Wednesday 5 August 2009

More religious zealotry disorder.

From Slap Upside The Head, we learn that concern troll and self-proclaimed human rights activist Kari Simpson's class-action complaint against the Ministry of Education has been deemed unfounded. We wrote about Simpson's bizarre and convoluted complaint in March.

And brothers Tevi and Gil Troy compete with her for the dubious achievement of Über Religiously Fixated Zealots. Their attempt to piss all over Mary Robinson is found in the forum it deserves - the New York Post.

Robinson was recognized last month with the announcement that she was awarded the highest civilian honour in the United States - the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Barack Obama highlighted Robinson's role as Ireland's first female president as well as her tenure as United Nations Human Rights Commissioner. An overview of her considerable accomplishments and achievements can be found here.

The attack on Robinson from a Republican sycophant who likely thanks G-d every morning that he wasn't born a woman and was complicit in supporting abstinence-only sex ed programs under the Bush administration is contemptible. In essence, he and his brother (A tenured prof at McGill? Likely a strategic appointment to support its fundraising efforts with US alumni.) claim that Robinson hates the US because she dared criticize the US for violating human rights in its war on terrorism and she refused to let Israel run roughshod over the United Nations World Conference against Racism held in Durban.

Those suffering from religious zealotry disorder have increased the volume of their shrieeeking and multiplied their extravagant tactics. As reported by the Atlantic magazine, political strategists in the US are developing strategies for limiting the damage they do.

Patronizing opponents is a tried and true tradition in Washington, and Democrats have used the tactic with success. They ridiculed the hundreds of thousands of conservatives who protested the stimulus package as "tea baggers."

But Republicans are just as responsible for the perception. The folks who tend to show up at protest events tend to be to the right of the mean in the party. And, as the spread of the birther movement demonstrates, not a small chunk of these Republicans are reactionaries.

The challenge for the White House and Democrats is that they find a way to separate genuinely anxious conservatives who ask good questions -- even if those questions are provided by conservative groups -- and the crazies who tend to pack town hall meetings.

The time has come for conservatives who are not afflicted with religious zealotry disorder to distance themselves from this yapping mob and to speak up coherently and logically. Don't let the crazies silence you!

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