My Rant on Hypocrisy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/17/palins-email-account-hack_n_127184.html

So, recently I've been doing a lot of reading online. Granted, online may not be the best location to get honest and good opinions from either democratic or republican points of view, however, it's been a hot bed recently for political news. Now, I'd like to state for the record that I have both republican and democratic leanings, but I will focus here on some blatant problems I have encountered on the internet.

The internet provides an anonymity that is not available in real life. So, perhaps the commentary that I read online is not representative of how the majority of democrats feel about the republican party -- however, it's definitely swayed me in my opinion of the entire party itself. Allow me to explain.

The article above is from the Huffington Post, known to be a notoriously liberal news site. The article talks about how a hacker named Anonymous, who previously took on Scientology, recently took it upon himself to hack Palin's email address and post the contents of her email online. The accounts have since been deleted, however, the damage has been done. Now, this could be bad enough itself. Imagine the uproar if someone hacked Biden's or Obama's email address. The whole nation would be up in arms, democrats and republicans a like. It's not ok to violate someone's privacy in this way and then use it against them. The problem with this is the legal ramifications. Obviously, we don't know if it was her real email, or if it was planted now. None of this evidence is viable in a court of law because it was obtained illegally. Some may argue, "what about Bush's illegal wiretaps?" Oh, I'm not supporting those (although he does have the Patriot Act on his side, but we'll leave the legality and constitutionality of that for another post), however I am saying that this is ludicrous. And what have the reactions been online? Just a sampling:

• since the email has been hacked, the account has been deleted. which means that the GOP was prob behind this as an attempt to destroy evidence and blame "liberals"
• Why should she complain? Bush reads everyone's email -- if she's done nothing wrong she has nothing to worry about.
• Just downloaded the contents. very interesting.

There are plenty of others who decry the action, but a great majority blame her for being an "idiot" and other things of the like. It's frustrating to see that something like this is ok because it is Sarah Palin. I state again: imagine if this was Obama's email.

Anyway, let me come back to another point. The sheer superiority of the democratic party has recently turned me off to their politics and their followers. Now, this does not apply to everyone, and I'm aware of that. However, the vocal minority has truly begun to affect my feelings and political leanings. At every turn it seems to be that someone decries the morality of being a republican. No longer is it a choice what they are going to support -- it's become a matter of intelligence. According to many internet commentaries, no one can understand how any intelligent person can truly support the republican cause. While I do not agree with everything that has happened in either party, I feel it is a little dramatic to claim that any person who supports a republican viewpoint is an idiot. The facts exist: no one could foresee the complete collapse of our economy. No one could have predicted the outcome of the Iraq war. Just like no one could possibly predict the storms years ahead of time when they ravaged the gulf coast. Everything we have to do is reactionary at this point. Let's not fool ourselves: having someone else in the presidency could not have stopped the collapse of the mortgage industry nor the credit industry. Don't be fools.

It's scary to see the division being preached by the democratic party. I understand that their ultimate goal is to destroy the republican campaign, but a divided US is not better than a united country. They would preach tolerance and understanding for those that agree with them: That's the beauty of the US. Not everyone has to agree. And that's what keeps this country from utter chaos. Let's be a little more careful with how we choose to approach commentary and subjects, and decry all that is illegal. If you want to preach acceptance of all, accept all, whether or not their opinion differs from you.

I know, people will disagree with me, and I'm ok with that. My experience has lead me to this point. It's frustrating, but it's what drives this country. It's ok for people to have differing opinions on things. But let's remember: that doesn't mean that anyone is smarter or dumber. Most of the time it just means the opinion is different. There are exceptions to the rule, however, it's a good one to live by.

/rant.