reede, juuni 11, 2004
Respect for the Dead
Of all of the Reagan porn that has floated across my desk in the last week, by far the most bizarre to me is the material where conservatives try to remind us that the press wasn't always as kind to Reagan as they are now that he's dead.
Wow. What an insight.
First of all, pieces like this make me question the central thesis that the media was ever tough on Reagan. But more importantly, of course people are being respectful. The man is dead. His death was a tragedy. He was loved by many Americans. Those of us who didn't like Reagan very much are just being tasteful and allowing you your moment of grief. How do you repay us? By trying to make us look like hypocrites. Fuck you.
In one of the most disgusting actions ever taken by the RNC, and that's saying something, they began within a day of Reagan's death to circulate stories about criticism of Reagan in the 1980s by John Kerry and other Democrats. Huh. Democrats criticizing a Republican president. How dare they? They didn't waste even 24 hours before trying to exploit his death for political gain. What scum. Really. What awful, awful human beings they must be.
Yes, us liberals are trying to restrain criticism of Reagan. We feel it might be seen as offensive to do otherwise at this moment. Any criticism we do make, we try to do so tactfully. We would expect the same from you when our idols die. And yet you still jump down our throats for any negative word about Reagan we allow to slip into our discourse. And you constantly remind us that we have criticized him in the past. You want to embarass us by showing that our respectful deference to your grief is not driven by a genuine love of the man? We talk about the few things we did respect about the man and you question us for it?
I hate these people.
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Of all of the Reagan porn that has floated across my desk in the last week, by far the most bizarre to me is the material where conservatives try to remind us that the press wasn't always as kind to Reagan as they are now that he's dead.
Wow. What an insight.
First of all, pieces like this make me question the central thesis that the media was ever tough on Reagan. But more importantly, of course people are being respectful. The man is dead. His death was a tragedy. He was loved by many Americans. Those of us who didn't like Reagan very much are just being tasteful and allowing you your moment of grief. How do you repay us? By trying to make us look like hypocrites. Fuck you.
In one of the most disgusting actions ever taken by the RNC, and that's saying something, they began within a day of Reagan's death to circulate stories about criticism of Reagan in the 1980s by John Kerry and other Democrats. Huh. Democrats criticizing a Republican president. How dare they? They didn't waste even 24 hours before trying to exploit his death for political gain. What scum. Really. What awful, awful human beings they must be.
Yes, us liberals are trying to restrain criticism of Reagan. We feel it might be seen as offensive to do otherwise at this moment. Any criticism we do make, we try to do so tactfully. We would expect the same from you when our idols die. And yet you still jump down our throats for any negative word about Reagan we allow to slip into our discourse. And you constantly remind us that we have criticized him in the past. You want to embarass us by showing that our respectful deference to your grief is not driven by a genuine love of the man? We talk about the few things we did respect about the man and you question us for it?
I hate these people.
