(no subject)

[layla]

Political stuff that drives me crazy: When the people on "my" side lie. I'm not even sure whether to link to this -- it's a widely linked blog post on the "Palin doesn't speak for us" rally in Anchorage (which is totally awesome, by the way, and I wish I could have gone) that contains a piece of ridiculous, brain-breaking hyperbole that's just ... not just factually inaccurate, but a total lie. (It claims that the anti-Palin rally was the biggest rally ever in the history of the state. Uh, even using their own numbers -- 1500 people -- as cited in the same post, it's not even the biggest rally in the last WEEK -- the pro-Palin rally on the same day drew 1500 people, and the numbers I've seen bandied around for the Fairbanks one on Wednesday is 2-3000. It was a fantastically big rally for being grassroots-organized on short notice, but the only thing that's accomplished by exaggerating about it is to give ammo to the "liberals are lying liars that lie!" crowd.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Nothing turns me off of any cause faster than over-enthusiastic falsehoods.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Argh. Last comment was me.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

I just unscreened it. (I tend to get quite a bit of anon spam, so I screen anon comments on general principles so that I can just ignore it.) And, yeah, exactly -- I agree! I think this is why I avoid politics if I can, except for the odd cause here and there that really moves me ... I just end up being frustrated and angry at both sides ...

[pamola.livejournal.com]

My wife is driving herself to distraction with all the news stories. She can't believe the number of people who will willing believe the arguments that McCain-Palin are putting forward. (My wife had already read the Anchorage Daily News coverage of the Anti-Palin rally). Her home school boards are getting rife with political discussions. Her problem is that for classical home schoolers, they don't really give any rigorous rhetorical arguments. I've told her to step away from the general boards and just do things in the curriculum boards and she'll be fine.

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Sounds like good advice. I honestly wish that it was easier to ignore for me right now -- Alaska is in a Palin frenzy, and I can sympathize with your wife because it's driving me to distraction, too.