD FOR OIL!
Here's what heroism looks like, Jean:
You see, those people poked a stick at a tiger in the open. You poked a stick at a man in a cage, constrained by the rules of etiquette and decency not to respond to you. My goodness, what wonderful oppression and all you must be feeling. How heroic. How very, very brave.
I wonder what he felt.
I'm quite sure this post will truly endear me to a number of people.
UPDATE: Three of the above photos were borrowed from Gateway Pundit. The "Tank Man" photo was not. That photo is one for the ages.
UPDATE: Neptunus Lex counted the "I"'s (the whole post is worth reading, lots and lots of good lines in there!). Thanks to Gateway Pundit , Riehl World View and Liberty and Justice for linking.
Civilization, Left Wing, The Ivory Tower | Gaius May 20, 2006
Other Links to this Post
-
Riehl World View — May 20, 2006 @ 9:01 pm
-
Liberty and Justice — May 21, 2006 @ 4:36 am
By Shawn, May 20, 2006 @ 10:28 pm
Gaius said: “You see, those people poked a stick at a tiger in the open. You poked a stick at a man in a cage, constrained by the rules of etiquette and decency not to respond to you. My goodness, what wonderful oppression and all you must be feeling.”
Well said…very well said. Too many Americans take for granted the privileges we have here. Mzzzz Rohe appears to be one of them. It is a privilege to be asked to be a commencement speaker. It is an even greater privilege to speak in opposition to someone as powerful as a U.S. Senator who is seated only a few feet away from you (and, as and aside, is recycling his commencement address). With privilege, however, comes responsibility. Mzzz Rohe displayed none. If anyone has a reason to hate another group of people it is John McCain. Mzzz Rohe was not help captive by Republicans for years, tortured, beaten, attempts made to break her spirit and a lasting legacy of not being able to lift her arms above her shoulders. John McCain does not hate Vietnamese people, but Mzzz Rohe sure hates Republicans. Something askew with that view IMHO.
By Gaius, May 20, 2006 @ 10:39 pm
Yes, there certainly is a skew there. Have you ever heard of so many people speaking – unceasingly, unendingly, over and over until you’d like to slap them – about how they are being silenced?
Yeesh
By lex, May 20, 2006 @ 11:45 pm
I noted here that an astonishing 127 words out of an 1800+ word Huff Post were “I,” “me,” and “mine” or the like.
All that education, and she still hasn’t figured out that it’s not all about her.
By Blackhawk, May 21, 2006 @ 10:21 pm
My high school government teacher wanted us to take one lesson from his class: for every freedom, there is a responsibility. Freedom without responsibility isn’t freedom; it’s anarchy. In anarchy, only violence rules. Too bad those getting a ‘higher’ education don’t understand that distinction.
What happened to Sen McCain is not an example of cowardice: it’s an example of violence. This is how suppression of freedom of speech begins: you prevent opposing viewpoints from being expressed. These Ivory Tower hypocrites (students and faculty) don’t realize they are already sliding down that slippery slope.
By Eric Kinateder, May 23, 2006 @ 7:50 am
You’re all so correct! There should be only one viewpoint. Dissenters should be hung.
Right….
Freedom of speech has nothing to do with the war in Iraq, Afghanistan or ‘the War on Terror ™’.
Don’t let your ignorance blind you.
Go read the girls speech. I’m not saying she’s a hero (nor is she). I’m saying she had the opportunity to respectfully stand up for what she believed in. Isn’t that what this great country is about?
By Gaius, May 23, 2006 @ 8:08 am
It wasn’t respectful whether you can see that or not. Go read the post on how Boston College protesters handled it. That was respectful.
By Liza DiSavino, May 23, 2006 @ 4:36 pm
No, your pictures are what violence looks like, and that’s the whole problem.
So here we are with the Republican attack machine (both large and small) doing what the Republican party always does these days: attack the character of anyone who tells the truth. A certain Mr. Salter, chief-of-staff for John McCain, lost no time in calling Jean an “idiot,” saying she had “not one shred of the courage John McCain had”, and accused her of living in an “echo chamber.â€
May I point out that this follows the usual line of Republican attack: accuse your adversary of everything of which you yourself are guilty. Such as:
1. Courage? Quit telling me about John McCain’s forty-year-old Hanoi Hilton experience. Did John McCain have the guts to stand up and admit that the leader of his party lied us into war? No, because it might hurt his political chances. He’d rather have American kids continue to die in Iraq so he might get the Presidency. (By the by, John Kerry was a war hero forty years ago too, but I didn’t see Republicans outraged when he was ridiculed).
