4.06.2005

Pie continued

I just want to vent some more about this pie incident. It really pisses me off on many levels, so many that I don't even really know where to start. In fact, it pisses me off that I have to be pissed off about it. I don't want to feel sorry for Bill Kristol, and I sure don't want to have to admire his poise and perseverance, but the pie thrower has put me in that position. As Michael Wood says in his recent Word article (which is usually found online, but for some reason the server's down), I never thought I'd be caught dead clapping for Bill Kristol. (There are many other good responses to the pie incident in the recent edition of the Word, as well as some idiotic ones).

Yes, there are many things that bother me about it: the laziness, the idiocy, the damage to my and every Earlhamite's reputation, the obvious counter-productiveness, the egregious liberal hypocrisy. But more than anything, it's the self-righteous arrogance of the act that makes me seethe, that makes me visualize myself kicking the pie thrower in sensitive areas.

Bill Kristol is not Ann Coulter. He is an experienced political operative and journalist who very seriously advocates conservative policy and ideology. He has connections and experience at the highest levels of government, and his opinions are grounded in these experiences. I want to say to the pie thrower and to his far-left allies, "Isn't it possible that this guy might know something that you don't? Do you really think, in your infinite wisdom derived from your 20-odd years of life, none of which was spent actually making policy decisions, that you have the intellectual and moral clout to interrupt a legitimate presentation of ideas? Don't you understand, you sniveling, lazy, self-absorbed idiot, that fully HALF this country thinks that you are completely full of shit and that the guy on stage is right? Are they all morons? Have they all been brainwashed?

I can't wait to throw a pie in Walter Wink's face. When I'm criticized, I'll be happy to downplay my inappropriate behavior by noting how pacifism is an insidious, immoral philosophy that slavishly stands by while innocent people are killed, just as many people defend the pie thrower by criticizing Kristol as an imperialist war-monger. Ask the Iraqi Kurds who's more of a purveyor of death, Bill Kristol or an anti-war activist?

Ann Coulter is an inflammatory moron who doesn't deserve my attention. When she came to Earlham, I didn't go see her. I had that right, just as the pie thrower had the right to stay home. People in the audience had that right too, and they chose to listen instead. The pie-thrower violated their right to make that decision, and he should be punished for it.

If you want to change the world, you have to be smart and you have to work your ass off for it. The pie-thrower and his ilk, in addition to being wrong, are lazy. (That's not to say that Bill Kristol is right, but at least he has put his money where his mouth is and has worked to actualize his moral vision). I'll fight both groups tooth and nail; at least with the pie-throwers, I know I'll win.