August 21, 2005
Ripped-off...
Thinking a little more about the last post, I predict that Cindy Sheehan is going to be a lot less of a jackpot for Dems than they think. And that's because almost everyone has been a victim of that sort of emotional blackmail sometime in their lives. Everyone of us has had some friend or relative in a crisis, and bent over backwards to accommodate them, to help them, to soothe them, to agree with their views.......and later felt like we were a victim of extortion.
As a tiny example, I once, years ago, wrote a (polite) e-mail disagreeing with another blogger. I noticed she had written a post two weeks previous saying her mother had died. But she hadn't stopped blogging, not at all; she was dishing out criticism by the scoopful. (I don't remember what, but harsh. Evil bagel-munching Neocons working for Oilyburton, or some such.) So I felt free to make my opinion known. What did I get for a reply? "Can't you read! My mother just died! How dare you harass me! Go away!"
Of course I slunk away, but I knew full well I'd been ripped off. (And knew that my point was true. If she had had any substantive rebuttal to make, she would have made it.)
I think a lot of people are uncomfortable with Sheehan (she does not poll very well) but they don't know quite why. But the longer they are exposed to her the more likely they are to remember somebody who had to be coddled during some crisis, and agreed with. And they will remember how it left them with a new appreciation of the bad old days, when people had stiff upper lips, and bit on bullets, and thought about the feelings of others even while on their death-beds.
Posted by John Weidner at August 21, 2005 02:26 PMOh yes, that's a large component of my anti-Cindy ire. I call them "emotional vampires." Having been the target of more than one emotional vampire I can see them coming a mile away. As it is unlikely that her supporters have led a halcyon existence completely free of emotional blackmail from anyone I propose that they are either still in a state of denial that there is anything wrong with it, or they are emotional vampires themselves.
Addendum: emotional vampirism seems to be on the rise these days; in fact, it seems to have almost entirely to have taken over public life. You can't do a damn thing without being accused of hurting someone, somewhere, in some way, and if you protest that it never occurred to you that something so trivial and harmless (like, oh, putting a Nativity scene in a public park during Christmas) would bother any sensible person, get accused of being that new contradictory enemy, an "uncaring hater."
Posted by: Andrea Harris at August 21, 2005 04:02 PMThe Cindy Sheehan spectacle also offends anyone with a sense of fair play.
In the national discourse about security and war, her enabler/puppeteers are cheating. She spouts their neo-Marxist drivel, but is held immune from criticism or rebuttal, due to her 'absolute moral authority'.
Cindy may deserve pity rather than scorn, but her handlers have earned nothing but contempt.
Posted by: lyle at August 21, 2005 04:27 PMIndeed!! This morning I saw that Joan Baez had joined the Sheehan fray, which made me feel uneasy and puzzled since I thought from recent interviews that she'd matured (okay, that's a weighted word - how about changed?). But when I read this emotional blackmail stuff, I realized what had happened. I think many of us are easy preys for those Andrea calls emotional vampires. Maybe we want to make people feel better or something, which is noble I suppose, but EVs are personally and socially dangerous and damaging. I'm mentally looking at many of the past few national escapades through this filter and I think you're all onto something real, important and scary.
Posted by: Anne at August 22, 2005 06:32 AMAndrea's got it right.
Posted by: Xixi at August 22, 2005 08:35 AMUmm, if she's such a drag on the Democrats, can you name any that are out there supporting her?...waiting...waiting...
Now, last time I checked there were no more than 2 or 3 Democrats who've been publically speaking out in support of her. Indeed, if Sheehan's position is to withdraw our soldiers immediately, she is in fact at odds with almost every Democrat in Congress, since most criticize (with cause) the Bushies for totally winning the Iraq war (distinct from the war on terror, which didn't exist in Iraq until AFTER we made it their primary recruiting and training camp) but totally losing the post-war peace. Lack of troops, no quick reconstruction, too much cozy deals with KBR and others who failed to do their jobs, no effort to put down looters (allowing tens of tons of explosives to disappear), no effort to gather up Saddam's WMD experts (as was reported in, I belive, the NYTimes last week - almost 70% of Saddam's nuke scientists have vanished...working for..whom?), disbanding the Army...the list goes on for pages and pages. Now even winger pundits are publically saying enough is enough, and polls now show a clear majority who think the war was a mistake, and who think our troops need to come home, now!
Meanwhile, Bush took his eye off the ball, and allowed Osama to escape in Tora-Bora (US Intel confirms he was there, and we were within days of catching/killing him, except Bush pulled our troops out and turned it over to Afghani militia, who let him go to Pakistan...a nation, FYI, who still openly supports al-Qaeda). So we ended up with the worst of both worlds - the terrorists walking around free, plotting more attacks, and our military being drained and killed in Iraq, who was no threat and didn't attack us, or even provide support to our enemies.
As I've said before - MOST INCOMPETENT PRESIDENCY IN U.S. HISTORY!!!
Posted by: Zoomie at August 24, 2005 05:55 PMI've said it before (well, maybe not here): you've really got to lay off the Oaxaca ditch weed.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at August 25, 2005 03:30 AM"Umm, if she's such a drag on the Democrats, can you name any that are out there supporting her?...waiting...waiting..."
The reason that you don't see any professional Dems (office holders & office seekers) out there supporting her is precisely because our blog host is correct. She IS tainted goods, and the pros can spot that, and steer clear of her. You'll never see her in a photo-op w/ Shrillary or Lurch, whaddaya bet? The only Democrats (if that's even what they are) who want any part of Mrs Sheehan's action is the Lynne Stewart / David Duke / Mike Al-Moore activist types. And you.
