Print This Post Print This Post

Nov

2

Bush counsels Americans to ignore MoveOn and Code Pink


President George Bush spoke at the Heritage Foundation yesterday. During a speech he gave there, he projected the idea that “the only way to defeat terrorism is to ‘advance freedom as the alternative to radicalism.’”

The problem is, his other comments in that speech suggest that he thinks Americans should “…spend more time listening to the messages and threats of Osama bin Laden, and ‘less time responding to the demands of MoveOn.org bloggers and Code Pink protesters.’”

But isn’t that the exact opposite of showing that we cherish and enjoy…freedom?

Just to see if I understand:

We need to advance the idea that freedom is the alternative to radicalism, in order to defeat terrorism.

And the tools that we should use to defeat terrorism include advancing freedom as the alternative to radicalism.

But when people use freedom to organize and express themselves, in the form of, oh, say, groups like MoveOn.org and Code Pink, Bush wants us to ignore that expression, being made by millions of Americans.

Or, at least spend less time responding to the demands of MoveOn.org and Code Pink protesters. Bush must be thinking of how preoccupied members of his party in the Congress became with MoveOn.org’s tactics last month.

But still, okay – Bush is not out and out saying that people aren’t free to organize and express themselves via such groups. He’s just saying that they not be given any time, or much time, or at least less time.

I’m a big proponent of ignoring what I don’t like when it comes to obnoxious comments and so on. But it seems to me that I recall some folks more on the Bush side of the aisle who said that ignoring amounts to reinforcement of the behavior, whereas showing outrage will get people to stop or change their behavior.

Sounds to me like Bush is going the ignore route, not the outrage route. In some ways, I guess I support his tactic – because he is counseling that people exercise their freedom to not notice.

Works for me with a whole bunch of things. Hmm, maybe he’s got a point – even if it isn’t the one he thought he was making.

Bookmark and Share

By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:22 pm November 2nd, 2007 in Civil Rights, Congress, Foreign Affairs, Government, Politics, Social Issues 

Comments

Leave a Reply




"));