It's a day of Eppic battles, apparently. My friend and fellow Knight of the Regional Blogosphere, Chad the Indignant, takes exception with my post concerning Moveon.Org and anti-Semitism.
When you have to use some random comment from a random fringe member of a group to suggest a trait is prevalent throughout the entire group, you have pretty much proven the opposite.
As usual, Chad does not bother to read all the words, so let me point out what he ignores and highlight it, so he is less likely to miss it. I do not know how many hits Moveon.org's Action Forum gets in a day, but I am pretty sure it's a lot more than CCK or SDP get. The number of viewers who read a given post will be larger still, and probably represent a significant portion of Moveon's membership.
My post relied on Robert Goldberg's piece in the Washington Times. Goldberg did more than pick out "random comment from a random fringe member of a group." He noted that the Moveon members could record their approval or disapproval of any given post. This has the precise effect of distinguishing "random fringe members" from the rank and file. I repost here the relevant examples, with the key elements highlighted.
After Sen. Joe Lieberman lost the Democratic primary in Connecticut, one Moveon member stated: "Jew Lieberman first step. Corporate Clinton will be next. Impeachment of BushCo will be third." This one came in with 95 percent of Moveon members responding approving the "Jew Lieberman" post.
So 95% of the Moveon members who read that post approved of it. That would be just shy of 100%. That, Chad, is a pretty big fringe Moveon has !
"Christian Zionists are ultimately responsible for whatever Israel does, whether they realize it or not! Of course they're going to play dumb and say they're powerless over Israel! We're supposed to fall for that. The US Gov. could stomp Israel like a bug, if we had to! That's where the Christian Zionist "beliefs" mix with US laws and Foreign Policy. They are favoring Israel because of their Zionist belief system." Ninety agreed with this post.
Again we have all fringe and no carpet.
Why the Jews? Or as one post quipped, "Why are the Jews so Jew-y?" According to the mind of Moveon, "(I)t's those GREEDY PIGS who own our mainstream media who are placing RELIGION/POLITICS (ISRAEL) and CORPORATE GREED above the best interests of the American people (peace, democracy, clean air, healthcare, etc.). As we've already agreed, most of these GREEDY PIGS are Jewish." Fifty percent approved of this post.
So fifty percent of Moveon members approve of a post identifying most greedy pigs behind the media as Jewish. I suppose that represents moderation on their part, but one out of two is hardly random.
If the tables were turned, and large numbers of anti-Semites were posting at a cite that gave millions to Republicans, Chad would be all over it. He would use it to embarrass all Republicans, and especially those who took money from such an organization. It is reasonable to expect us to do the same with the above.
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