2. Echo Chamber? Who controls virtually all the tv and radio airwaves, and makes sure that every Republican politician and pundit in the country is on the same daily talking point? It’s not progressives. The Republicans have the echo chamber di tutti echo chambers.
3. And finally, idiot? Jean’s comments were concise, pointed, intelligent, respectful, gutsy, and true. The only idiot here is Salter. Because it did take tremendous guts for Jean to do what she did. Know why? Because some high-profile shill like Salter was bound to impugn her character on a national scale. It was bound to happen, and when it did, Jean handled it in interviews and on the blogosphere with an integrity, poise, intelligence, and compassion that is beyond the dreams or experience of the Republican party. It was bound to happen, because your party is nasty and destroys people as a matter of course (ask John McCain about the South Carolina primary if you don’t believe me). It was bound to happen because your party cannot argue on the basis of the issues, because you’re wrong on everything. All you can do is try to destroy people in true Inquisition style, projecting your failings onto others. Idiot? Do you know what an idiot McCain looks like, sending a high profile political appointee like Salter after a 21-year-old college kid?
The kind of pathetic, vicious personal attack I saw both from Salter and here on your blog (including such disrespectful terms as moron, crap,self-indulgent, etc.) was bound to happen, and I am sure Jean knew it, and she did it anyway. And yes, I do know her. I watched her grow up, and I am prouder of her than I can say. Doing the right thing, regardless of consequence, is the definition of courage. Your party doesn’t even come close to the mark. She hit the bulls-eye. Be as bitter as you want about it, but that’s the truth.
By Gaius, May 23, 2006 @ 4:39 pm
If that’s your idea of a bulls-eye, you’re a damn poor shot.
By Kris, May 24, 2006 @ 9:48 am
While I admire your passion, I believe you are woefully misguided.
1. Maybe McCain doesn’t think Bush lied to us about the war in Iraq. “Bush Lied, thousands died” isn’t even a substantiated claim, just one that has been repeated many times, largely by people of the same political persuasion.
I’m not draw the WMD issue into this response, but if you assume that McCain isn’t calling out Bush for lying about the causus belli, you’re assuming that he, like you, believes that Bush had been lying. Unless you have the power to read minds, you can’t really substantiate that claim.
The reason why Kerry is fair game while McCain isn’t is because there is no doubt that McCain was nearly tortured to death serving his country, while several men who had served with Kerry were willing to testify against the validity of his claims of heroism. Even if you believe that Kerry deserved his military honors, others doubt that he does, while there is no doubt that McCain earned the platitutes relished on him.
2. I seriously doubt you could claim conservatives owned the media if you follow the news media at all. If you merely track, for a period of a few months, the types stories that most newspaper editors find newsworthy, you would find that the subjects and tone of such stories tend to support traditionally liberal points of view.
AP, Reuters, CNN, the NYT, Chicago Tribune, the SF Chronicle, and most other media institutions have a decidedly liberal slant to their news coverage. If you look closely at the stories published by these media outlets, a lot of their reporting contains liberal editorial commentary blended in with their presentation of facts.
Even if you consider FOX and the WSJ to be conservative publications, you have to admit that they do a much better job separating news coverage from editorial commentary.
3. There’s one thing about this whole incident I don’t understand: doesn’t Salter have a right to speak his mind about this incident? After all, if he works for McCain, he’s probably somewhat loyal to his boss. (And I doubt he was speaking in for McCain when he went off, as his remarks sounded like someone genuinely pissed-off.) If you’re arguing that Salter looks like a moron for spouting off the way he did, you have to accept that other people probably think the same thing about Jean for the very same reason. Jean wasn’t exactly discussing the issues when she spouted off her diatribe.
If you think one political operative and a few scattered websites of people discussing this topic constitutes a well-oiled political attack machine, I think you’re overexaggerating the political aptitude of the Republican party. Strange how you can think that a party of “morons” would be able to coordinate such an endeavor.
And, for that matter, I seriously doubt the government had ever interfered in Jean’s personal or economic matters, so I doubt she can honestly claim that “democracy is swiftly eroding under the pressure of the right wing in this country.” Of course, not having the ability to read minds myself, I could be wrong in this matter.
-A Libertarian Agnostic