Sunday, February 11, 2007

Language, anger and a half-apology.


This is a bit of an apology. Not a full out apology, perhaps not really an apology at all. Perhaps it is an explanation. Though I tend to think it is a bit of both.

In some of the previous posts I’ve used some very strong language. I used language I wouldn’t use if I were writing for a newspaper or a magazine.

Why is this? One major reason is that a blog is not simply another journalistic outlet. It can be that but it is also a personal statement. Some are only personal expressions. Others, like this one, do inform and also make personal statements or evaluations. The average person reading this can figure out which is which quite easily. If they can't that is their problem.

A blog is more conversational than most journalism, which is why I try to reply to comments left here. In a conversation you understand the person with whom you are speaking, in part, because of the tone of their voice and the loudness of it. You know when they are joking or angry or passionate or depressed. Such tone is often missing in written language or very difficult to express.

One way of expressing the tone is to use harsher language. For instance I referred to Rachel Alexander as an “evil bitch”. I am totally convinced she is evil. What she did to poor Matt Bandy is unspeakable. This sort of slander is meant to be vicious and can destroy this kid’s life. And it seems to me this is being done for political ambition -- that of her boss and ideological comrade, Andrew Thomas, and her own.

And I used “bitch” because it is a term to refer to a malicious, unpleasant person, especially, though not exclusively, a woman. Saying that someone is malicious may be descriptive but it loses all the tone that is implied when you say they are bitch. So the word very accurately describes what I think of rancid Rachel. It expresses the maliciousness in what she did and it expresses the emotion I was feeling when I wrote it (and still feel when I think of her).

What she did is reprehensible. Already some of stupid blogs of the Religious Right are picking up her distortions and distorting them even more. One site has openly called Matt Bandy “a child pornographer”. Have these people no shame? Why is it that the people who are the most amoral are those who scream morality constantly?

Accusations like this are destructive in ways that most people can’t imagine. Consider the utter lack of decency and the kind of moral character required to spread such accusations purely for political or personal gain. Small facts that would amount to nothing are exaggerated and distorted intentionally to create the illusion of substance and then Matt Bandy’s life is destroyed.

This kid was so traumatized by these accusations and the two years of legal inquisition imposed by Thomas and crew he dropped out of school. Now he finally starts back at school and Alexander launches this attack on him. And then brainless, thoughtless, heartless ideologues take her accusations and exaggerate them even further. Such things are malicious beyond expression.

And to do this to a teenager, a kid, is just unforgivable. It is true child abuse of the worst kind. It is the worst kind because it is done under the sanctity of the law thus perverting law and justice at the same time. It is immorality done in the name of morality. The child rapist is vile but does not rape law and justice as well but is instead made answerable to both. The child abuser is deemed immoral and thus unable to subvert moral law. But when the child abuse is done in the name of morality, justice, and law then not only is the child the victim but so too is morality, justice and law. And when it done by people who purport to be moral, who claim they seek justice and who have the power to uphold the law, not only is the child abused but so too are all people. So too is justice, law and morality abused. Or worse, destroyed.

It was not my intention to offend readers. If rancid Rachel is insulted too bad. If Bozo Thomas is offended, too bad. “Evil bitch” didn’t even come close to expressing the fury and anger I feel about what these cruel, bureaucrats have done. I simply can not find the words that express my contempt for them. No such words exist. I just wished we live in a world moral enough and decent enough so that immoral, vile, vicious creatures like Rachel Alexander and Andrew Thomas never inflicted their venom on anyone. I hope the people of Maricopa County wake up and chuck these evil, conniving ideologues out of office.

And if they ever do create those public stockades that Andrew Thomas has called for, so that criminals are put to shame in the town square, I hope they reserve some space in there for Thomas and rancid Rachel.

And finally, regarding the language used, I think I should warn you. I will rarely use such words lightly. But when my anger is roused by the victimization of innocent people I will use such language. When cruelty is disguised as virtue I will use such words. When the innocent are mentally or physically tortured, I will use such words. When viciousness is disguised as morality, I will use such words. As long as immoral, petty, small-minded, inferior creatures have power over their betters, I will use such words. And for that I won’t apologize.

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