As everyone who pays attention to political blogging knows, tragedies are too tragic to politicize. Discussing gun control in the wake of a tragic shooting is despicable political opportunism. Discussing the discussion of gun control in the wake of a tragic shooting, however, isn't politically opportunistic because it's a morally neutral, second-order discussion about a discussion. It's a meta-discussion about the propriety of having a political discussion in the wake of a tragic shooting, meaning it's an apolitical discussion whose participants are immune to the charge that they're violating decorum by politicizing a tragedy. For example, here's Glenn Reynolds's first post about Aurora:
A TRULY AWFUL mass shooting in Denver. At the Batman premiere.
UPDATE: More here.
It doesn't exploit the tragedy by using it to score cheap political points, so no one could accuse him of political opportunism. But here's his second post on the tragic shooting:
POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM: CNN's Piers Morgan, First to Use Colorado Tragedy to Assault Second Amendment Rights. I'm sure he won't be the last.
Others may blame Hollywood. In both cases, it's a mix of opportunism and a desire not to confront the existence of evil. Well, okay, in Piers Morgan's case, it's not much of a mix, really.
UPDATE: Left Blames Aurora Shooting On Rush Limbaugh. Of course they do. Hey, never let a tragedy go to waste, when you might use it to smear an opponent.
Every time something like this happens, they roll out the blood libels.
[...]
Original Page: http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2012/07/glenn-reynolds-demonstrates-how-to-avoid-politicizing-a-tragedy
No comments:
Post a Comment