Hysteria of the Left

[Bonnie]

The left and hysteria
Dennis Prager
September 27, 2005

If you want to understand the Left, the best place to start is with an understanding of hysteria. Leading leftists either use hysteria as a political tactic or are actually hysterics.

Take almost any subject the Left discusses and you will find hysteria.

The Patriot Act: According to leftist spokesmen and groups, the Patriot Act is a grave threat to liberty and democracy. It is frequently likened to the tactics of a fascist state. This is pure hysteria. The Los Angeles Times recently published statistics concerning the use of the Act. Through 2004, of the 7,136 complaints to the Justice Department's inspector general, one was related to the Patriot Act. The number of "sneak and peek" warrants, allowing searches without telling a subject, totaled 155. The number of roving wiretaps was 49, and the number of personal records seizures under Section 215 of the Act was 35.

The war in Iraq: It is not enough for leftist opponents of the war to argue that the war is a mistake, was initiated due to faulty intelligence, or is being poorly prosecuted. Rather they charge that President Bush lied, that the war was waged for Halliburton, and that America is engaged in a criminal and imperialist enterprise. Each charge is a form of hysteria.

Risks to health: Not everyone who believes the hysterical claims of danger made about secondhand smoke, baby formula, dodgeball or Bextra is on the Left. But the Left leads the country in hysteria over dangers to health. That is why leftist organizations are generally incapable of merely saying that something is unhealthy. The danger must be described as the killer of hundreds of thousands and often be ascribed to some murderous corporate conspiracy.

Environment: More people may be attacked by aardvarks in any given year than visit the remote and frozen region of Alaska known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). It is the home, however, of vast oil reserves and many caribou. Good people can differ on whether or not to drill for oil there. But the rhetoric of the Left is hysterical. Listening to leftist organizations one would think that drilling would bring no benefit to America and would render the caribou virtually extinct. None of this is true. It is all drama.

Likewise there is largely hysteria over global warming and the charge that man -- especially Homo Americanus -- is the cause of it. The great number of scientists who claim that we are in a normal warming period or in no major weather change at all are ignored. Only the most hysterical scenarios are offered by the Left. Witness the reasons given for Hurricane Katrina. Yet even The New York Times reported that scientists are virtually unanimous in denying that the hurricane has anything to do with global warming.

Animal rights: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the living embodiment of hysteria. Take their program "Holocaust on your plate," which equates barbecuing chickens with the cremating of the Jews in the Holocaust. It is one thing to be concerned about chickens' welfare, but only hysterics compare eating them with the slaughter of a people.

Racism: There is no worse charge than racism. Acting hatefully toward people because of their skin color is among the most vile acts a person can engage in. Yet the Left throws that charge around as if it were the essence of the American people (which, come to think of it, is what many on the Left believe). Most of the time, however, the charge of racism -- such as when it is directed at opponents of race-based affirmative action -- is just another example of hysteria.

Christianity: Most on the Left really believe that this country is on the verge of a theocracy because George W. Bush is an evangelical Christian, because the words "under God" are still in the Pledge of Allegiance, and because most Americans don't think marriage ought to be redefined.

Other examples abound. America neglects its poor, beats up its gays, oppresses its women, fouls its environment, ignores its children's educations, denies blacks their votes, and invades other countries for corporate profits: These are common accusations of the Left.

No event is free of leftist hysteria. On the third day after Katrina, civil rights activist Randall Robinson reported that blacks in New Orleans were resorting to cannibalism. Indeed, most of the news media coverage bordered on the hysterical. Not to mention the hysterical predictions of 10,000-plus dead in New Orleans.

None of this is to deny that the Right also gets hysterical. Some right-wing reactions to immigration and Terry Schiavo provide such examples.

But the irony in all of this is that the Left sees itself as the side that thinks intellectually and non-emotionally. And that is hysterical.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/printdp20050927.shtml

 

[The ClayTaurus]

"Hysteria" is the same thing as fear, and it's not a left or a right thing.

The left will have you thinking every black is discriminated against while the right will have you thinking the entire world is out to get you. It's all sensationalism, and it sells well.

The media is really the culprit in this area, if they didn't feed these fear monsters...

 

[Bonnie]

"Hysteria" is the same thing as fear, and it's not a left or a right thing.

The left will have you thinking every black is discriminated against while the right will have you thinking the entire world is out to get you. It's all sensationalism, and it sells well.

The media is really the culprit in this area, if they didn't feed these fear monsters...

What are your thoughts on the differences of the two protests that took place in DC this weekend????

 

[theHawk]

It seems like the left takes their stand on issues soley for the purpose of opposing the right, not for logical reasons.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

I guess I'm not seeing the point you're trying to make? Is it that the left/socialist/commie protest was more outrageous and crazed then the right protest? Was it that the right protest got no media coverage but the left did?

I'd say any protest AGAINST something is going to be more kooky and full of more crazies then any protest in support of something. And, as a result, media coverage will always flock to the psychos first. It sells well.

The left is full of hysteria. Absolutely. The right won the last election by scaring the shit out of everyone. It's all the same root emotion, the right just capitalizes off of it better than the left.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

It seems like the left takes their stand on issues soley for the purpose of opposing the right, not for logical reasons.

That's true of partisan politics in general.

 

[theHawk]

The right won the last election by scaring the shit out of everyone. It's all the same root emotion, the right just capitalizes off of it better than the left.

Another generalization of the right. I know I didn't vote the way I did because I was scarred shitless by the right. If anything, I voted the way I did because I was scarred shitless by what the lefties would do if in power.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Another generalization of the right. I know I didn't vote the way I did because I was scarred shitless by the right. If anything, I voted the way I did because I was scarred shitless by what the lefties would do if in power.

