A Pot Stirred

Well, by the time I get around to responding to this, it seems like everything worth saying has been said.  First, let’s recap:

Tom McMahon made up a parody of that idiotic “Coexist” bumper sticker that looked like this:

Being a particularly provocative and insightful point, it spread around the blogosphere.  Here’s my post about it, but I was one of about a bazillion bloggers who decided to post it.  And why not?  It made for a lively discussion and that’s what makes blogging fun.  Free speech, robust debate, sharp points, etc.  The discussion under my post was lively and entertaining.

Typically, a bunch of liberal bloggers and the perpetually offended decided to use McMahon’s parody to smear him and conservatives as antisemitic because McMahon’s parody bumper sticker replaced the Star of David with a swastika.  This has been a standard play for liberals.  If you don’t like what someone is saying, then call them an antisemite, racist, antidentite, misogynist, or whatever else to try to intimidate them into shutting up.  It’s a cheap tactic, but it’s been successful enough in the past to make it a favorite of some folks. 

Then it spread out of the blogosphere when the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee decided to send a letter to Charlie Sykes’ employer asking them to make Sykes remove the offending parody bumper sticker.  Sykes responded with this:

Frankly, I do not recall a single instance in which either you or the Interfaith Conference ever protested this particular tactic when it has been used by the left. Has there ever been a single instance in which your organization has objected to a left-wing protest in which the swastika was used intentionally to equate Judaism with Nazism? Please be specific.

As for your being offended: I am also frequently offended by things I read and hear. (I’m offended, for instance, by the offensive ignorance of your letter. I am also offended by the fact that with the all of this community’s problems you could not find anything more important to write about.) But I know that is the price I pay to live in a country where we have a vigorous exchange of ideas. My being offended does not give me license to demand that voices I find “offensive” be silenced, or images be removed.

Too often political correctness has been used to stifle free speech and the expression of controversial ideas; too often the media and academia have been bullied by the perpetually offended who trump up outrage over bogus charges or misunderstandings.

I’m drawing the line here. The answer is no.

Indeed.

Apparently, coexistence is only a virtue when everyone agrees.