The
right lacks compassion
By
Shariq Torres
Assistant Editorials Editor
> February
1, 2001
It’s been
awhile since I’ve had the pleasure of gracing the pages of the
Old Gold and Black, but in the meantime I’ve watched the editorials
take on a decidedly fascist tone — a philosophy I thought had died
with swine such as Mussolini, Hitler and Richard Nixon. But it seems
that one of my fellow students, freshman Chris Plumblee, has taken it
upon himself to once again make fascist ideology en vogue. And why shouldn’t
he try — if bell bottoms and hip huggers can make a comeback, so
can the SS.
The real problem I have with Plumbee is the self-righteousness that
is so common with his ilk. The holier-than-thou attitude they show for
the public that masks their illicit activities in the basement. Plumblee
writes that “both (Jesse) Jackson’s newfound affair and Clinton’s
fling are disturbing incidents that show a vast disregard for responsibility
in America today.”
That may be, but why didn’t Plumblee cast Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingstone
and Bob Barr under the “disturbing incidents” umbrella? Newt
was rolling around on a White House lawn with his young intern; ruining
the rose gardens and staining the Presidential seal with his juices.
Livingstone’s sexual acrobatics during his own affair led to him
siring a double-jointed lovechild, capable of handsprings and somersaults
right out of the womb. Bob Barr, who receives thousands of dollars from
pro-life groups, had to admit to making his one-time mistress have an
abortion. These are pretty sick things and I haven’t heard one
conservative condemn any of them for their actions. Quite to the contrary,
when Gingrich enters a room full of right-wingers they drop to their
knees and he walks through as if he were the Dalai Lama.
Bob Barr is still representing that twisted state of Georgia, and I’m
pretty sure Livingstone is somewhere making a living hawking Viagra
and assorted sex toys for Hustler. The point is the hammer of the Right
didn’t crush these men. But the nailgun of the Right pinned Clinton’s
butt to the wall, and is pinning Jesse Jackson’s as I type.
In the Bible, King David was killing other men for their wives, Lot
was screwing his daughters in a cave and Abram had a son by his mistress
and then threw both of them out into the desert. No one is safe from
making mistakes. As the Bible says, we all fall short of the glory of
God; no one is perfect; least of all shifty right-wingers.
Plumblee’s rabid editorial endorsing Attorney General nominee John
Ashcroft was especially funny. Conservatives always bring up Dr. King
when making comparisons to present-day civil rights leaders — as
if members of the Right were in Selma and Birmingham helping organize
marches. It wasn’t so long ago that Pat Buchanan had a large role
in the GOP, not to mention that the RNC still gives funds to Jesse Helms,
and we all know how he feels about Dr. King.
Plumblee makes a point to state that the Left is against Ashcroft because
he is conservative. But that’s not true — the Left doesn’t
like Ashcroft because he’s beyond conservative — he’s
the Arch Conservative. He’s the type of guy who hides his white
hood in the closet and passes it off as a karate gi. He’s the type
of man that praises the Confederacy - always missing the fact that they
killed United States soldiers and extolled the virtues of slavery. To
Ashcroft, they were good Southern, God-fearing men that just happened
to like a little human exploitation in addition to hunting.
After watching the Senate hearings I don’t know how anyone could
even stand to be in the same room with the dirty swine. I don’t
know for sure if the man is a racist, but giving interviews to a pro-Confederate,
anti-Black, anti-woman, anti-Latino, anti-Jewish magazine doesn’t
help his image.
I can’t say that I respect Plumblee’s view of the world, but
I do respect his right to publish it.
