perfidy

Back in the dark times of late summer 2004, when it seemed that the Republicans were going to steal yet another election, a group of brave patriots gathered together to protest the Republican National Convention. Nearly a thousand groups (listed at the United for Peace and Justice website) gathered under the wise and benevolent leadership of Michael Moore, Danny Glover and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and sent at least a hundred thousand, but no more than 200,000, and certainly not 400,000 people, to NYC to demonstrate.

While the exact goal of the demonstration remains obscure (were they going to stop the Republicans from selecting a candidate? that'll put a spoke in their wheel!) it is clear that these earnest and concerned people were definitely against everything that was going on inside the convention. All that democracy and stuff. In my role as a serious commentator on politics and current events, I looked at the list of groups, and noted that some of the names were rather silly. And then I posted that thought, with some carefully chosen examples to buttress my argument. Names like these:

1% a peace army (MA)
Addicted to War (CA)
African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change (NY)
Brooklyn Demilitarized Zone project -- BkDMZ (NY)
Chicago Anti-Bashing Network (IL)
Citizens of Planet Earth Academy (NC)
Committee to Free Pedro Pacheco
Disarm Education Fund (NY)
draftresistance.org (AK)
Emergency Committee To Defend Constitutional Welfare Rights, USA (NY)
Food Not Bombs - Muncie (IN)
House of The Goddess Center for Pagan Wombyn
John Denver Peace Cloth (WA)
Labone Branch of Ghana United Nations Association
Marxist Feminist Lesbian Jamican Radical Poets -- MFLJRP (NJ)
Not in Our Brains Campaign (NY)
PLURtopia & Enlightened Libra Creations
Quixote Center (DC)
Raging Grannies - Peninsula Chapter (CA)
Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane (CA)
Ruckus Society
Students Against Testing (NY)
Ukuleles For Sanity (CA)

But one group that I mentioned recently took offense at my light-hearted ribbing. Actually, not a group but a TV show.

Missing Kitten TV

In a post entitled, “Little Green Morons”, MKTV accused me of being [gasp…] a right-wing whackjob! Further, I am accused of shoddy, slipshod research. Agony!

you see, a while back, katharine and i decided to register our show as one of the member groups supporting the united for peace and justice movement. they published the list of all of those groups on their website. and ever since then, all types of right-wing whackjobs (including the new york post!) have taken a stab at at those of us with untraditional names. not a single one has ever taken the time to do any research, contact us, or even visit our website.

…you would *think* that one - just one! - of these little green footballs would be able to figure out that we are a TV show!!!

Well, damn. I didn’t think a whole lot of research into the history, aims, membership and favorite color of any of these groups was necessary for me to judge, all on my own, that some of them had silly names. Judging a book by its cover is perhaps unwise. But what if you are judging the book cover? Do you have to read the book then?

And “untraditional” is a, shall we say, generous description for some of these titles.

Since hypocrisy is the biggest sin for the left, let’s examine some of those statements. I am wrong for not reading Missing Kitten TV’s website, and for not contacting them to get the full picture before recklessly mentioning that they have a silly name. I wonder, did the well-intentioned and kind people from Missing Kitten TV bothered to look at this site before calling me (in a nice way) a right-wing whackjob? Do right-wing whackjobs share their personal space for communication and expression with two people who hold offensive and criminally stupid liberal viewpoints? Do right-wing whackjobs as a rule oppose the war on drugs, support gays in the military, women in combat, gay marriage (conditionally, I admit), oppose censorship of all kinds, and think that the patriot act was almost certainly a bad idea? Apparently I am a sufficiently open-minded enough right-wing whackjob to share my blog with two liberals and to hold any number of beliefs not perfectly congruent with the label, "right-wing whackjob." Or maybe I don’t hang out with the right sort of right-wing whackjobs.

Further, minimal research would have unearthed that I am neither little, nor green. I’ll give MKTV a flier on moron, but your mileage may vary.

In any event, I make a formal apology to MSTV for having the temerity to mention their name without first seeking their permission. I further abase myself and say that from this moment on, the phrase “right-wing whackjob” will appear in the list of cycling capsule biographies under my name as a constant (well, intermittent) badge of my shame. I will also endeavor to be less right, less wing, and less whack. I will retain my job however, because I am still a conservative. And finally, I will never again display the kind of breathtaking arrogance and condescension for which conservatives are so infamous:

again - he never did ANY research, or made ANY effort to contact us. and here in NYC, alls you gotta do is turn on a friggin' television set....

my sentiments exactly....