Thoughts on Charles Blow, the MSM, “twigotry,” and the value of denunciation
As I expected, Charles Blow has expressed “regret” over his vulgar, bigoted tweet of two nights ago:
Btw, the comment I made about Mormonism during Wed.’s debate was inappropriate, and I regret it. I’m willing to admit that with no caveats.
I guess expressing “regret” means never having to say you’re sorry. Someone with a little more spine would have used the “a” word. Jim Geraghty has more, in a short must-read NRO post.
Mr. Blow doesn’t seem to be a significant player in the news media in any event; after all, he writes only a weekly Saturday column for the New York Times. I wonder: How many of those who, like me, have been decrying his tweeted bigotry (twigotry?) had even heard of him beforehand?
Which leads me to what I think the lesson of the Blow mini-incident is: Denunciation is an important part of free speech in our democracy. In the event Romney is nominated, appropriate denunciation is what will save the country from a truly damaging national fight over religion.
Hear me out on this. The reality is that we will never eliminate inappropriate, stupid, or bigoted religious attacks on politicians from our national discourse. (Nor should we.) That is especially true in the era of Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. There is now more speech going on, and more freely, than ever in the country’s history.
So as much as we might insist (and correctly so) that certain things just shouldn’t be said, those things will be said.
The key is that freedom-loving people of good will – religious or not – have to speak up and denounce the bigotry. That’s what happened with Charles Blow’s bout of verbal diarrhea. It was a teachable moment for all of us.
Am I advocating a conservative, faith-supporting type of political correctness? Not at all. What I am saying is this: There is a large portion of the American electorate that decides elections. They are not committed conservatives or liberals. They’re independents.
Stating the proposition simply, we need to win those people over. And we will, if we stick to a position that is consistent with American founding principles – like Article VI of the Constitution. That powerful idea – “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States” – will prevail in any argument among fair-minded people.
Winston Churchill said it best: “Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing…after they have exhausted all other possibilities.”
Also, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has often made a related point: Free speech makes it easier to spot the idiots. That maxim will prove true in this context as well.
So let the Charles Blows of the world spew their bilious nonsense around the blogosphere and Twitterverse. We can’t stop them, but we can beat them by denouncing them – loudly, repeatedly, and maybe with a little good humor now and then.
It works. It’s the American Way.
*****
Postscript: Hugh Hewitt has a roundup.
Posted in Religious Bigotry | 4 Comments » | 
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JLF9999 on 24 Feb 2012 at 11:09 am #
“Btw, the comment I made about Mormonism during Wed.’s debate was inappropriate, and I regret it. I’m willing to admit that with no caveats.”
Is that supposed to be an apology or a clarification? I ask because he admits he messed up with the first sentence then retracts it with the last.
TVHall on 24 Feb 2012 at 3:21 pm #
Great Churchill quote. Sounds a bit like he was channeling Will Rogers. Anyway, it brought a hearty LOL as I wound down my work week.
coltakashi on 25 Feb 2012 at 2:35 am #
Frankly I have more appreciation for Mr. Blow’s apology than JLF9999. Blow said his stayement was inappropriate, meaning he violated a standard of behavior when he said it. And I appreciate that he disavows any limits on his apology.
This distinguishes Mr. Blow from the typical public person who is sorry IF someone was offended”, in other words he is sad he lives in a world where someone is stupid enough to be offended at his personally intelligent and probably witty remarks. That is the kind of non-apology we got from Bill Clinton when he admitted he had made a bald-faced lie to the American people when he told us he had no intimate relationship with his low ranking employee, intern Monica Lewinsky. The fact that he felt justified in not resigning in disgrace after besmirching the presidency with his lies, and intimidated his cabinet into not resigning en masse after he had suckered them into defending his lie, makes him the worst president in my lifetime for squandering the moral power of the White House. At least Kennedy did not invite the Democratic Party and the nation to endorse his sexual abuse of women.
So I think we should thank Mr. Blow for reaffirming that there is a standard of decent behavior and respect when it comes to talking about our fellow Americans’ religious beliefs, and he crossed it.
Religious attacks will increase, not subside, when Romney becomes the nominee | Article VI Blog | Lowell Brown on 29 Feb 2012 at 5:23 pm #
[...] Think about that last one. Over the last 6 years my co-blogger John has repeatedly made the point that a religious attack on one politician is really an attack on all politicians who take their religious faith seriously. There’s no reason to think that Joan Walsh’s repulsive foray into twigotry will be the last by an establishment news media pundit. It will be interesting to see how religious conservatives like Melissa respond. My bet is that they will close ranks around. I hope they can do so before too much damage is done. As we’ve said before, there is power in denunciation. [...]