If David Norris was a right-wing candidate, what would have been the reaction this week? Yep, thought so. He would have been universally pillared, dragged through the mud as a hypocritical bastard (which he isn’t) and destroyed online by smug arseholes (like myself) acting like they’re judge and jury.
What Norris did was wrong. End of. Using a position of influence to appeal for clemency for a former lover is wrong, doing it when the charge is statutory rape is close to criminal. He has apologised to his supporters (of which I was one of them) and so we move on to vote for some crony from deep inside the political system to become our symbolic leader. Thanks David.
The real story though is the reaction to the events of the last week, both in the media and the public sphere. It shows why right-wingers point to the ‘liberal media’ as their enemy and distrust everything that comes from it; much like we see Fox News, without the laughs.
The older I get, the less likely I am to describe myself as a liberal, purely for the reason that when you start reading the comments on the Guardian, you realise everyone is as petty and narrow minded as each other. The worst is their outright contempt for anyone on the right, particularly if they’re, whisper it, religious. You can almost here them spitting at the screen.
It’s enough to drive you to drink, or vote for George Bush.
And this is the point, the liberals are driving others away, which is, y’know, supposedly against their whole creed. They are becoming as divisive as the right, and are beginning to use the same tactics to provoke an emotional reaction from the public rather than a considered one.
I was really saddened when Senator Norris dropped out of the race, he would have a made a great President, probably one of our best. But just because he is a liberal does not mean he deserves any less or more of the media and public’s ire.
And don’t blame the blame culture, when someone runs for President of a country they are rightly held up to higher standards. Senator Norris could have shagged half of the country and I wouldn’t give a shit, but he interfered in a legal process that involved a child’s welfare and while that can be forgiven on a personal level, a President simply can’t think like that.
All the self-serving articles and pleas for him to re-enter the race are doing so simply because he was the only legitimate left-wing candidate and people feel they should support him on that basis alone. This is akin to ‘those stupid Americans’ voting for a Tea Party candidate because they are a born-again Christian.
Moving on from these outdated notions of ‘left’ and ‘right’ is the next great political step, and will only be made by the people through common consensus. It’s when we start debating ideas rather than ideologies that we’ll be able to really start digging ourselves out of the mess we’re in today.
So screw the left, and shaft the right, it’s time to think for ourselves.
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