ThreadingWater

Yesterday's demonstrations against HR-4437 in major cities across the nation have been met with a shrieking hysteria from the right.  Outside of the mainstream media, the demonstrators are referred to as "moonbats," "lunatics," "socialists," and worse (if you consider anything worse than 'socialist').

There is a common lie emerging from the rubbish I've been reading on the wing-y blogs today. It is the lie of indecisiveness.

You recognize that lie, don't you?  It happened during the Vietnam War protest years, the early bra-burning demonstrations that marked the feminist movement in the 1960's, and perhaps most famously, during the Civil Rights Movement.

It goes like this:  I was undecided about whether or not I supported ( fill in the blank movement ), but the actions of ( those people ) have forced me to take a position against their cause.

At best, this argument is disingenuous.  At its worst, it's a damn lie.  Consider John Podhoretz in today's New York Post:

With their psychotically provocative behavior, these radical lunatics of the Left are moving the ideological goalposts of this debate toward the restrictionist Right.

He refers to the rallies as "despicable," then reveals what he wants his readers to believe are his true, distantly pragmatic views about immigration policy:

I have long counseled Republicans and conservatives to resist the temptation that anti-immigration policy represents, both morally and politically. I still think it is profoundly ironic that many on the Right are talking about the terrible costs presented by illegal aliens at a time when the economy is growing at a rate near 5 percent, personal incomes are up, manufacturing is skyrocketing and unemployment is near historic lows. But if I were a paid political consultant right now, I'd be hard-pressed to talk any Republican into taking an expansive view of the benefits of large-scale immigration.

Mr. Podhoretz would have us believe that it's possible to smear the actions of millions of (well-organized and peaceful) demonstrators with the label "psychotically provocative," while simultaneously striking the pose of disengaged intellectual commentator.  It doesn't work.

Podhoretz and his ratpack ilk veil their racism by attempting to turn the gaze of their audience in another direction. We aren't fooled.

It's never fashionable or convenient to make noise, demand attention or let loose a voice of dissent.  Those making the noise and standing up to be counted are not the problem. They are a symptom of change, perhaps wracking social change, and we have an unprecedented opportunity to put our professed American values to the test.

I hope we pass.