Thudfactor

Along the same lines as my post on The Golden Compass is a recent post at FireDogLake about the Republican YouTube debate. In case you’ve missed it, a lot of right-wing bloggers are mad because people who were apparently not Republicans were allowed to ask questions. Of course, Democrats got the same treatment at their own debate. Jane Hamsher highlights the difference:

When the Democratic YouTube debates were broadcast, we were delighted by the fact that candidates were being asked honest and tough questions by real people, including right wing gun nuts. Nobody complained, we were happy that the questions weren’t being asked by media hogs who had their own agenda (see Russert, Tim). The fact that the Republicans could not stand up to that kind of discussion, which did not take place within their hermetically sealed world view, was something people predicted at the time. Last night’s embarrassment came not because of liberal questions, but rather because the GOP has an exceptionally poor lineup pandering to an extreme, delusional minority. [ Honest Criticism vs. Right Wing Bullying ]

The right wing — including the current administration — is simply afraid of facing people who have different opinions. Bush pushes demonstrators out of site, staffers pose as secret service members to screen political event audience members and remove the insufficiently loyal, and start calling for people’s jobs when opinions other than theirs are expressed.

During last night’s debate, which CNN billed as “a Republican debate, and the goal was to let Republican voters see their candidates,” CNN either knowingly or incompetently allowed hardcore left wing activists to plant questions and Anderson Cooper willingly gave one of those activists a soapbox so he could harass the Republican candidates about military policy.

Simple googling would have revealed these left wing activists. [ RedState.com email cited in Honest Criticism vs. Right Wing Bullying" ]

“Hardcore leftwing activists” — an interesting phrase from a site called “RedState,” don’t you think? Right-wing activism, that’s acceptable. Right wing activism in a Democratic debate — that’s acceptable. Someone from the left asking a question? Heads should roll!

Ooo, wait. That’s actually a quote:

Had CNN done its homework, this would not have happened. They either willfully let it happen, or incompetently bungled it. Either way, heads should roll. [ RedState.com email cited in Honest Criticism vs. Right Wing Bullying" ]

We prefer to engage substantively on substantive issues. But the noise coming out of the right is less about discussing issues and more about maintaining ideological purity by ensuring it’s never tested by exposure to outside opinion.

Why do they do this? Again, it’s because in order for your arguments and beliefs to be able to withstand other opinions you have to be able to think critically. And critical thinking interferes with — in fact overwhelms — slavish devotion to anything. And the hard right depends on slavish devotion; critical thinking is its greatest enemy.