This post collects many thoughts I have had over the past several days here.

I have a little plea for my fellow lizards (and it applies to myself as well).

It is hard to be a moderate.

Moderate does not mean “sees both sides” in a mealy mouthed sort of way. It does not mean trying to be acceptable to both sides or somewhere in the middle.

It means not subscribing to the dogmas of either the left or the right.

Anyone who reads here will find that most lizards are pretty appalled by the lunacy of the wingnuts. We do have thread after thread about it - and since the wingnuts are on the war path politically these days, there are many things to talk about and many polarizing wedges that come from the madness of their insane views.

Then there are the so called lefties. We used to call them moonbats here. They too, have their wedge issues and dogmas. For wingnuts, the wedge issues are religion, race, homosexuality, conspiracy theories and pandering to fear. For moonbats, the wedges are religion, race, conspiracy theories and pandering to fear.

They simply have different targets.

For the wingnuts, we have gone over and over how it is anti-science and fear that lily white America will be taken from lily white people.

For moonbats, the hot button is Israel.

Both fringes debate in the same way.

When their dogmas are challenged, they get a whiny persecution complex going. They make false equivalences and whine that you did it first… They make strawmen and shift goal posts. They do pretty much anything except adress those factual statements which challenge their narratives.

Consider these two statements:

Is it possible to criticize Obama without being called a racist?

Is it possible to criticize Israel without being called a racist?

The answer is yes to both - if your critiques are based in fact rather than loathing. This is also a very good way for dogmatic types to avoid answering whatever factual challenge to their narrative was posted. After all, rather than making a counter point, one can take the easier route of getting self righteous and projecting false victimization.

Consider some more:

wingnut,

On AGW: I see you have no patience for someone who doesn’t share 100% your opinions…

moonbat,

On Israel: I see you have no patience for someone who doesn’t share 100% your opinions…

Actually not true. In both cases, a moderate has no patience for people who ignore data. The fact that Jihadists are violent, murderous, theocratic, thugs who stand against all the values America holds dear and who fervently try to destroy Israel has almost as much hard data to support it as AGW does.
There is a difference between fact and opinion.

On the proposed Cordoba Center mosque:

Wingnut,

The Muslims are coming to take over America! They are desecrating holy sites in America! Followed by hideous fear and hate mongering and other such…

Moonbat,

Islam is a peaceful religion the world over. We just don’t understand them, and if America and Israel in particular didn’t brutalize them so much, there would be peace.

Reality: Most American Muslims know better than any of us just how crazy things are in the Middle East. That is why they came here. Those who are citizens, are just as much citizens, as you or me and they have the same rights. They are decent hard working folks who mean well on average - about the same as any other group in America means well or works hard on average. They are neither sinners or saints - just like everyone else.

The Islam of the Jihadist or the Islamic regime, is brutal in an unmitigated and medieval way. They do not want any peace other than the destruction of those they hate. They have never wanted peace and see wanting peace as a weakness. There is no cultural equivalence or moral ambiguity to publicly stoning a woman - or cutting off her nose and ears because she fled her abusive husband, or suicide bombing innocent women and children , or making decapitation videos, or executing people for witchcraft or keeping one’s population in a frenzied level of ignorant and superstitious war mongering. The Islam you see in power in nations like Saudi Arabia or Iran is brutal, barbaric, and filled with a desire to proseltyze the world more fervent than the desire of fundamentalist Christians to Christianize. Only a deranged fool or racist anti-semite could consider the Taliban or Hezbollah or Hamas to be nice guys.

Either you believe that a civilized modern society has tolerance for all faiths (that do not call for violating the law, human sacrifice is right out for example) or you do not. If you do believe that civilized people respect the faiths of others, then you apply that standard honestly. Just as you come down hard on the prejudice and anti-Americanism of those who would deny other Americans the right to build a house of worship on land that they own legally, you should come down on the far graver denials of basic rights by the Islamists of the Middle East.

So to the wingnuts I ask, how they can possibly cling to American freedoms and decency while denying others basic American rights as afforded by the First Amendment?

How? On what planet did everything you claim to hold dear cease to matter? Take your hatred and ignorance and go elsewhere.

To the moonbats, I ask:

Supposed liberals routinely attack a nation that is responding to constant siege by theocratic brutal barbarians who pass out sweets when innocents are murdered. Supposed liberals side with brutes who institutionalize the worst abuse of women, the murder of gays, utter repudiation of religious freedom and complete rejection of democracy and higher education. Everything you hate about Fred Phelps is there - only more brutal and with power. Yet, you liberals seem to wiff past that and abuse the only democracy in the region when it defends itself - and honestly bends over backwards - far past any other nation would, including America - to prevent civilian casualties.

How can you so throughly and utterly confuse who the good guys and the bad guys are?

To the moderates I make the following plea:

Don’t let dogmas drive you away. Fight the stupidity and hypocrisy with the facts. Someone has to do it.