Beware This Nasty Tactic from the Right!

[Towlie]

First, read this passage, taken from page 261 of The Audacity of Hope:

Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

Now, click this Google search to see how that got twisted into "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction":

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%22I+will+stand+with+the+Muslims+should+the+political+winds+shift+in+an+ugly+direction%22&btnG=Search

The false quotation, shamelessly altered and taken out of context, appears to be spreading like wildfire on the web. The Google search above, which narrows it down to the exact quote, presently returns about 24,500 hits. There must be substantially more if you allow for typing errors and variations, such as, for example, "I will stand with the Muslims", which returns almost 34,000 hits.

It is truly disheartening.

[elleng]

1. We must be aware that 'they' say

absolutely ANYTHING, with no relation to the truth; would be great if we could somehow respond to them all, but not possible.

Should read George Lakoff about addressing the Rep. b.s., which has been going on for so long.

[Towlie]

2. Here's a link to an online excerpt.

An excerpt from Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives can be found at http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/lakoff/howtorespond/view

But I regard it as more of a guide to personal one-on-one conversations, rather than Internet debates. For example, some of the points in that excerpt have been useful to me in conversations with my co-workers.

But the Internet, on the other hand, can be a completely different ballgame.