Scott Tibbs
Celebrating death is bad. So is wishing for death.
By Scott Tibbs, September 5, 2019
There was a really good observation
on Twitter on August 23 that is worth repeating, especially after the
"counter-trolling" directed at the people dancing on David Koch's grave:
Awful human group #1 is yelling at awful human group #2 for hoping RBG dies even though two hours ago awful human group #1 was cheering the death of David Koch, a guy who donated 150 million dollars to the cancer research center who just treated RBG. Twitter is just awful.
And this is modern politics, especially on social media. It has been this way since we started debating politics on the Internet. I remember getting some pretty vicious attacks as far back as 1996. And while politics has always been a blood sport since before this nation existed, there was a time in American politics (before the Internet) where this sort of openly gleeful celebrations of someone's death or openly gleeful wishing for someone's death was frowned upon in public discussions. But people who hide behind pseudonyms like cowards do not need to worry about real-world backlash.
Apologists for this trolling by the right would object:
"But the radical Left's behavior is evil! They must be exposed! We must fight back!" And yes, that is true. But when you are laughingly retweeting or sharing depraved memes that are the mirror image of what the Left is doing, how are you fighting back? Becoming the enemy is not the way to fight them.
Do you want to "fight back" against the people celebrating Koch's death? Then expose their behavior. Call on your elected officials to take a position, forcing them to denounce or support. Register voters. Support conservative candidates. Explain why conservative policies maximize individual liberty while helping society, while socialist policies are harmful. Expose bad behavior and dishonest rhetoric. Lobby for conservative legislation at the national, state and local level. Stop being terrified of the word "liar" or opposing the word through some misguided principle.
I honestly care far less about radical Leftists dancing on Koch's grave than so-called "conservatives" gleefully anticipating Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death. I think the conservatives are worse precisely because we are supposed to know better. There are many ways we can fight back without becoming the same as those we are fighting against. Because when "conservatives" become the same as the radical Left, what exactly have we "won" here? We have won nothing and compromised everything to get there.
"Own the Libs" is not a philosophy worth pursuing.
Opinion Archives
E-mail Scott
Scott's Links
About the Author
ConservaTibbs.com