Judging to Rushment

Wolcott, on the pitfalls of a well-trained conservative mind:

…In the comments section at Pajamas Media, a blogger named AskMom, popping her curlers and roiling her muu-muu, asks the heavens:

“Soon the accusations from the left will be leveled at us, for daring to assume this might be an Islamist/Jihadist inspired event. Just because the suspect was from Afghanistan, lived in a heavily Islamic community, recently had an arranged marriage in Afghanistan, was the usual gender and age for terrorists, etc, etc, etc.

“What is there about being a liberal that wipes reason and common sense, along with the ability to speak clearly, from people’s brains? And having lost those abilities themselves, how can they be so sensitive to those of us who still have them?”

Dear Mom, it doesn’t seem to have dawned on thee that the reasonable, commensensical thing to do when terrible news hits the wires and airwaves is to not “assume” anything until more facts are in, because initial assumptions are often wildly, injuriously wrong. Just ask Richard Jewell. There’s nothing “daring” about making snap judgments; it’s the lazy, reflexive thing to do.

What’s clear from this Pajamas Media clusterfuck and the ominous drumbeat over dhimmitude in its precincts is that warbloggers want the scary news to be true, they’re lusting for evidence of jihad in order to satisfy their worst fears and justify a crackdown on militant Muslims and the liberals who abet them. It’s the domestic front of the clash of civilizations they seem so eager to have others wage for them. …

In fact, of course, plenty of conservative writers, commentators, and even bloggers use a careful, critical methodology to evaluate facts and make reasoned conclusions. They’ll still line their cockatiel cages with their housekeeper’s foodstamps, but at least they’ll take their time explaining why it’s her fault for being poor. (BA-dum.)

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