What
The
Hell
Just
Happened?


No, seriously. I spend a day away from the computer to brush up on my GTA3 skills, and all of a sudden I end up with a monster discussion/argument/holy war in my comments section between Henry Hanks (whose continued reading of my website mystifies me in some respects) and jesse.

For those who didn't read it, it was between jesse (who argues that the right overpowers and namecalls the left in debate) and Hank (who thinks that it goes all ways on all sides.) Obviously, I come down on jesse's side, but Hank has a point. There are people on the left who engage in that sort of silly shit, but they're far outnumbered on the right, and the right has a number of bully pulpits (most notoriously talk radio) where they can feel free to say and do pretty much whatever they wish with the knowledge that they don't have to worry about offending listeners (which would check any weak "liberal bias" on behalf of the mainstream media, if such a thing existed) or about being simply ignored and/or misrepresented by the actions of others (which tends to happen to academics.)

It isn't just numbers, or degree, or reach: it's the combination of numbers, degree, reach, and the willingness to use all of these to put out a concerted message that seperates the right's "mighty wurlitzer" and any valid accusations of hostility and "namecalling" on the left. The right has an efficient machine with which it can find, attack, degrade, overpower, overwhelm, and eventually simply walk over people or ideas that might be a threat to it. If the left had anything like that, there wouldn't be protestors. They wouldn't be necessary.