X-Post: Nihilist Denial of Untruth

American Nihilist X-Post
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Is it wrong to reply to a foolish accusation by denying there's any truth to the charge?

Donald Douglas at American Power posts a short quote from an Anonymous Liberal post, and then tries to prove the quote untrue with examples that are at best tangentially related to the subject at hand. Here's what The Anonymous Liberal said: :

"The notion that there is anyone of significance on the American left who still believes in anything approaching genuine socialism is pure fantasy. That debate, to the extent it ever really happened in this country, was settled a long time ago. What we're dealing with right now are differences of opinion regarding how best to manage the failure of a number of major companies. It's not a debate about socialism vs. capitalism; it's a debate about methods of damage control. But many conservatives have so deluded themselves with their own propaganda that they're not even capable of following the conversation any more. So instead they spend all day indulging in paranoid delusions and debates that have no relevance to current events. It's a sad spectacle."

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Let's look at Professor Douglas' single line reply.

The Anonymous Liberal needs to get out more often, perhaps to a newsstand or a protest rally or two, for example.

The "newsstand" link goes to a Christopher Hitchens article in The Atlantic titled "The Revenge of Karl Marx." While Hitchens speaks a whole lotta words, none that I can find refute what A.L. said about real socialism and the American Left. Read the article for yourself, and try to find and quote the link Donald was trying to make. Please post it in the comments if you succeed in finding it.

"a protest rally" links to an earlier AmPow post about the G-20 protests in England. This time he's found some socialists, but they are European socialists, not members of the American Left. (And even among the European Left, one wonders how significant these socialists in the photo are...)

"or two" is a link to a post against Ward Churchill. The closest thing to any allusion to a "protest rally" is a photo of a table with "anti-imperialist" literature and t-shirts on it. There are 4-5 people in the background of the picture any of whom may or may not have anything to do with the table or anything on it.

Aside that, there are references to Churchill being "the darling of the American left," but even less to support the allegation than Donald offers here for his claim about socialism and the American Left. In fact, both the Ward Churchill post and the one to which I'm replying suggest that that A.L. is right about conservatives deluding themselves with their own propaganda. They don't need to show evidence; They just know, and think you ignorant because you don't see it, too.

Ward Churchill is a nutjob, and to call he and/or his followers significant individuals on the American Left is laughable. So too, is suggesting that anyone of significance on the American Left--or a significant number of the American Left-- is driven by or interested in Marxism or socialism.

As so often happens, Donald Douglas offers nothing in support of his spurious charges and name-calling. But as so often happens, that doesn't stop him.