Unbridled liberalism is Sometimes Just Plain Stupid
For those not familiar with the work of Jill Nelson, let me just explain that she's MSNBC's contribution to retarded wishful thinking. She has a lot to say, and it's usually dead wrong. Anyway, her latest diatribe actually had be laughing out loud. Here are some excerpts with my own interjected editorializing.
Over the past 14 months, Americans have struggled to figure out how to live with the reality of past terrororism and the possibility of future attacks. It's sad to say that after all this time, the best the Bush administration, most of our elected officials, and too many average citizens have come up with to exorcise our own terror is to wreak it on someone else. Welcome to the tyranny of the terrorized.
Actually, I haven't really been struggling at all. I wake up. I go to work. I bitch. I complain. I go out on the weekends. I enjoy pretty much everything my limited finances have to offer. The thought of future attacks really isn't a huge concern for me. Granted, I don't live in New York, where the towers fell and paranoia must run rampant, but I'm pretty well aware that terror on American soil is sort of a difficult trick to pull off, considering we've been terror-free pretty much since 9/11. But, hey, if Jill wants to feel terrorized, I guess that's her business.
TODAY THE NO. 1 candidates for this terror transference are Saddam Hussein of Iraq and alleged D.C.-area snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. The president tells us that we can quell our national terror by taking pre-emptive action against Iraq. This is the classic bully mentality: Get them before they even think about getting us. John Ashcroft, the right-wing attorney general, manipulates the system in order to try Malvo, a juvenile, first in Virginia because that state executes minors. Does the state-authorized killing of a profoundly damaged, manipulated, misguided 17-year-old kid — or anyone else for that matter — really wash our collective terror away?
Okay, did everyone catch what Jill is doing here? She's making the argument that prosecuting a demented sniper and making war on Iraq are attempts to take our minds off terrorism and make us feel safer. Riiggghhht <-- insert Dr. Evil inflection here. In actuality, we're prosecuting a 17-year old because he randomly shot innocent people from the trunk of a modified automobile. That has nothing to do with terror and everything to do with common sense.
Of course, Jill's biggest gripe is that the death sentence is being sought for Malvo, as if being 17-years old somehow makes his actions excusable. Oh, wait, I guess he's "profoundly damaged, manipulated, and misguided." Well, hello, so am I. But, you don't see me popping a round into a Ponderosa patron. You see, Malvo is what I refer to as "a coldhearted killer." I don't care that he's 17. When I was 17, you better believe I knew the value of human life. Actually, that realization set in when I was a lot younger, when I dealt with the reality of a neighbor killed by a drunk driver. I was maybe seven or eight, and I knew that I missed him and that his death was wrong. So, don't go telling me that Malvo was damaged, or manipulated, or misguided. He killed people, innocent people, and he knew he was killing innocent people, and I see no reason why we can't extend to him the same courtesy.
Seriously, how much difference is there between being 17 and 18? 365 days? One stinking year? Jill wants to hold up Malvo's age as some sort of shield. Puh-lease. Take note of how she skillfully refers to Malvo as a "child" in the next passage. That's like saying Methusala was "over the hill."
It's also been declared irrelevant to point out that Lee Boyd Malvo is a child who was clearly inappropriately influenced by his 41-year-old "pretend father" John Muhammad. Forced exercise, a diet of crackers and honey, months spent homeless and on the road — this is how this kid lived during the months leading up to the killing spree. And yet we show him no mercy or compassion. Instead, the attorney general, the man who's supposed to impartially uphold the laws of the land, publicly shops for the state most likely to convict and sentence to death a screwed-up teen-ager. In fact, Ashcroft leads us in the disturbing national chant of kill, kill, kill.
I didn't hear that chant. Did you? It has a good beat, and I can dance to it. "And a one, and a two, and a kill, kill, kill." I love how Ms. Nelson provides a laundry list of how Malvo was "abused" -- a diet of crackers and honey, months spent homeless and on the road, exercise. Oh, the shame of it all! We should all pitch in and give this young man a house! Oh, wait, he shot and killed people at gas stations. Never mind.
I am ashamed by the glee with which government officials and talking heads virtually lick their lips over the prospect of executing a 17-year-old while they simultaneously fight gun control and embrace the rabid NRA. But more than ashamed, I'm saddened to realize that the dream of a Democratic America doesn't stand a chance against the tyranny of the terrorized. We've become a nation of people who, like children playing a game of hot potato, seem to believe we can escape terror by passing it on to others. In this country, whose leaders are so fond of praising the teachings of Jesus, whatever happened to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"?
It's tough to poke holes in a good Jesus quote, but let's reverse the equation a tad. Do you think the golden rule was bouncing around in Malvo's head when he pulled the trigger that utimately snuffed out the life of an unwary FBI agent? I say do unto Malvo as he did unto the FBI agent.
Tyra Banks. Tyra Banks. Tyra Banks. Tyra Banks. Tyra Banks. females/tyra_banks/tyra_banks_01.jpg">Tyra Banks. Tyra Banks nude.
Posted by Ryan at November 15, 2002 01:02 PM
Stumble It!
