July 20, 2009 11:42 AM
Note to Molly - updated
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Adventures in mercy? Or adventures in the legalism of a self-defined ex-legalist?
You know, it strikes me as truly juvenile for a grown up woman who has decided she doesn't like my take on Sarah Palin to drop a comment expressing her dissent, then when I reply to write a post claiming she meant the comment to be private (it wasn't an email,but a comment) with an accusation that the blogger-she-no-longer-likes would not have published her comment.
Then she stirs up her fans to come over and take potshots too. She titles her call to arms Don't Like Sarah Palin? You really Just Hate Special Needs Kids. Yeah - deliberately misrepresenting what I thoughtfully and carefully said in my reply: that over and above areas of political disagreement, the way-out-of-control venom directed at Palin is fueled by what Trig stands for. And no, Hillary Clinton did not experience the same degree of hatred in the mainstream media.
But Molly obviously isn't listening as her need to make herself the heroine of her anti-legalism drama requires a crowd of meanies to joust with.
Grow up, Molly. There are too many important things going on in the world for you to indulge yourself in this kind of playing-the-victim.
I don't go out looking for fights at blogs I don't agree with and neither should you.
And btw, as I noted in my reply to one of your rabid readers and as it might surprise you to learn, a great deal of my most conservative posts are from Martha Sears.
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Comments
I used to follow Molly's blog but haven't read over there in a while.
I think she is very, very fortunate to not have experienced the things sp. needs moms go through every day. There's a reason many of us don't broadcast our children's disabilities if we can help it. The blame game and the vilification of our mothering and our children has to be experienced to be believed.
When the word "mutant" and the phrase "let Darwinism work" is thrown around at babies- that's hate. And it's not common, but not unusual, either.
The fact remains that advances in prenatal diagnosis are celebrated by liberals, because women can "take care of" "problem pregnancies" before it gets too complicated. And as long as human beings are seen as "problems", simply because they are unable to conform to the "ideal", that's hateful, too.
Palin's choice is a very public comment on long held beliefs of what SHOULD be done about these "problematic" humans. Whenever someone makes a choice that is different from ours, especially about such sensitive subjects such as child raising (or, not raising, as it were) people feel threatened and lash out.
And it's Palin's choices, embodied in Trig, that inspire the sputtering outrage of the left.
Oh, and to Molly's commenter - "the bible thumpers" don't all love Palin. The biggies in the patriarchy movement hate her, actually.
Posted by: Milehimama | July 20, 2009 11:44 AM
It's unfortunate that people like Molly are too blind by their own ambitions to not see the bigger picture. I do NOT recall anyone ever bashing Hillary like the loony-lefts have done to Sarah Palin. I just don't see how people can say "Oh the Right did this to Hillary." Huh? WHEN? HOW? And to what degree? Who ever eviscerated Chelsea the way Bristol has been destroyed? Who ever made nasty, immoral, totally unfunny sexually perverse jokes of Chelsea when she was 14? The hypocrisy of those like Molly just astounds me and the only thing I can do is fight them when I can and use my votes to block theirs so they can't repeatedly vote for those that are morally and ethically corrupt... like Obama.
Don't waste your precious time worrying about people like Molly and her drones. Pray for their conversion of heart so they start to see by the Light of Truth.
Posted by: Dirtdartwife | July 20, 2009 12:26 PM
Mmmm...yes...I think we can all agree that grown Christian women should not be so immature as to heat up a civilized conversation on politics with snide remarks and well...just trouble. Amen!
Posted by: Kathryn | July 20, 2009 12:44 PM
I think there are a couple of different negative views of Palin. I do not know if Barbara means that all who disapprove of Palin are in the same camp as the Left (by which I mean the establishment leftists). I tend to think probably not.
I can definitely see how someone who once liked Palin and voted for her (as governor and VP) has lost some of his enthusiasm and confidence in her. It sounds to me like this is where Molly is coming from. But that does not change the fact that there has been a constant, steady stream of hatefulness directed towards Palin since her candidacy as VP. I think this hate stems in large part from Trig and what he symbolizes, just as Barbara has described.
