Baiting liberals for fun and profit!

March 9, 11:41 AMCharlotte Gun Rights ExaminerPaul Valone

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Even after 16 years of political action, I remain stunned by liberals’ capacity for self-delusion. Last week, I wrote “What is your state’s Freedom Index?” detailing a George Mason University study of variables of social and economic freedom in all 50 states.

Using digg.com’s “bury” button – and possibly automated bury scripts -- liberals denied it both popular status and use of the site’s search engine, effectively censoring it. Mind you, this was not a gun-related piece, but rather one on personal freedom. Its burial suggests that those of a collectivist mindset are not at all happy about your independence.

Next, I wrote “FREEDOM: What the left wing of ‘digg’ cannot ‘bury’” which, of course, they promptly buried. No matter: Via digg and elsewhere, several thousand people read it and “dugg” for freedom (364 diggs, at last count; more than enough for the politics front page), as well as complaining to digg about abusive use of the bury button. Not bad for a buried piece.

Now I am going to give them the voice they denied me: Following are some of readers’ comments from digg – not the supportive ones, mind you, but the opposition. (Or at least the rational opposition. Most were unhinged.) Trust me: It is a fascinating insight into the thought processes, such as they are, of quasi-communists.

Liberal responses fall into two broad categories:

• Denying someone a voice isn’t censorship, it is “democracy”; and
• “Hey! This is the Internet! Liberals own it! Conservatives, go away!”

Given the Obama campaign’s reliance on viral marketing via the Internet in the last election, the latter response reminds us that conservatives must seize ground in this relatively new battlefield of ideology.

DISCOURSE WITH THE LEFTIES (their comments, my replies)

deadbaby (no, I’m not making that up): “This is a great example of how the radical right has a twisted view of freedom. Anyone can sign-up for digg and digg something up or down. If the majority of people decide to digg a right leaning story down it's not suppression of free speech. It's democracy.”

FPV: Foreign though the concept may be, “Democracy” is where we have a free and open forum to test our ideas in the court of public opinion. Having heard both sides, people make up their minds. When you “bury” one side’s perspective, denying others the ability to evaluate it, the result is censorship and propaganda.

Niallgriff: “I'll digg what I want and bury what I think is stupid. What you call freedom, I may not, and vice versa. I really miss the days of digg being a tech site...”

FPV: Ignoring, for a moment, your exercise in moral relativism (freedom is the absence of restriction; it isn’t different for different people), I feel your pain. My brother-in-law feels the same way about his native state of California: Before the Birkenstock crowd descended like an occupying force, it was a little like Texas. Now it is best exemplified by the Castro district in San Francisco.

pacerx: “buried for orwellian [sic] usage of language.”

FPV: Given that George presaged a socialist autocracy when he astutely predicted the “Newspeak” we now call “political correctness,” I doubt he would approve.

rossmcd: “On Digg the users have freedom to vote up or down stories. If you want to see more conservative stories either go to a social media site with a more conservative userbase, or go read a news outlet with top-down content control by a conservative editor. You'll probably enjoy Fox news.”

FPV: Given the relative infancy of the Internet, older people more prone to conservative views have been largely locked out by lack of technical proficiency, rendering it a bastion of liberal dominance. Sadly for you, that is become less true as tech-savvy people actually grow up. Well move over, because conservatives are here and we’re here to stay. We don’t want ‘top down content control,’ we want a voice.

DasPainkiller: “It’s sad that so many of my fellow Democrats on Digg bury someone if they express a view different from theirs. That is not what being "Liberal" is about. I don't know the demographics of Digg, but in college, you're taught to examine all viewpoints with as little bias as possible. It's unfortunate that people still have such trivial, childish reactions to words like "Conservative" or "Liberal," or "Communism," not knowing what they mean, and burying them because they evoke an emotion, rather than being part of an academically false or unsound comment.”

FPV: An intellectually honest liberal. Bravo, sir! Bravo! Unfortunately, I’m not sure that is what colleges teach any more.

chialla: “So this is a campaign to end the overuse of the bury button that starts with telling people to bury articles dug by 2 specific users... I'm missing the logic here.”

FPV: Beyond the fact that I didn’t tell anybody to “bury” articles favored by apparent bury-abusers “zomgondo” and “drakoi,” telling someone under attack not to use the same weapons as his assailant is a little like the unilateral nuclear disarmament protests of the Reagan era: It is both utopian and dangerous.

swrostmore: “Huge majorities everywhere disagree with your moronic political opinions...no, that's too simple, it must be a left wing liberul conspiracy to bury your freedums.”

FPV: “Liberul?” “Freedum?” May I suggest that if you don’t know how to spell it, you probably don’t know what it is?

THE ‘VOICE OF TOLERANCE’ IS RARELY TOLERANT

One of my copilots once overheard me on the telephone as I worked a concealed handgun reciprocity bill. As we got to the cockpit, she asked: “I heard a little bit of what you said. Do you do union work?”

“No,” I replied. “I’m afraid I’m one of what Hillary Clinton once called the ‘vast right wing conspiracy.’”

“I’m a Democrat,” she snipped.

“It’s okay: I forgive you,” I smiled.

“I don’t forgive you,” she spat.

“Of course not, dear. The ‘Voice of Tolerance’ is rarely tolerant.”

 

Copyright © F. Paul Valone All rights reserved
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