The Currency Lad: Where Is The Grown-Up Political Left?

One of Australia's finest bloggers, Currency Lad asks a very simple question: where is The sensical political left?

«Koran-flushingly disturbing was the fraternal instinct for pinpointing and callously using the sacred exhibited by Tim Dunlop. The header for his post: "Let's try it on his daughter." You want to humiliate an enemy? What better way to do so, while feeling powerful yourself, than to bring his little girl into your online discussion. He followed that up with 'Battered Wife Syndrome'. Violent language. Now it sometimes happens that academics - pro-infanticide left-wing darling Peter Singer being a good example - often propose outrageous things in scholarly papers.»

«For many left-wing writers like Tim Dunlop, however, the most important part of any debate on matters of morality, ethics and law is adolescent get-square politics of the familiar nyah-nyah variety: "Finally, an academic the rightwing apologists can embrace as one of their own." John Quiggan also published a very brief post on the torture story, mostly so he could take a gratuitous swipe at the political right: "I haven't seen any comment yet from pro-war bloggers, but I hope at least some of them will repudiate this terrible proposal." Considering pro-war bloggers had to work hard to convince the left that Saddam Hussein's torture apparatus was one of several good reasons for ousting him, that was shameless. The left was prepared to overlook chemical bombs being dropped on Kurdish villagers but not an obscure article in the University of San Francisco Law Review.

For many left-wing writers like Tim Dunlop, however, the most important part of any debate on matters of morality, ethics and law is adolescent get-square politics of the familiar nyah-nyah variety: "Finally, an academic the rightwing apologists can embrace as one of their own." John Quiggan also published a very brief post on the torture story, mostly so he could take a gratuitous swipe at the political right: "I haven't seen any comment yet from pro-war bloggers, but I hope at least some of them will repudiate this terrible proposal." Considering pro-war bloggers had to work hard to convince the left that Saddam Hussein's torture apparatus was one of several good reasons for ousting him, that was shameless. The left was prepared to overlook chemical bombs being dropped on Kurdish villagers but not an obscure article in the University of San Francisco Law Review.»

Where are they? In denial and constructing house-of-cards arguments to save themselves from embarrassment. Remember the DECADE it took before the left started to actually use phrases like the verymuch couched 'empowerment' or to reluctantly say the words "personal responsibility"? Only then to twist them into a PC from of concepts like the need to fund that empowerment, reinterpret personal responsibility and the need for a just society into a messy knot of "self-esteem" and "social justice".
What CL describes isn't much different - their immediate response seems to always start with some sort of personal abusiveness. The endless repetition of the "big meanie image versus the mom-in-tennis-shoes image", used to increasingly less effect on a public which is tired of being patronized.

As for the accusations of torture, well, that's more of a faith of convenience than anything else. The lack of concistency and dependability of the left has proved that over and over. It came after John Kerry's occasional exhortations that the US wasn't being tough enough in the War of Terror.

As for the climate we're in - after 30 years or 'activism' for any rebellion available, and their search for evil under every American flag or Star of David, but no-where else - what sort of treatment do you think they would end up with?
After the emotional exhaustion of dealing with someone weeping on your shoulder for their own affirmation and amusement, they shouldn't be surpriprised to ecounter a little bit of tough love.