I know it is no longer posted, but there was one columnist (cannot remember who know) who mocked Palin for saying she thinks there should be more Trigs in the world. I would venture to guess if someone on the Right had said this about someone on the Left, the media would be all over the story. And yet, the attack on Palin goes largely unnoticed. This is an example of the underlying hatred Barbara refers to.
Posted by: Michele | July 20, 2009 1:23 PM
Sad thing is, Molly used to have a wonderful blog with conservative, evangelical Christian views and then a couple years ago, she turned on a dime and went WAY to the other side. She even used to moderate a message board for stay at home, very conservative, christian moms, but it is shut down now. :( It is very sad to me to see her site now, and think of the wonderful articles and things I used to read on her old blog, and then read the things on her new one. Satan is such a deceiver!
Love Samantha
Posted by: Samantha | July 20, 2009 3:37 PM
Samantha - I would consider myself a conservative evangelical Christian, but I also enjoy Molly's blog and although I don't know her personally, see a woman who loves Jesus and is trying to follow him as best as she can in a broken world. This doesn't mean that I agree with everything she writes about, but I don't see a need to vilify anyone simply because some of his or her posts make me feel uncomfortable or are outside of my range of experience.
I write this with all respect, but I am troubled that you would so easily imply that Satan is deceiving her just because she holds some opinions that are different from what you are used to or what you've been taught and say that she is "WAY on the other side" when she self-declares to be neither conservative nor liberal.
I do think it's unfortunate how much ill-will has been expressed on both sides as a result of Molly's initial -- and respectfully written -- comments.
Posted by: Corrie | July 20, 2009 6:53 PM
This dialogue is very disturbing. I hope/believe there is a lot of miscommunication going on. I hope it can be reconciled. Both Molly and Barbara have a voice which I appreciate and respect. Something is amiss. Grace and Mercy please
Posted by: Barb | July 20, 2009 11:58 PM
If there is one thing that I know and admire about Molly it is that she is always considerate and respectful, even when she doesn't agree with one's viewpoint. She remains gracious even when under attack. I am a little suprised at the tone of the comments and the post here, and I venture to say that nothing Molly said warrants it. Call me a 'drone' or a 'rabid fan', if you will, but this is something I needed to say.
Whether or not one agrees with someone, a tone of mutual respect is always beneficial to promoting understanding. Direct, even vicious attacks seem to be unwarranted to me.
With respect,
Valerie
[Valerie - I have heard otherwise from ex-fans of Molly's. One thing I've noticed as an ENTJ is that more passive/aggressive personalities tend to fight in subtle ways that many people do not pick up on - like Molly titling her piece in a way that completely mischaracterizes what I carefully wrote and then siccing her misinformed readers on me. To me, that's vicious.
Molly has been given a gift of leadership and she owes it to her readers not to manipulate them like that. Had she listened carefully to what I was saying and found the common ground, she could have led them to greater understanding - instead she led them to less. Evidently her politics of tolerance and compassion do not extend to those she now characterizes as the enemy.
I have heard from people privately who thanked me for calling Molly out who referred to her as "the legalism cop."
As I said, I don't go patrolling other blogs to fault them for their carefully stated opinions. But Molly evidently does.
Everything that has been said here about me - "If you like her, you're okay with her; if you don't watch out" could be said about Molly. She has unfortunately become as legalistic in her zeal for her own brand of anti-legalism as the very people she has set up as enemies for her crowd.
The ray of hope for me in situations like this is that having been in my 40s and lived through it, I know there is more growth ahead. It's just a matter of how quickly we can learn.
Trust me, Molly is fighting back in a vicious way - she's just subtle about it and I prefer to be open.]
Posted by: Valerie | July 21, 2009 4:46 AM
Molly's initial comments may have been "respectfully worded," but her blog entry on the subject misrepresented Barbara's article, and there were some passive-aggressive swipes thrown in for good measure. By passive-aggressive I mean the comment about her surprise that Barbara published her comment, when she fully expected it to not be published. I don't mind disagreement with Barbara, such as Molly's first comment, nor was Barbara's second response bad, but Molly's misrepresentation over at AiM (namely, you don't like Sarah because you hate Trig) is what created the confusion. Add to that her verbal diggie wiggies and I may be done reading over there myself.
Posted by: Carla | July 22, 2009 1:21 PM
