May 8, 2011 7:56 AM

Increasing the volume does not meaning increasing the sanity

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

(apologies to Keith Olbermann)

Lawrence O’Donnell

I can think of no better way to advance a sane, rational position than by having a sane, rational discussion with an ideological adversary. This is not a story of one of those discussions…because one simply doesn’t have a sane, rational discussion with the likes of Orly Taitz. Taitz, long-since anointed by the Mainstream Media as the “Birther Queen,” is demonstrably beyond anything even faintly resembling a rational discussion when it comes to the President and his birth certificate.

A wise man once told me that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting a different result. Lawrence O’Donnell fell into this trap, thinking that Taitz would see the light and confess to her crimes now that President Obama has released his long-form birth certificate. Nice try….

I admire O’Donnell’s resume, his politics, and (occasionally, at least) his passion. Having said that, he has a penchant for screaming at guests on his show that I find truly disturbing and disingenuous. A healthy, vehement disagreement is one thing…but when an interviewer loses his objectivity to the point where he becomes every bit as irrational as his guest…well, what’s the point?

“Look, she’s crazy,” he said. “I invited a crazy person on this show to see if the crazy person…could say something responsive, something human, to the document that was released today…and she wants to play with all of her other kid’s toys.”

Wow…Orly Taitz is as crazy as a March hare? Who could have seen that coming??

O’Donnell’s first mistake was in having Taitz appear on his show and assuming that she would be both contrite and compliant. When she doubled down on the crazy, O’Donnell came completely unglued. Any reasonable person with even a minimal aware of Taitz would expect her to be foaming at the mouth. Hell, I’d be disappointed if she was anything but crazy; it’s her raison d’etre. O’Donnell has no such excuse, and all he’s done is paint himself with the brush that he hoped to tarnish Taitz with. When Orly Taitz looks like the saner half of a conversation, you have to know that something is terribly, horribly amiss.

Passion and partisanship are not necessarily bad things. Stand up for what you perceive to be the right thing is rarely a vice. Losing your objectivity to the point where you’re screaming at people is completely and utterly pointless. I know of which I speak (I’ve traveled this path myself), which is why I feel so strongly about O’Donnell’s faux pas. He, for reasons known only to himself, expected Orly Taitz to be able to carry on a rational and reasonable exchange of ideas. He came completely unglued when he discovered that she remains unchastened (and as irrational as ever…quelle surprise). Somehow, I can’t help but thinking we deserve better.

There are many issues that can, should, and indeed must be discussed…but screaming will accomplish nothing. How can we effect a meeting of minds at full volume? O’Donnell of all people should understand his role and his responsibility. Those of us on the Left deplore the talking heads at Fox Noise Channel when they wallow in the realm of propaganda and partisanship; how can we sit by mute when other journalists allow themselves to be sucked into the same mud pit?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on May 8, 2011 7:56 AM.

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