Here's what I would have said to Hugo Chavez, had I seen him at the last

[Flatulo]

81. Questions and answers

So do you believe I'm being paid to diss Chavez? Or that others on other boards are being paid to worship Reagan? Or am I misunderstanding your meaning?

I'm not at all sure why anyone would have to pay people to sing Reagan's praise on a public forum. I mean, slightly less than half the people who voted preferred Romney to Obama, so one could infer that they err on the conservative side of the political spectrum. Of that spectrum, there are surely many on the far right side who indeed worship Reagan, and would unapologetically sing his praises on a public forum. Why would anyone need to spend money to see his legacy elevated?

As far as Reagan-worship, I apply the same standard. I don't see much hope for societies that are kept afloat by the personality of its leader. I don't see any danger of this happening with Reagan. I do see it with Chavez. They're going worship his corpse like Lenin, for crying out loud.

What's equally baffling to me is that is inconceivable to you that a democrat could be critical of Chavez without being a paid shill or under the direct control of Fox News or Rush Limbaugh. That's kind of a laughably narrow viewpoint, don't you think? Either that or a sizable number of people on DU are getting paid to diss the man. Jsus, I wish I was getting paid. I'm trying to survive on SS and I'm really struggling.

Frankly, you seem to be strangely limited in your ability to see viewpoints other than your own, at least on this particular issue. You also seem to believe that you possess a monopoly on the truth, and that all other viewpoints are simply RW propoganda. Not a very liberal trait, and honestly, it reminds me of many posters in the old Dungeon, who always claimed that anyone who did not believe that 9/11 was an "inside job" was obviously a paid shill. That's a cheap intellectual shortcut that's frequently used to cut short discussion with those whom we disagree.

Edited to add: the phrase 'Hero worship' has been around for a long time, certainly long before people started using it in the context of Hugo Chavez. The fact that people are using it is much more indicative that it simply perfectly fits than that people are being paid to use it. Occam's razor.