liz_marcs: Jeff and Annie in Trobed's bathroom during Remedial Chaos Theory (Obama_2008_Progress_Hope)
liz_marcs ([personal profile] liz_marcs) wrote2008-09-08 04:12 pm

A Little Parable About False Witnessing and Malice from the Slacktavist...

The Slacktavist has a little parable about bearing false witness on his blog today that is really a must-read.

It's also pretty clear just who he's talking about in his parable as he tries to explain the fearful, malicious mindset we're seeing coming from the "Obama is reely a sekrit Muslim!" crowd and Palin's vicious acceptance speech, which seemed to be 50% lies. (Oooops! She lied again again! And again!)

And what really confuses the hell out of me is that even after Palin's been caught in several lies over and over again over the past week, she keeps repeating the same damn lies. It's almost like she thinks people are stupid.

The Slacktivist — reporter, progressive, and evangelical Christian — attempts to explain this mindset to us reality-based peoples in today's blog entry. (It's Part 1 of a two-part series.)

Although I am loathe to support his anti-Heinlein theory that one should never attribute to stupidity what can be attributed to malice, since he's more familiar with the kind of mindset that he's targeting I'll take his word for it that the population of people who fall into this category is a whole lot bigger than I'd like to believe.

In the meantime, I still believe that there are some low-information voters out there who just need a few facts.

So, mon amis, I have a list of sites you should bookmark and read on a regular basis so that when you meet a low-information voter who just might believe that Obama's a supah sekrit Muslim bent on killin' whitey (presumably after he raises whitey's taxes), you'll be properly prepared to set them a-right.

[Oh, and for you GOPers out there, you might want to take advantage of these sites, too. No matter what they tell you, the facts do not have a liberal bias. I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die.]

Sites you need to bookmark until at least November 5:

  • PolitiFact, a graphics-heavy, interesting little site from the St. Petersberg Times. Be sure to read the commentary that comes with each of the ratings, because you'll quickly find that something may be technically true (and thus rated as true) while still being a lie.

  • FactCheck.org from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Not flashy, but definitely my fave. So painfully politically neutral that its earnestness rolls off the page.

  • OntheIssues.org, non-partisan guide to the candidates and the issues. Feels a little like it's being held together by chewing gum, spit, and a whole lot of volunteers, but definitely a good way to get a quick snapshot on where all the candidates stand.

  • OpenSecrets.org is where you go when you wanna follow the money in the politics.

  • I'm not a fan of RealClearPolitics because it's got too much opinion and not enough analysis. That said, I'm throwing it out there because it's got a lot of fans.

  • FiveThirtyEight (leans left), Electoral-Vote (leans center-left), Pollster.com (neutral), and Election Projection (leans right) are all excellent sites that help the common voter make sense of polling, the Electoral College, surveys, and how news (and the lack of news) affect polling results from one day to the next. Highly educational whatever your political stripe.





P.S. — Can someone tell me where the summer went? All I know is that one minute it was June 30, and now it's September 8.

Do you realize that I still owe something like 5 people phone calls from the first week in July that I said I'd call? [Tries not to look at [livejournal.com profile] szandara and [livejournal.com profile] kurukami and a handful of other LJ-type people who might not want the general public to know they live near me.]

I swear I meant to call. I did.

But, see, I was kidnapped by this army of ducks while kayaking...



This meeting of the Glorious Duck Revolution shall now come to order. Top of the agenda: How do we get stupid humans to feed us more bread?
[Photo taken while kayaking the Charles River on Sunday, July 27, 2008. (Photo by Lizbeth Marcs)]

[identity profile] ginmar.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
Gah.

1. Nothing wrong with being a Muslim. I served in Iraq, and saw it my own damned self.

2. Obama's issues got nothing to do with his religion.

[identity profile] a2zmom.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
Try telling the vast majority of this country there's nothing wrong with being a Muslin. I am disgusted by the cycle of religious intolerance that is becoming more and more evident every day.

[identity profile] ginmar.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
I will say it, and I'll keep on saying it, till I go hoarse and have to write it out. It's what's right. YOu know what? That's all some of us have left.

I have one advantage and I'll use it: been there, done that, read the Koran and all that. Fuck 'em. This is still what's right.OF course, conservatives don't have any shame when it comes to 'supporting the troops'. Unless you support their positions, you're a commie, pinko, liberal, feminazi, hippie, dyke, whatever. Fine with me. It's got to be said, because people like listening to lies.

I keep remembering the faces of the people I met in Iraq. There was the Box Man, the man who sold inlaid boxes. When he was killed, his brother was like a ghost. There was the cynical informer, who nevertheless tried to save us, and was so badly beaten we took him into US custody even though we couldn't recognize him. There were the women who asked me questions about America, and the little girls who asked me about my headscarf. There were the men who spoke to me about their daughters---and their hopes for them.

I lived in North Minneapolis and we had block parties. One of the regular attendees had six daughters. He fled Saddam to insure their education and safety. I used to sit next to one of them on the bus.

I share your disgust. Let's fight it. Don't give up. Don't give up.

[identity profile] a2zmom.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
You are absolutely right. The truth is the only weapon we have.

[identity profile] rudyhenkel.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
I would instead say that there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim that isn't also wrong with being a Christian.

[identity profile] ginmar.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
Xtians aren't being pulled aside at airport queues, are they? White men have bombed abortion clinics, black churches, gay clubs, etc., etc., for ages and not been labeled terrorists. Timothy McVeigh is not linked up to a vast white wing conspiracy. Muslims are.

[identity profile] rudyhenkel.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
I was not saying that Muslims and Christians are treated the same, or fairly. I was saying that there is nothing *wrong* with *being* a muslim that isn't also wrong with *being* a christian. I'm on your side on this. I think.

[identity profile] ginmar.livejournal.com 2008-09-09 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
In America, Muslims are not the majority. Xtians are. Xtians do love to complain about their persecution, however. It is from this background that my comments come.