SWATing/Intimidation/Harassment: When Is A Big Story A Total Non-Story? (KingShamus)

When a member of the Left's Distraction Corps declares it so. 

At Salon, the ever-serviceable Alex Pareene reviews the uproar about convicted domestic terrorist and perjurer Brett Kimberlin's lawfaring and decides it's all too complex and ridiculous to sort out.

So in one reality we have a standard-issue right-wing character assassination piece against a liberal activist few liberals had actually heard of — think Van Jones, redux — that has grown into a much larger campaign accusing him, without evidence, of serious crimes, all because of his long-forgotten past. In the other version, an untrustworthy huckster who’s insinuated himself into a certain circle of liberal activism panics when conservatives highlight his disturbing criminal past and put his current position in jeopardy, and he responds with a campaign of shameless legal intimidation — and, perhaps, certain allies of his go even further. Your tribal political sympathies — or your opinion of the people involved on each side –  may determine on which side you fall, though no one involved seems capable of telling the whole truth.

Naturally, Alex is above such tribalisms.

*pause*

Hahahahahaaaaaaaaahahahaaaa!

Please read the rest of Dan Collins' piece over at the terrific Conservatory.

Alex Pareene's pathetic whitewash job on the Brett Kimberlin/SWATing affair is not a shocker.  Homeboy gets off on preening his hipster-lefty credentials.  It would be more surprising if a junior Juice-Box Mafia cheapshot artist and all-around hack liberal stenographer such as Alex Pareene broke with his fellow thumbsuckers and actually dealt with Brett Kimberlin's actions in an honest way.

 

But Dan's post got me thinking about how progressives are prone to a very convenient sort of selective amnesia.  In Liberal Fascism, one of author Jonah Goldberg's larger points is that progressives have tried to cover up their movement's adoption of many fascist tenets.  This is problematic because most people tend to think rather poorly of fascism.  Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini are rightly seen as some of the 20th century's worst world leaders.  As such, folks are loath to openly associate themselves with murderous dictators or their repellent political beliefs    

 

So how does the Left go about having fascist tendencies while denouncing the ideology at the same time?  Simple.  It pins any past fascism they were guilty of on "America".  But what about Woodrow Wilson's  press censorship, paramilitary neighborhood watch programs and a general hatred for dissent? How are we supposed to feel about FDR's reliance on utopian Third Way politics, relentless economic experimentation and internment camps?  For the liberals, none of those things are the sins of a particular left-leaning political party.  Instead, they--and many other radical agendas--are examples of the basically evil nature of the United States.  

 

At the same time, the progressive movement insists that traditional American conservatives, the intellectual children of 19th century laissez-faire liberalism, are the actual fascists in American life.  This means that conservative shortcomings are always assigned to the Right's report card while liberalism's faults are never marked against them.  Liberalism is never to blame when something goes wrong in the US, even when it's obvious they've gone and shit the mattress.       

 

In 2012, political intimidation in American public life is an instrument exclusively employed by the Left.  Elements of contemporary liberalism either ignore it, encourage it or subsidize it.  In many quarters, progressives find silencing their political rivals through violence or threats useful.

 

However, when our modern-day Maoists become too bored or ashamed of Brett Kimberlin and his tactics, he will meet the same fate as the Left's torrid love affair with 20th century fascism.  First, there will be a concerted effort to shove him down the memory hole.  Then, in a few years, he'll be transformed from the Tides Foundation's favorite Alinsky-guided missile to a vicious right-wing reactionary.  Finally, when all the dust has cleared, Brett Kimberlin will be a cautionary tale of how we all have to 'tone down' our 'heated rhetoric'.  

RELATED:  The great RS McCain goes deeper into Salon magazine's woes.  Alex Pareene gets a friendly shout-out!