The Last Word

This has now become an exercise in not knowing when to just shut up and cut your losses. As fun as it is ripping into the tiny Arkin brain, I'm running out of energy. Just a note on one thing he has said in his latest stupid incarnation:

...if supporting the troops comes to mean that we cannot raise questions about the military, about how wars are being fought in our name, that we cannot criticize those in uniform, can't protest, can't write, can't demand better, then what kind of country do we have?

This is such a typical pattern. 1. Uber-leftist says something outrageous and hurtful. 2. Persons disagree and challenge. 3. Leftist screams that he is being silenced.

No one has said Arkin can't criticize the military, or protest, or write, or demand better. Nobody. Not one living soul. What they have said is that his opinions are hateful, misguided, stupid, and anti-military. They have said so because they, like Arkin, believe they have that right. They are taking advantage of the very same freedoms that Arkin now whines are being taken away from him.

One cannot take away another's rights simply by exercising their own! Yet, time and time again the left makes the charge that, in expressing a different view, someone is taking away their right to be heard. Then, inevitably, they make some grand statement about the erosion of freedom in America.

What they are really saying, as in the case of Arkin and countless others, is that they believe they have a right to be heard unchallenged. And, in doing so, they claim a right they have themselves stripped of everyone else.

A person like Arkin, in a position of great influence, should be fired. Not because his opinions are wrong, or because he "needs to be silenced." He needs to be fired because it is an embarrassment to the Washington Post, and media in general, that someone with that much influence has absolutely no understanding of the first amendment.

Previous posts:
Arkin Keeps Digging
Troops Mercenaries Should Shut Up