Red, Red, Whine

A co-worker showed me an e-mail he'd received from an acquaintance. The general jist of it is as follows - Talib terrorists capture three television network anchors, and an American soldier. Each is asked for their final request. The network anchors ask for some pretty banal stuff, although one of them has the presence of mind to ask to record the event. The soldier asks for a kick in the rear. After one of the Talib kicks him, the soldier gets his Rambo on, and kills every terrorist present, in rather graphic detail. The news anchors ask him why he wanted to be kicked in the rear, and are told that it was because when they reported the story, they wouldn't be able to portray the soldier as the aggressor.

While I understand the point that the author of the piece was attempting to make, the overall deliver struck me as simply being bitter, angry and (most disappointingly) whiny. And this seems indicative of the rhetoric that the Right has started adopting over the past few years. Whereas, once upon a time, Conservatism's motto seemed to be "No Whining," now it's apparently become fashionable to call attention to their alleged victimhood at every opportunity. I was in a bookstore the other day, and came across an audiobook by a Conservative personality which promised an accounting of how the "Mainstream Media" ignored the sexual indiscretions of Democrats while shouting those of Republicans from the rafters, along with other nefarious misdeeds perpetrated upon innocent Conservatives. Now, before you remind me that the Left does just as much whining as the Right, if not more, let me assure you, I know. The last time I went to a meeting of Democrats, I lamented not having brought bread and cheese. Perhaps it was the overall success of the tactic that has lead Republican boosters to abandon their former disdain for the practice, in favor of a remarkably wholehearted embrace.

But very few people ever get anywhere by constantly reminding others about what great victims they are. For my own part, while there are labels and distinctions that I will fight for, "greatest victim" is certainly not one of them. And I must admit to a level of disappointment that the Right has joined the race to the bottom in that regard.