This is an op-ed I wrote on another political site two years ago to the day.
__________________________________________________________
June 14, 2011
Over the past handful of days, I have witnessed a spike of hatred and animosity towards Sarah Palin, I have witnessed people treating her like a villain, an extremist, or uneducated and stupid. All because of the majorly left leaning media outlets such as CNN, NBC, ABC and MSNBC. When the state of Alaska released 24,000 pages of her e-mails three days ago, groups of journalists flew to Juneau to dig up dirt on the former governor. So far they have found none, except her unwavering dedication to her family, her former job as Governor, as well as her extreme distrust of the main stream media, and the genuine love of her country.
It was only after Republican Presidential nominee John McCain tabbed her to run for vice-president on the GOP ticket in 2008, that the media (along with droves of people on the left), who were supposedly tired and weary from eight years of Republicans in the White House; began subjecting Palin to relentless assaults on her character and credentials. What were assaults turned into full fledged persecution of her person.
In 2009, amidst many lawsuits accusing her of committing ethics violations while Governor, she resigned from office to escape the bile and vitriol that the political world had flung in her direction, people called her a coward for doing it, people called her unreliable for resigning only halfway through her term. She was quoted as saying that she was unable to serve the people of Alaska, while being unmercifully scrutinized by her political opponents. After being put on trial for these allegations, her name was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.
She was forced to pay for her own defense out of her own pocket, which spurred her to write her book, "Going Rogue: An American life" that proceeded to make the New York Times number one bestseller list. Yet somehow, people still continued to attack her and her family.
In February of 2010, the producers of Fox network's comedy Family Guy were forced to apologize after airing an episode that made fun of Palin's son, Trig for having down syndrome. Sarah Palin was on the record as saying that the episode was a "kick in the gut". She then went on to label the episode as distasteful and denigrating to those with intellectual impairments. It also prompted her daughter, Bristol to release this statement on February 16th, the day after the episode was aired:
"If the writers of a particularly pathetic cartoon show thought they were being clever in mocking my brother and my family yesterday, they failed. All they proved is that they're heartless jerks."
Now, lets fast forward to this year, 2011.
In January, she, along with the whole of the Republican party; were falsely accused by the Democrats of supporting and in some way setting in motion the tragedy in which Jared Lee Loughner severely injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords, and fatally gunned down six others during a killing spree that took place in the parking lot of a supermarket in Tuscon, Arizona.
As recently as last week, the media was eager to call her down for a misstatement she allegedly made about Paul Revere, when she was quoted as saying that he had warned the British of an impending attack by colonial forces at Concord during his interrogation by British troops. She was later proven right by multiple sources. Albeit, speculation still continues despite the refutation of her statement.
It has been three years since the 2008 presidential elections, however, there seems to be no signs of anyone letting up on their assaults on her. Her family, her past, and her intelligence are still under the microscope. Whether it be people on the left, or on the right, people no longer see her as a human being like themselves, just a political opponent to be attacked and denigrated.
People such as ourselves would snap under the superhuman stress and immense scrutiny that she has been exposed to for the past three years. Yet some of us continue to act as if we are somehow superior to her in some fashion, or as if putting her down or insulting her will garner popularity amongst our cliques and political circles.
Who are we to judge a person as a failure? Who are we to set standards, when we so frequently fail to meet our own? How is it fair to me, you, or someone like Sarah Palin? Do we now judge a man or a woman by their beliefs instead of their works? Who are we to draw conclusions about a person?
All of these things have driven me to surmise that politics have severely divided us as a nation, where we no longer see someone as a human being, but instead a Liberal, a Conservative, an Independent or a Libertarian. Where we no longer see each other as equals, but enemies. In other words, we only attack those who do not share the same political beliefs as we do, and we will do everything in our power to keep doing it, in a nation where we now see our fellow countrymen as subhuman or not even human at all.
__________________________________________________________
June 14, 2011
Over the past handful of days, I have witnessed a spike of hatred and animosity towards Sarah Palin, I have witnessed people treating her like a villain, an extremist, or uneducated and stupid. All because of the majorly left leaning media outlets such as CNN, NBC, ABC and MSNBC. When the state of Alaska released 24,000 pages of her e-mails three days ago, groups of journalists flew to Juneau to dig up dirt on the former governor. So far they have found none, except her unwavering dedication to her family, her former job as Governor, as well as her extreme distrust of the main stream media, and the genuine love of her country.
It was only after Republican Presidential nominee John McCain tabbed her to run for vice-president on the GOP ticket in 2008, that the media (along with droves of people on the left), who were supposedly tired and weary from eight years of Republicans in the White House; began subjecting Palin to relentless assaults on her character and credentials. What were assaults turned into full fledged persecution of her person.
In 2009, amidst many lawsuits accusing her of committing ethics violations while Governor, she resigned from office to escape the bile and vitriol that the political world had flung in her direction, people called her a coward for doing it, people called her unreliable for resigning only halfway through her term. She was quoted as saying that she was unable to serve the people of Alaska, while being unmercifully scrutinized by her political opponents. After being put on trial for these allegations, her name was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.
She was forced to pay for her own defense out of her own pocket, which spurred her to write her book, "Going Rogue: An American life" that proceeded to make the New York Times number one bestseller list. Yet somehow, people still continued to attack her and her family.
In February of 2010, the producers of Fox network's comedy Family Guy were forced to apologize after airing an episode that made fun of Palin's son, Trig for having down syndrome. Sarah Palin was on the record as saying that the episode was a "kick in the gut". She then went on to label the episode as distasteful and denigrating to those with intellectual impairments. It also prompted her daughter, Bristol to release this statement on February 16th, the day after the episode was aired:
"If the writers of a particularly pathetic cartoon show thought they were being clever in mocking my brother and my family yesterday, they failed. All they proved is that they're heartless jerks."
Now, lets fast forward to this year, 2011.
In January, she, along with the whole of the Republican party; were falsely accused by the Democrats of supporting and in some way setting in motion the tragedy in which Jared Lee Loughner severely injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords, and fatally gunned down six others during a killing spree that took place in the parking lot of a supermarket in Tuscon, Arizona.
As recently as last week, the media was eager to call her down for a misstatement she allegedly made about Paul Revere, when she was quoted as saying that he had warned the British of an impending attack by colonial forces at Concord during his interrogation by British troops. She was later proven right by multiple sources. Albeit, speculation still continues despite the refutation of her statement.
It has been three years since the 2008 presidential elections, however, there seems to be no signs of anyone letting up on their assaults on her. Her family, her past, and her intelligence are still under the microscope. Whether it be people on the left, or on the right, people no longer see her as a human being like themselves, just a political opponent to be attacked and denigrated.
People such as ourselves would snap under the superhuman stress and immense scrutiny that she has been exposed to for the past three years. Yet some of us continue to act as if we are somehow superior to her in some fashion, or as if putting her down or insulting her will garner popularity amongst our cliques and political circles.
Who are we to judge a person as a failure? Who are we to set standards, when we so frequently fail to meet our own? How is it fair to me, you, or someone like Sarah Palin? Do we now judge a man or a woman by their beliefs instead of their works? Who are we to draw conclusions about a person?
All of these things have driven me to surmise that politics have severely divided us as a nation, where we no longer see someone as a human being, but instead a Liberal, a Conservative, an Independent or a Libertarian. Where we no longer see each other as equals, but enemies. In other words, we only attack those who do not share the same political beliefs as we do, and we will do everything in our power to keep doing it, in a nation where we now see our fellow countrymen as subhuman or not even human at all.
Last edited:
