Kevin Drum's piece is a misguided recommendation, based on false
premises in several dimensions. Jokes are effective reinforcers of
a shared point of view. Rush Limbaugh et alia ridicule "liberals"
all day long on radio; its entertaining and the only people it
alienates are Democrats; the same tactic, with reverse politics,
can be applied to the cause of Air America.
Religiosity, and frequently religion itself, are more than faintly
ridiculous, and therefore the natural target for ridicule. Ridicule
the ridiculous should be an obvious prescription for a humorist,
while what really alienates most moderates from the left is the
very kind of earnest oversensitivity and eagerness to censor any
kind of interesting commentary, which Kevin Drum demonstrates.
Easter -- named for a pagan goddess, and featuring such pagan
fertility symbols as eggs and bunnies and peepers, is a strange
holiday to marry to the gross-out, bloody-mindedness of Mel
"Passion" Gibson and his fellow wingnuts. Silence wins few
converts.
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