A RW-er was just scandalized at an editorial in my local paper (Vienna, VA) that suggested Allen's "macaca" flak was an opportunity to discuss sensitivity and politeness with young people. He wrote:
To the Editor:
Just because news stories are written at the third grade level, doesn't mean editorials need to do the same.
Your editorial ... was, simply put, a joke. First off, the problems:
1. Allen's apology (wasn't) sufficient? Just curious, when is a Republican's apology ever sufficient? Or maybe it wasn't sufficient because you cherry picked his statement.
2. Most children would know that "macaca" is a bad word? Really? I lived overseas for eight years and I've never heard this word before. I doubt you've heard this word before.
Nobody I've talked to has heard this word before. And yet our children supposedly have a intimate (sic) knowledge of a genus of monkeys? Please.
Here's what annoys me most: your double standard. You may not even realize it, but it's transparent. It's worse than transparent.
What about Howard Dean or Joseph Biden's recent stereotyping? I doubt you're even familiar with them. And that's the sad part.
But in the media "bubble," liberals can do no wrong, and Republicans can do no right, even when they apologize time and time again.
How sad.
M.O.
My response:
To the Editor:
M.O's letter is the standard talking-point fritatta that Republicans tend to serve up: half-baked out of a dozen assorted ingredients that usually have little or nothing to do with each other. Those ingredients are:
1. Misreading a story, looking for things to get agitated about. The editorial in question ... wasn't simply excoriating Allen for his misdeed - it was pointing out an opportunity for constructive growth to come out of this debacle. The editorial, of course, acknowledges that Allen did something wrong. Would Mr. O. deny that?
2. Assuming one's own experience is the norm. "I lived overseas for eight years and I've never heard this word before," says Mr. O. But the question is not whether Mr. O. has heard the word - it's whether Allen has heard it. And considering it's a French-African slur and Allen's mother is French Tunisian, I'd say there's reasonable cause to be suspicious.
3. Throwing a hodgepodge of Democrats together like they are one body. "What about Howard Dean or Joseph Biden's recent stereotyping?" he asks. I'm sorry, but what stereotyping has Biden recently been engaged in? I must have missed it. Incidentally, Biden is much more of a centrist than Dean is -- all Democrats cannot be tarred with the same "far-left" brush.
4. Accusing the media of the problem. After seeing what he wants to see in the article, Mr. O. declares that the media is hopelessly liberal. But as a hopeless liberal who never sees what she wants to see, I can tell you that is a fallacy. If the media were truly liberal, there would be story after story about the Able Danger program, about Sibel Edmonds, about the Downing Street Minutes, about Diebold and voter suppression, about the Northern Mariana Islands, about the prewar attempts to remove the United States from the international criminal court (anticipating war crimes yet to be committed) -- about any number of things that simply do not get coverage. Liberal media, my foot.
(name & address)
I hope they print it. I doubt they get tons of letters, so it's a possibility, considering my LttEs are usually published even when they're to big papers.
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