Oh Please
Posted on Thursday, March 17, 2005
Over on her blog, my friend Ginger is making the argument that “Democrats are whiny babies” based on an indisputable scientific source: random perusal of postings on Craigslist.
[Y]ou would not believe the amount of ads I’ve seen saying “Roommate needed. Must be easy-going, be OK with my pet, and not make too much noise late at night. NO REPUBLICANS.” I have not seen one single one saying “No whining Democrats.” If I post an ad, I just might, though. I mean seriously, people. Get a life. Whiners.
Yeah! You never hear those nice Republicans going on about how bad Democrats are…
- Ann Coulter: “Liberals love America like O.J. loved Nicole.“
- Sean Hannity on Abu Ghraib: “Was that a DNC plot too?“
- Rush Limbaugh on U.S. casualties in Iraq: “[T]he leftists in this country are just upset that there are not enough deaths to get people outraged and protesting in the streets against the war. They’re mad that these doctors are saving lives. They want deaths!”
…. and on and on. Yeah, those Republicans sure are nice.
Sound Off, Loudmouth!
“Should be easy if it’s a 50/50 deal.”
Unless the reason why those people are posting “no Republicans” in the personal ads is because they’re getting their image of Republicans from “people whose job it is to generate controversy and hence reader/viewer/listenership”, which I imagine is the case.
If that’s so you wouldn’t see a commensurate trend on the other side, since the Dems do not have nearly as well honed a media operation.
And of course there’s the fact that it’s Craigslist, which is generally a pretty progressive community anyway (their favicon is a peace sign, fergoshsakes). And it’s Craigslist DC, a city that votes 90% Democratic — hardly representative of the nation at large. So it’s a skewed sample.
Didn’t say the examples had to be from craigslist–I even tried some commercial roommate sites but couldn’t find anything, as well as craigslist in non-progressive towns (Columbia, SC; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX).
I’m not sure I buy the “media saturation made me do it” argument, either. Those Republicans are presumably getting a lot of their information about liberals through those same (“traitors!”) sources. Maybe there’s an area where they are as picky about roommates (or dates), but I’ve not seen it.
My recent favorite was from a liberal who wanted no non-Democrats (not liberals, mind you–Democrats, as if Zell Miller would have been a good match) but then whined about how she didn’t want any atheists. Well, honey, if you’re going to claim progressivism, you could at least tolerate those who don’t want to put you into a burka or send you off to die to hasten the End Times.
Web feed
As Ginger said to me earlier, “I hope Jason realizes I’m in it for the name-calling, not intelligent debate.”
But that being said, I’ve noticed a similar phenomenon in DC, so I’m not sure she’s blowing smoke a priori. To disprove it should be easy…instead of quoting people whose job it is to generate controversy and hence reader/viewer/listenership, just quote the personal ads and roommate ads that demand no liberals or Democrats.
Should be easy if it’s a 50/50 deal.