OPINION:
It’s no shocker to say the left, as a whole, needs a good mouth-washing with soap.
As comedian Samantha Bee and her jaw-dropping, C-word-slinging verbal attack on Ivanka Trump shows, there seem two standards at play with public speech, one guiding conservatives, one guiding liberals. And the one basic rule to remember, it seems, is that for liberals, there are no hard-and-fast codes of etiquette, of fair play and common courtesy to abide. So long as they’re responding to some sort of conservative thought or remark or individual, it’s free-for-all-Friday. Anything goes, the more shocking the better.
But it’s not just Republican politicians who are affected by the left’s vicious and vile vocabulary. It’s anyone with conservative leanings who dares post conservative thoughts on social media.
Ask any right-leaning writer, any patriotic speaker, any limited government-minded American who posts on Facebook, Twitter and the rest, and they’ll tell pretty much the same. They’ll tell how the left has gone beyond trolling to try, via hard-core vulgarity, to rip, shame, shred and completely shut down the bearer of the right-leaning views.
Here, a few examples of the left’s idea of rational discourse, from a first-person perspective.
On Facebook, in response to an opinion about Christian conservatism: “Jesus is fake news you right wing prostitute pathetic excuse of a journalist.”
Another leftist message, for a different post: “Stupid Dump supporter that’s all you are.”
Another: “You’re a c—t.”
Another: “I hope you die, you f—ing b—ch.”
This, as social media executives insist their platforms are friendly, welcoming to all, tolerant of various viewpoints.
Right. But laughable as that is, the bigger wonder is why the left would believe such feedback, such rhetoric, is acceptable, or influential to any degree. After all, isn’t the general idea to shape thought, influence thinkers, bring about reform and change? Who’s going to agree and say, ’Why, you’re right, I am a [insert here] and by golly, I’ll vote Democrat next time?”
Ridiculous. But seriously. What’s going on within the liberal minds of America these days that they can’t see the futility of their viciousness?
Here’s a thought: They’re blinded by anger. And their anger comes from the realization they’re losing. Not by just a little. They’re losing big. Moreover, their future political paths are paved with more losses.
Donald Trump won the White House, and that just kills them. Republicans hold the majority in both House and Senate, and that simply baffles and boils them. Conservatives hold the power to make judicial appointments with potential to influence politics and culture for years, decades even, and that just foams their mouths.
And there’s nothing they can do about it but wait for the next election — and, given recent polls, pray. But since prayer’s not the left’s strong point — the Democratic Party, recall, in 2012 voted to remove “God” from its platform — the options for the good progressive-slash-socialist-slash-liberal of society seem a bit limited.
Their options seem to use the media to fight, fight, fight, to try to draw blood from the bodies of as many conservatives as possible, but in a way that distracts from the fact the so-called solutions they offer for societal problems are unworkable and unsustainable for the long term.
So that leaves name-calling.
That leaves slandering and slurring.
That leaves the shock and awe approach of slinging about every vile, vulgar and nasty sentiment that can be imagined and slid into the public sector, via mainstream media, social media, what have you.
CNN wrote in mid-2017: “F-bombs could backfire on Democrats.”
Yes. And so could the fact that liberals in the party don’t have any ideas worth bringing forward on the policy front, so they’re relegated to slinging crudeness and hoping voters don’t notice their absence of ideas.
Their ugly verbal attacks and social media assaults are stupid. But sadly, for them, voters aren’t.
All that’s accomplished by the left’s tossing of vile name-calling at conservatives is to send a message that liberals are unbalanced, uncivilized, uncouth and ultimately, unfit for politics. Every F-bomb against conservatives, every C-word at a Republican, every vicious social media post against a patriotic or constitutional thinker is, in the end, a vote for the GOP.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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