Friday, December 19, 2003

Iraq War: A Freeper Speaks (Pt. 1 of 5)

The AOL Journals Anne's Life and Think It Over both linked to this month-old article by science fiction novelist Orson Scott Card that Think It Over pulled off the very conservative FreeRepublic.com (aka "Freeper") site:

The Campaign of Hate and Fear 11/16/03

The link above is to the article at a site called "The Ornery American," although it first appeared in RhinoTimes.com, which bills itself as offering "All the Rumors Fit to Print." (No, I don't think it's meant to be a parody.)

Though there's a bit of imaginative thinking in novelist Card's article, I wouldn't say that the analysis is very creative.

I don't usually give much attention to Freeper-style articles. That's why I do the Chuckie Watch, to keep up on the latest fads of the Republican rightwing. But Chuckie's pretty much strictly lowbrow. Card's essay qualifies as "middlebrow." So I'm going to take a few posts here to look at this one more closely. (I'll be glad when AOL Journal's 2,500-character limit is expanded this coming February.) Card's piece is conventional Freeper wisdom on the war. It includes the stigmatizing dissent element, and also the stab-in-the-back alibi for the Iraq War.

Card's pitch is that he's a Democrat but he's just shocked, shocked about how the Democratic candidates are criticizing our legitimate President Bush. Why, it's almost as if they thought Bush was from a different political party. I mean, partisanship is fine and all, but these Democrats are actually criticizing the President. Too much is too much!

(Cont. in Part 2)


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