Too Scared for Sarcasm and Snark?
Geez, folks.
Lighten up.
It's the Republicans, not us, who are supposed to be wound up too tight and taking themselves too seriously.
I just read through the replies to the blog entry "Obama is no better than McCain":
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/07/obama-is-no-better-than-mccain.php
And all I can say is, "Wow."
Ben, its author, explicitly says at the bottom of the post:
And yet, it seems that the majority of the responses are kneejerk reactions to the title and/or people who did actually read the post but completely failed to realize it was written with a snarky intention. I mean, people are really freaking out over there, and it's really kind of sad.
Now, I understand that not all the news has been good news for Obama recently, and that additional heat from the left on FISA (among other things) has ratcheted up the level of defensiveness to a degree among Obama supporters.
And that's fairly understandable.
But I would maintain that the positive energy and excitement generated by the Obama campaign and reinforced by the sincere enthusiasm of his supporters is one of the most powerful assets he has in his corner.
And by no means am I saying he/we should roll over when attacks are mounted, and just be blindly optimistic and pretend that things are all right when they go badly, or that things have been presented fairly and accurately by the media or Obama opponents when they have not.
But we will be shooting ourselves in the foot if we let ourselves get bitter and jaded. And we can't be scared and jumpy and nervous and paranoid, and let every little negative (or in this case, sarcastically negative - which means not negative) barb about Obama get us all in a flustered tizzy.
Real Obama detractors and trolls (not sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek bloggers here) might land a couple of good punches and digs along the way, but that's just part of the ride.
We can't let them take away our mojo.
Lighten up.
It's the Republicans, not us, who are supposed to be wound up too tight and taking themselves too seriously.
I just read through the replies to the blog entry "Obama is no better than McCain":
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/07/obama-is-no-better-than-mccain.php
And all I can say is, "Wow."
Ben, its author, explicitly says at the bottom of the post:
(Warning: the above should not be read by the sarcasm-impaired.)
And yet, it seems that the majority of the responses are kneejerk reactions to the title and/or people who did actually read the post but completely failed to realize it was written with a snarky intention. I mean, people are really freaking out over there, and it's really kind of sad.
Now, I understand that not all the news has been good news for Obama recently, and that additional heat from the left on FISA (among other things) has ratcheted up the level of defensiveness to a degree among Obama supporters.
And that's fairly understandable.
But I would maintain that the positive energy and excitement generated by the Obama campaign and reinforced by the sincere enthusiasm of his supporters is one of the most powerful assets he has in his corner.
And by no means am I saying he/we should roll over when attacks are mounted, and just be blindly optimistic and pretend that things are all right when they go badly, or that things have been presented fairly and accurately by the media or Obama opponents when they have not.
But we will be shooting ourselves in the foot if we let ourselves get bitter and jaded. And we can't be scared and jumpy and nervous and paranoid, and let every little negative (or in this case, sarcastically negative - which means not negative) barb about Obama get us all in a flustered tizzy.
Real Obama detractors and trolls (not sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek bloggers here) might land a couple of good punches and digs along the way, but that's just part of the ride.
We can't let them take away our mojo.
