Not A Tear. [View all]

[The Doctor.]

I'm not writing this for gravedancing purposes, but I refuse to judge anyone who does or anyone who doesn't.

What I have to say is this: Andrew Breitbart is dead, and, in the balance, that's a good thing. No confetti, no ceremonies, no dancing or preaching, it's just more 'right' than 'wrong'.

I feel sympathy for those who relied on him or even actually cared about him outside of politics, but his passing means there is one less liar, one less hater, and one less enemy of reason in the world. He did nothing for people beyond fomenting hatred and poisoning the public discourse. He even went so low as to vilify Ted Kennedy, a man who actually helped millions of people, including the very morons who reviled Kennedy at the behest of people like Breitbart. In fact, I have a message for all of you lurking wingnuts on that very point. Too bad it requires basic literacy to get. Otherwise you might actually learn who is really on your side and decide to join the civilized world.

But you won't. Because you've been taught irrational hatred, and then been programmed to believe that the people trying to get through your thick heads are your enemy.

And that really is the point. Breitbart, like Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Beck, and all of the other proven liars (For you wingnuts: "Proven" means 'can be demonstrated in reality' not 'because I say so'), was part of the mechanism that keeps the people of this nation divided by inciting fear and anger in many many Americans. He was part of the propaganda machine that deliberately turns people who might have been legitimate conservatives into batshit-crazy, hate-filled enemies of reason. Without reason, people vote and act against their own self-interest and the interest of society. When you can't reason with someone, you cannot have productive discourse. Without productive discourse, civilization is put in jeopardy.

Now imagine for a moment what the nation would be like if suddenly all the actual liars, haters, and enemies of reason just shut up and went away.

We could go back to being a nation of ideas, creativity, and solutions. We could actually achieve peace, equality, comfort, and satisfaction for almost everyone. We could start managing the planet properly and ensuring that resources would always be renewed for future generations. We might argue about how to go about it, but ultimately, and through reasoning, solutions emerge from civil discourse.

Breitbart was an enemy of all of those. His departure will not be enough to stop the forces of avarice that poison our nation and divide us, but ultimately, the world is a better place without him.