dishonesty

[realthog]

The far right in this country is obviously terrified by their fairly clear implication, through their violence-laced rabblerousing and their militant campaigning for the relaxation of all restrictions on gun ownership, in the Tucson catastrophe -- which, let us not forget, is just the latest in a long series of massacres the country has had to endure for the sake of not upsetting these virulent, responsibility-shucking infants lest they throw an even noisier and more socially destructive tantrum than their usual.

So the meme has become one of claiming Loughners was really a leftist and/or of blaming liberals for pointing out the obvious connections rather than going along, yet again, with the far right's blatant lies.

Why am I so sure they're terrified? Well, here's a poll just posted by the wingnut site One News Now (run by the American Family Association, so you know from the outset this isn't likely to be honest):

What's your response when liberals use tragedies like the Tucson shooting to argue for more restrictive gun-control laws? (related article)

1. <input ... >Typical liberal reaction
2. <input ... >Guns are not the problem - people are
3. <input ... >Read the Second Amendment, please

If these . . . specimens actually had the courage of their convictions they'd be posting a poll that offered the reader some honest options -- i.e., options that disagreed with the atavistic political views of the editors of One News Now. The fact that they don't is, it seems to me, pretty solid evidence that they're frightened of facing up to the truth . . . and of letting anyone else do so.

Comments

[kylecassidy.livejournal.com]

They used to have yes and know answers but it became an all too easy target for leftwing fundrasing groups. "hey, check out their poll and give us $$$ to fight them" and you'd have these crazy left-lopsided poll results making them look foolish, they also used to allow comments on polls so you'd get some left-wing group poll-bombing them with votes and comments till it looked like Greenpeace was running the place. They switched to the "choose a or a" about two years ago. Which is sad.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

Which is sad.

Online polls as a whole are pretty sad! It's not so much the polls themselves as the uses to which they're put -- you know, people like the AFA staggering around saying 99% of Americans believe anyone who sells a condom should be shot, sort of thing. And the other sad bit is that far too many folk are naive enough to believe this -- i.e., to think that an opinion poll is an opinion poll is an opinion poll.

Myself, I like PZ Myers's habit of making fools of such polls by encouraging his readers to go vote for the rationalist option. (He may be why One News Now changed its ways!) In at least one instance a reader discovered that the poster of a poll -- I think it was the AFA -- was using a bot to redress the balance and pretend the religious option was winning.

[kylecassidy.livejournal.com]

found this:

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/01/61982