Our way is good; your way is bad

There is a guy going around with a video camera, setting up crazy situations, and getting people to say silly things.  He then publishes his videos and the right jumps over the follies of the few as indicative of how bad the whole organization is.  He did it against ACORN and now he has done it against NPR.  ACORN has closed its doors; NPR will probably survive because it has many well-heeled supporters.

However, if somebody entraps a Republican like Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, it's called unfair and brushed off as inconsequential.

Subsidies for green energy are bad; energy costs should be determined by free market forces.

But the same people who say this want to supply subsidies to the oil and nuclear industries.

Interestingly, the nuclear industry is not supported by the free market; banks and investors think they are too risky.  See "Japan disaster may mean setback for U.S. nuclear energy", Washington Post, Jia Lynn Yang, 2011-03-13.

ACORN and other nuts

In the age of attack politics, if you want some balance you have to look deeper into many allegations. Two actors have posted on YouTube videos purportedly showing how corrupt ACORN employees are. They have succeeded in getting otherwise thoughtful people to jump on a bandwagon cutting all government ties to ACORN.

What is not highlighted or even mentioned in many news stories is that the pair had to spend months visiting ACORN offices in several cities before they found people who behaved as they wanted them to behave.

"In a statement over the weekend, Bertha Lewis, the chief organizer for Acorn, said the bogus prostitute and pimp had spent months visiting numerous Acorn offices, including those in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia, before getting the responses they were looking for." - "Conservatives Draw Blood From Acorn", Scott Shane, New York Times, 2009-09-15

What I would like to know is why Republican politicians aren't cutting their ties to the Republican Party because some Republican politicians had extramarital affairs. What I would like to know is why politicians who are Catholic aren't cutting their ties to the Catholic Church because some Catholic priests are pedophiles.

Actually I know why. There are two reasons. First, these two organizations are favored organizations; in general, they can do no wrong in the eyes of their members. Second, most people recognize that the actions of a few don't reflect on the many in the organization or even the organization itself.

However, in the age of attack politics, a disfavored organization must be doing something wrong, no matter how much good it may be doing. In the age of attack politics, when something wrong is found, no matter how few are doing wrong, then the whole organization is "proven" to be corrupt.