I'd like a Slice of Sanity, Please

We all remember the 8 years of George Bush's (Jr.) presidency, when we rolled our eyes and complained at the ridiculous conspiracy theories and downright hatred spewed at him. Those of us who actually listend to his speeches were aware that many of the things he was mocked about were either not said by him, or were manipulated and changed on tape to make him sound stupid. There were blatant lies and rumors spread about him. Ridiculous charges. Hatred bordering on the insane. If one didn't know better, one might have been excused for thinking that he had commissioned the creation of a dastardly weather machine and aimed it at New Orleans himself because he hates black people, having gathered as much from the accusations leveled at him after that fiasco.

As much as I dislike most of what President Obama stands for, part of me was relieved when he was elected. I thought: "At last, we'll have a little break from the insanity. The Democrats will be busy lauding every golden word that drops from the mouth of the new POTUS. Maybe the Republican party can pull itself together and give us a great candidate four years from now."

Clearly, I live on a different planet. All by myself. It's lonely out here.

It seems that the disease which infected the left during George Bush's presidency has "crossed species" and infected the right. People who's books I have read and enjoyed, people who's articles and speeches I have applauded, people who I have considered intelligent, thoughtful, and reasonable....some of these people now have succumbed to the idea that anything that is in any way related to the current administration is something to be feared and hated. Opposition to the current administration are also accusing the government of things, sometimes in a very contradictory way, with very little basis. For instance, the government is simultaneously pushing the H1N1 vaccine down our throats and maliciously slowing down the H1N1 vaccine production. Goodness, even the most evil entity can't do both of those at the same time! And don't even get me started on the birth certificate thing. Oy.

I am not the least bit opposed to protest, and vocal opposition. Not at all. I thought the Tea Parties were a great idea. I think attending Town Hall meetings and voicing one's opinions is important. I think blogging, writing, speaking, and organizing are necessary for the continuation of our country's freedom. However, I think that we had better make pretty darn sure that what we are saying is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We start to look clownish when we try to make arguments like "They say [insert conspiracy theory]" or "They [undefined, generalized They] are trying to do such-and-such to us." or "I've heard.....[no source given]" or any such thing.

I will give you a non-political example of a very imprecise and damaging statement. The statement is: "Vaccines are made from the bodies of aborted babies".

The problem with such a statement is that while it contains a teeny, tiny kernel of truth, it has been distorted, generalized, and falsified to the point that any pro-choicer who's thought about their position for more than 10 seconds will be able to laugh it off, and rightly so. The tiny kernel of truth is this: 40 years ago, some women were told that therapeutic abortion was necessary after they contracted Rubella (German Measles). Some cells were taken from a single infected (and "terminated") baby, and were used to culture the disease in order to create the vaccine for Rubella. These cell-lines are infinitely self-replicating, requiring no "fresh" cells, ever again. No further aborted babies were used for this or any other vaccine, and babies are not currently aborted or sold for the purpose of creating vaccines. Additionally, during production the vaccine is purified of all traces of the cells in which it was grown, so there are no actual human cells in the MMR vaccine.

If you know me, you know I am adamantly and vocally pro-life. I think abortion is a horrendous evil perpetrated on the unborn, and their mothers. But I believe it is both unethical and terribly counter-productive to make an argument based on falsehood in an attempt to horrify a person into changing their position. The statement above is not a valid argument against either abortion or vaccination. One could make other perfectly valid statements in the debate against either, but this one doesn't work and shouldn't be used.

Such is the case with our political debate. We must make absolutely sure that any argument or protest we make, is made on the basis of fact and evidence and truth. We must be ready to present the evidence. (Side note: An "evidence" record consisting of an unending round-robin of opinion pieces does not count, even if the opinionators are eminently smart and eloquent people, even if they have letters after thier name) Anything else will backfire, and not just cause the other side of the debate to look on us as idiots, but cause people (like me) on our own side to question whether the hype and rhetoric has any basis in reality at all.