A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on February 27th, 2008 in General

Consider this opening salvo as part of a discussion:

What is remembered, lives

I did not agree with his politics or his policies. But I cannot agree that this is an occasion for a party. Not in the sense you want it to be.

Let the other side rejoice when someone dies or is injured. I like to think we here are slightly more mature than that.

This is in response to my celebratory post on the death of William F. Buckley, Jr. Let us set aside the patent fact that the basic philosophy this man embodied and made it his life’s work to bring to fruition are, more likely than not, anathema to the person commenting on the post.

There are a number of errors in this short example. The first - the title itself - is, I suppose, meant to provide some sort of enlightened understanding of history. Here’s a news flash for ya, Bucky - the memory of William F. Buckley, Jr. isn’t up to me. This is a man all-but worshipped by conservatives throughout the world. He’s going to be remembered whether I sing his praises or remind everyone that he was the chief instigator and asshat of everything that has sent America down the wrong track for the last thirty years.

If you understand that, then it is, in fact, a reason to celebrate. Just as it was a reason for Iraqis to celebrate the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government. The halting of evil, no matter how or when or why, is always a reason to celebrate.

Then there is the little “I-am-prescient” remark of “Not in the sense you want it to be.” Really? And what sense is that? Go ahead, I’ll wait. Or as I put it there:

If you can set aside your smugness

when you get through reading my mind, please finish telling me what else I think.

Is this a rude comment on my part? Well, it is sarcastic. But it is certainly no more rude than telling someone what they are thinking or what they mean. It is incredibly less rude than telling someone that you disapprove of what they mean while showing simultaneously that you don’t have a clue what they mean.

It is certainly not a personal attack. It doesn’t seek to weaken his argument by discrediting the source of the argument - which I would say is my meaning. It seeks to discredit the commenter’s claim to know the meaning while the comment being made doesn’t address the meaning at all. Is that the source of the argument? Then it is a false one. Such thinking, which is obviously impossible, is worthy of scorn.

The final sentence cannot be taken any way other than as a personal attack. It is a statement of judgment against my maturity. Should I take it as a compliment? That hardly seems to be the way it is meant, stuck there with all that judgmental “we are better than this writing” - which is to say “we are better than you”. It’s a pile of crap.

I’ve said before and elsewhere that I’m not really a nice person (I don’t think I’m a mean person, I just know I don’t rank anywhere close to Mother Theresa). I’m also not someone who suffers fools lightly and I really have trouble with the “turn the other cheek” thing. To me, if someone comes up and says, “I want to fight you,” then I can hardly be faulted if I punch them in the face for it. Hey, you just got what you want, Bucky!

I think there is also a large amount of false posturing on the behalf of the commenters (or possibly complete ignorance). There is not a person on that site who will shed a tear for William F. Buckley or mention his name in a prayer for mercy and foregiveness. There is not a single one who, upon hearing of Buckley’s death, immediately hit their knees or wailed to the Heavens while rending their clothes. There is no one there who will mourn his passing.

Am I mean to say that I am glad William F. Buckley is dead? I don’t think so, but if I am, I’m prepared to live with being mean. But if anyone wants to be verbally attacked, all they gotta do is say so - I can give some damn fine examples of it. As far as I’m concerned, calling someone on their fallacies when they’re trying to scold me isn’t an attack.

The old line of “A liberal is someone who refuses to take their own side in a fight” comes to mind. I have no use for people like that. And I’m either rude enough or mean enough to say so.