{"id":20077,"date":"2011-01-16T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2011-01-16T05:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fryeblog.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca\/?p=20077"},"modified":"2011-01-16T00:00:18","modified_gmt":"2011-01-16T05:00:18","slug":"the-week-that-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/","title":{"rendered":"The Week that Was"},"content":{"rendered":"

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2tTDiZZYCAs<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Giffords warns Sarah Palin by name month<\/em>s ago about the “consequences” of using gun-violence imagery.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting that in the course of just a few days a number of influential organs on the right have gone from vehemently denying that unrelentingly violent rhetoric had anything to do with events in Tucson, to just as vigorously promoting the notion that the right has been violated by denunciation of that rhetoric.\u00a0 In the first instance, words do no harm.\u00a0 In the second, every word is, according to Sarah Palin, a \u201cblood libel,\u201d and now, according to an editorial in the Washington Times<\/a>, \u201ca pogrom.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 (The fact that a “pogrom” is the violent consequence<\/em> of a “blood libel” seems to have eluded those who are otherwise purveyors of word-to-violence denial when the targets are their adversaries.)\u00a0 Here\u2019s a sample from that editorial bearing the title “Blood libel against Palin and Limbaugh”:<\/p>\n

This is simply the latest round of an ongoing pogrom against conservative thinkers. The last two years have seen a proliferation of similar baseless charges of racism, sexism, bigotry, Islamophobia and inciting violence against those on the right who have presented ideas at odds with the establishment’s liberal orthodoxy. Columnist Paul Krugman<\/a> took advantage of the murders to tar conservative icon Rush Limbaugh and Fox News superstar Glenn Beck<\/a> as “hate-mongers” . . .<\/p>\n

This tragedy has provided a useful warning about the hateful bile that inspires many of today’s liberals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The absurdity and irresponsibility displayed here is so extensive that it sets its own low standard.\u00a0 The tragic history of the Jewish people is now being appropriated by extraordinarily powerful and privileged interests for the purpose of rendering themselves<\/em> victims \u2013 victims of\u00a0 the free speech they seem to think can only be protected through repeated threats of gun play.\u00a0 This is an unmistakable pattern of behaviour on the right: they are never wrong and they are always the victims.<\/p>\n

So which is it?\u00a0 Do words mean nothing or do they mean something?\u00a0 Do they have consequences or not?\u00a0 For the right, it seems that words have no ill consequence when mendaciously barked and bellowed in order to drown out dialogue, but that they must be rigorously suppressed when rendering criticism of the barking and bellowing and the demonstrable presence of lies.\u00a0 As is usually the case, only those on the right have the right to express an opinion.\u00a0 Their opinions, moreover, are quickly asserted to be fact, and their facts are of course the only ones that matter.\u00a0 One of the maneuvers required this week to make Palin the victim of events was the contemptible assertion that the rifle crosshairs appearing in her campaign graphics were in fact “surveyor’s symbols.”\u00a0 As Bob Denham pointed out this week, every single reference to them by Sarah Palin during the midterm election campaign is consistent with the assumption that they are crosshairs, not surveyor’s symbols.\u00a0 The lies by this point are apparently a conditioned reflex.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the measure of all this?\u00a0 Last week a Democratic congresswoman was shot in the head and six innocent bystanders murdered in a congressional district that had been specifically targeted with gun-violence rhetoric by both Sarah Palin and Tea Party candidate Jesse Kelly; by the end of the week, however, the chief point of contention on the right was that Sarah Palin is the real victim of the carnage.\u00a0 This is horrific.\u00a0 It is the moral sinkhole into which much of the right is descending. But it is also a template for what is quickly becoming the new normal.\u00a0 It’s difficult to think of any reason why anyone should think that this is acceptable \u2013 except those who have committed themselves to intimidating people to whom they have decided in advance the right of free speech does not apply.\u00a0 The best response, therefore, is to continue to exercise that right, whatever the shouters are threatening next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2tTDiZZYCAs Gabrielle Giffords warns Sarah Palin by name months ago about the “consequences” of using gun-violence imagery. It\u2019s interesting that in the course of just a few days a number of influential organs on the right have gone from vehemently denying that unrelentingly violent rhetoric had anything to do with events in Tucson, to just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-current-events"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Week that Was - The Educated Imagination<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Week that Was - The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2tTDiZZYCAs Gabrielle Giffords warns Sarah Palin by name months ago about the “consequences” of using gun-violence imagery. It\u2019s interesting that in the course of just a few days a number of influential organs on the right have gone from vehemently denying that unrelentingly violent rhetoric had anything to do with events in Tucson, to just […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-16T05:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Happy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Happy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Happy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95\"},\"headline\":\"The Week that Was\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-16T05:00:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/\"},\"wordCount\":663,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"America\",\"Current Events\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/\",\"name\":\"The Week that Was - The Educated Imagination\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-16T05:00:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Week that Was\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\",\"name\":\"The Educated Imagination\",\"description\":\"A Website Dedicated to Northrop Frye\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95\",\"name\":\"Michael Happy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Happy\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/michaelhappy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Week that Was - The Educated Imagination","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2011\/01\/16\/the-week-that-was\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Week that Was - The Educated Imagination","og_description":"httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2tTDiZZYCAs Gabrielle Giffords warns Sarah Palin by name months ago about the “consequences” of using gun-violence imagery. 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