Friday, January 21, 2011

Civil Discourse at Barbara O'Brien's Mahablog

How's that civility thingy going?

Not too well at The Mahablog, it turns out. As we can see at the screencap, Barbara O'Brien
viciously attacks WSJ's James Taranto, who called out the progressive left for its continuing derangement campaign against Sarah Palin. That's just a "small exaggeration," of course.

Biggest Piles

Taranto's piece is here: "Palinoia, the Destroyer: What's Behind the Left's Deranged Hatred."

Taranto's a national treasure. You gotta love this,
from the essay:
For many liberal women, Palin threatens their sexual identity, which is bound up with their politics in a way that it is not for any other group (possibly excepting gays, though that is unrelated to today's topic).

An important strand of contemporary liberalism is feminism. As a label, "feminist" is passé; outside the academic fever swamps, you will find few women below Social Security age who embrace it.

That is because what used to be called feminism--the proposition that women deserve equality before the law and protection from discrimination--is almost universally accepted today ....

To the extent that "feminism" remains controversial, it is because of the position it takes on abortion: not just that a woman should have the "right to choose," but that this is a matter over which reasonable people cannot disagree--that to favor any limitations on the right to abortion, or even to acknowledge that abortion is morally problematic, is to deny the basic dignity of women.

To a woman who has internalized this point of view, Sarah Palin's opposition to abortion rights is a personal affront, and a deep one. It doesn't help that Palin lives by her beliefs. To the contrary, it intensifies the offense.
He hits the bullseye so directly (if I may use that metaphor) that Barbara O'Brien just can't continue:
Anyway, I didn’t get past the sentence about sexual identity ...
That's gold.

Barbara obviously can't handle the truth. Her progressive sensibilities immediately erect a cognitive road block preventing comprehension that, oh noes!, Taranto's got her number!

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