You made my point for me.

 

[Bonnie]

I guess I'm not seeing the point you're trying to make? Is it that the left/socialist/commie protest was more outrageous and crazed then the right protest? Was it that the right protest got no media coverage but the left did?

I'd say any protest AGAINST something is going to be more kooky and full of more crazies then any protest in support of something. And, as a result, media coverage will always flock to the psychos first. It sells well.

The left is full of hysteria. Absolutely. The right won the last election by scaring the shit out of everyone. It's all the same root emotion, the right just capitalizes off of it better than the left.

Im asking what your impressions of both protests were?

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Im asking what your impressions of both protests were?

I'm not there, so I wouldn't know first hand.

Judging from the coverage I've seen, it would appear that every left protester is insane and concerned more with a clever bit to get on TV than with the actual protest. The right seems mostly mild-mannered and chomping at the bit to debate any of the left protesters.

But when Sheehan was down in Texas, you had people running over symbolic grave sites in their pick-up trucks and guys shooting their rifles in the air saying they were going "dove hunting."

There are fanatics everywhere, and the media is flocking to them in DC right now. What news producer can resist some college student dressed up as Bush drinking oil and being pupeteered by his buddy in a Cheney costume?

 

[dmp]

...every left protester is insane

That's the truest statement you've made on this board, brother.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

That's the truest statement you've made on this board, brother.

You should get in on the other discussion about how the left always takes things out of context, brother.

 

[Bonnie]

I'm not there, so I wouldn't know first hand.

Judging from the coverage I've seen, it would appear that every left protester is insane and concerned more with a clever bit to get on TV than with the actual protest. The right seems mostly mild-mannered and chomping at the bit to debate any of the left protesters.

But when Sheehan was down in Texas, you had people running over symbolic grave sites in their pick-up trucks and guys shooting their rifles in the air saying they were going "dove hunting."

There are fanatics everywhere, and the media is flocking to them in DC right now. What news producer can resist some college student dressed up as Bush drinking oil and being pupeteered by his buddy in a Cheney costume?

Okay my impressions were, (and Im astounded I even have any thoughts on the pro troop march considering they got just about zero coverage by the media, which is a whole other issue) the pro troop rally was made up of well mannered, fairly level headed people, some of which had sons and daughters in the military who stayed on their message, yes there probably were a few kooks there as well, but by an large a very peaceful, respectfull, rally. And you pretty well sumned up the anti-war protest.

That's my point.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Okay my impressions were, (and Im astounded I even have any thoughts on the pro troop march considering they got just about zero coverage by the media, which is a whole other issue) the pro troop rally was made up of well mannered, fairly level headed people, some of which had sons and daughters in the military who stayed on their message, yes there probably were a few kooks there as well, but by an large a very peaceful, respectfull, rally. And you pretty well sumned up the anti-war protest.

That's my point.

Your point is well taken.

The idiots on TV aren't anti-war protesters, they're trend hoppers. It's "cool" to protest things. Plus you get on TV. Everyone tries to 1 up each other by making the most clever sign. If media didn't feed all of this by giving someone with a "Mad Cowboy Disease" sign his 15 minutes of fame, this protest would never happen.

My point is, those people aren't a good representation of people who have reasonable problems with the war. They're in it for the trendiness of it.

 

[Bonnie]

Your point is well taken.

The idiots on TV aren't anti-war protesters, they're trend hoppers. It's "cool" to protest things. Plus you get on TV. Everyone tries to 1 up each other by making the most clever sign. If media didn't feed all of this by giving someone with a "Mad Cowboy Disease" sign his 15 minutes of fame, this protest would never happen.

My point is, those people aren't a good representation of people who have reasonable problems with the war. They're in it for the trendiness of it.

Fair enough, about 150.000 or so they claim were there to be trendy. How about the leaders and speakers who were sounding even more insane than the marchers? I think there is quite a large disparity between the two groups.

 

[dmp]

You should get in on the other discussion about how the left always takes things out of context, brother.

That one isn't as much fun.

 

[dmp]

Your point is well taken.

The idiots on TV aren't anti-war protesters, they're trend hoppers. It's "cool" to protest things. Plus you get on TV. Everyone tries to 1 up each other by making the most clever sign. If media didn't feed all of this by giving someone with a "Mad Cowboy Disease" sign his 15 minutes of fame, this protest would never happen.

My point is, those people aren't a good representation of people who have reasonable problems with the war. They're in it for the trendiness of it.

Brother, I'm telling you... GO VISIT an Anti-War protest. I bet you'll find 90% of those in attendance are the "mad-cow liberals", compared to about "Pro-Troops" rallies where maybe 10% are the "Nerve-Agent" right-wingers.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Fair enough, about 150.000 or so they claim were there to be trendy. How about the leaders and speakers who were sounding even more insane than the marchers? I think there is quite a large disparity between the two groups.

I grant the speakers and leaders are crazy, the people getting all the media coverage are trendsetters. There may be people there who are genuine and thoughtful about their critiques of the war, but just like the right protest gets no coverage, neither will they. I still believe most of the reasonable dissenters didn't even show up. It's called a day job. Hippies.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Brother, I'm telling you... GO VISIT an Anti-War protest. I bet you'll find 90% of those in attendance are the "mad-cow liberals", compared to about "Pro-Troops" rallies where maybe 10% are the "Nerve-Agent" right-wingers.

You can bet me all you want, but unless you're there you're just speculating.

 

[dmp]

You can bet me all you want, but unless you're there you're just speculating.

I'm not speculating - i've been to pro-troop rallies.