Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Claims of "Fear Mongering" is Fear Mongering
from the mind of  Zeke_Wilkins.

Since there hasn't been a new post in a while, I'd just like to vent briefly on a topic that was played into the ground during the presidential election: fear mongering. Democrats and radicals love to accuse others of being afraid, or of trying to get others to be afraid. The issue at hand doesn't seem to matter: if a conservative opposes homosexual marriage, then he is afraid of homosexuals, or afraid that he may be one. If a republican is for an agressive stance against terrorism than he is afraid of attacks, or trying to play on other's fear of attacks. I suppose, by that logic, that my opposition to abortion means I'm afraid of "empowered" women.

The preoccupation with fear by leftists is a clear indicator of which side is truly fearful. We conservatives are a hearty stock: a meat-eating, heat-packing, SUV-driving people, not much in need of psychoses and phobias. We don't wake up in fear of homosexuals, terrorists, the hole in the ozone, global warming or our cholesterol levels. Those who try to characterize us as being fearful neither know us nor understand us. Liberals mistake principled opposition with irrational hatred so often because they themselves engage in irrationality.

The most unfortunate aspect of using accusations of fear mongering is that the argument capitalizes on the hearer's fear of being labeled fearful. Thus, it accomplishes exactly what it accuses others of doing. This is yet another example of hypocrisy on the left.