I enjoyed the mea culpa recently
published by Dale McFeatters, the conservative Scripps Howard columnist. He admitted in his February 15th column that global warming and the hatred of the Arab world for America and Americans is his fault. I appreciate his honesty and his humility.
Well I would. If it were real.
You see, it's all snark. It's all written with a giant sarcastic smirk on his smug-ass face. I *wish* that the conservatives would own up to their responsibility. But we all know these days, what the neo-cons mean by 'taking responsibility' and an 'ownership society' is to let
everyone else take responsibility for our screw-ups, and let
everyone else own up to having monumentally stupid judgement.
Ostensibly, the column is a peevish complaint that all the uproar over the Danish comics on Islam are being blamed on us (Americans), and really it isn't fair since the Turks have a popular movie with an American military villain in it, so if they're allowed to do it, why can't we? And somehow, he links that to how we always get blamed for catastrophic global warming.
It's all our fault, yours and mine. It doesn't matter what for, specifically; we're to blame for everything.
See . . . peevish.
In a way, I agree with Mr. McFeatters. It is all his fault. His and the rest of his conservative friends. His are the sort who have been ignoring and denigrating the environmental movement for over 40 years. His sort of people are the ones who've created this world in which Arabs and Westerners can no longer even talk to one another, much less allow each other to have freedom of speech.
He implies that, because some Muslim leaders have accused Europe and the Americans of deliberately publishing the comics in order to incense them into becoming violent, a patently silly suggestion, that it allays the conservatives of all responsibility for the situation.
You didn't realize we were behind those Danish cartoons that started all the rioting in places where Danish newspapers don't circulate. That's because we're so diabolically clever we fool even ourselves.
The argument absolves them of nothing. So Arabs are blaming Americans with a stupid argument. No, actually, what should be reported is that conservative thinkers in the Muslim world are blaming Americans using a stupid argument. Ours, after all, aren't the only irresponsible conservatives on the planet.
Yes, Mr. McFeatters, everything we're seeing is your fault. You all ignored calls for diplomacy before the invasion of Iraq. You ignored calls for the reduction in greenhouse gases for more than a quarter century. But you've all done more than that. You, and your conservative friends, both here and abroad, have continuously and relentlessly undermined the efforts of millions of people who have been trying to improve the environment, and to improve international cooperation. Why have you done this? As far as I can tell, it's been for 'economic progress', i.e. for money. And maybe its been to increase the power of the powerful by killing off the middle class. The unwashed masses have never been very popular with the conservatives.
Well, let me see your snarkiness, and raise you 'accountability.' For the conservative movements around the world will be held accountable for the fire that is coming. And when the world is engulfed in the flames of a new holy war, and when the world is suffering from environmental disasters day-after-day, your accountability will be remembered. When the anger of that time boils over, you will see mobs of suffering people marching toward your conservative castles with pitchforks and flaming torches in hand, for no other reason than the fact that yes . . . it was your fault.
