Pharyngula writes:
The right wingers are insane. First Glenn Reynolds solemnly equates leftists with Islamofascists, then the loons at PowerLine accuse Carter of treason. Where they aren’t slandering, they’re lying: Brit Hume distorts Roosevelt’s words on Social Security to imply the exact opposite of what FDR intended. Now take a look at what Michael Bérubé has found: the wretched Horowitz’s “Discover the Network” page. There is something seriously deranged about someone who will lump Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama with the Ayatollah Khomeini and Mohammed Atta, Dennis Kucinich with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
We aren’t responding to this kind of crap strongly enough. These people aren’t just clowns saying stupid things that we should laugh off, they are fascists-in-the-making laying the groundwork for not just marginalizing those they disagree with, but treating them as criminals.
Professor Myers wonders "what to do?" I'm not sure I know either, though reaching out to the "right" with nice arguments surely isn't the answer.
UPDATE: One of the commenters at Pharyngula's site remarks:
One thing scum always craves is being treated politely and taken seriously. Folks with leanings to the KKK or Nazi’s will go to great lengths to try and come off as ‘reasonable’ and ‘mainstream’. Scum is as scum does. And scum the Neo-Christian Right has become. If you surround yourself with filth, you get dirty. If there are some among them who don’t like being associated with scum, then they’re going to have to kick out the kooks and fanatics who have burrowed into the body of the religious right. So far they show not the slightest interest in rooting out the nutcases and in fact seem to be egging the nutcases on.
While those of us who are decent and have integrity sit around saying “Oh they’re not all bad, it wouldn’t be fair to stamp them all with the same label, it’s just a few crazies” they’re printing up pamphlets claiming that Democrats wants to outlaw God and turn your kids into gays. These sickos count on the opposition behaving politely.
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