Monday, November 29, 2004
Blaming the Victim
Note to Barbara Boxer: STOP USING REPUBLICAN LANGUAGE
On one of the Sunday chat shows, Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, sounding suspiciously Republicanesque , exhorted Iraqis to step up to the plate and stake a claim to their country.
For weeks Republicans and media allies like Harassment O'Reilly and Oxy Limbaugh have been peddling the line that if Iraq fails, it is because Iraqis do not crave freedom like they should. In other words, we served up democracy on a plate for them, but they weren't hungry enough.
This is classic blame-the-victim language which Democrats should know better than to use. Barbara Boxer must recognize that such language is meant to prepare Americans for a withdrawal and possible civil war which can then be blamed on insufficiently grateful Iraqis.
Instead of parroting such popular and easy pap, Democrats need to start talking NOW in ways that ensure that if and when Iraq ultimately fails, people place blame where it belongs: with the douchebags who lied us into an unnecessary war. By the time an ignominious exit from the quagmire begins, it will be too late to construct such a frame ad hoc, and the blame-the-victim meme will have seeped unchallenged into the national subconscious. Think, Barbara, think!
On one of the Sunday chat shows, Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, sounding suspiciously Republicanesque , exhorted Iraqis to step up to the plate and stake a claim to their country.
For weeks Republicans and media allies like Harassment O'Reilly and Oxy Limbaugh have been peddling the line that if Iraq fails, it is because Iraqis do not crave freedom like they should. In other words, we served up democracy on a plate for them, but they weren't hungry enough.
This is classic blame-the-victim language which Democrats should know better than to use. Barbara Boxer must recognize that such language is meant to prepare Americans for a withdrawal and possible civil war which can then be blamed on insufficiently grateful Iraqis.
Instead of parroting such popular and easy pap, Democrats need to start talking NOW in ways that ensure that if and when Iraq ultimately fails, people place blame where it belongs: with the douchebags who lied us into an unnecessary war. By the time an ignominious exit from the quagmire begins, it will be too late to construct such a frame ad hoc, and the blame-the-victim meme will have seeped unchallenged into the national subconscious. Think, Barbara, think!
