The Law of Karma: Take 1
"What comes around, goes around." or, "You reap what you sow." Two famous expressions we in the West have, which sums up the Eastern concept of Karma. The Matrix films called it "Causality," while interlacing Jewish and Biblical imagery, but I digress.
Most people would agree with the concept, whatever expression one prefers. This morning, as I fire up one of my favorite blog-watching sites, Blogsnow, I see karma in action.
Righty blogger of repute, Jeff Goldstein, was trolled by a "progressive blogger" who has some very nasty things to say. Details can be found in his post: More from the tolerant left. Black Five harps on it: BLACKFIVE: A New Low, deservedly. And the Wicked Witch of the Right fairly bubbles with vitriol. No doubt her army of salivating lap-dog pit bulls are Googling the perp’s address…
Even Liberal bloggers are flaming her comment pages in disgust.
The blogger in the cross-hairs, Dr. Debbie Frisch, a psyche professor at the University of Arizona until this blew up, deserves what she is getting. Ill intentions, beget ill deeds, resulting in unwanted consequences: It’s Karma, folks. Although I don’t wish her ill, and although I understand this is a learning experience that likely will change her demeanor and help her work out whatever issues caused this, I can’t help being amused by the whole thing. Can any Buddhist ask for a better Dharma lesson than this?
She has since recanted - South(west)paw: white flag - but words, once issued, cannot be retracted. As many from either side of the political fence extend the flame war by contacting her employer, she was forced to resign. As she puts it:
Jeff - I lost my job. You won. Could you call off the troops?
She hasn’t yet realized that the "troops" also consist of her readership and like-minded philosophers - like myself - who lost a great deal of credibility thanks to her lack of mindfulness. To be sure, the right suffers from it’s share of whackjobs, but that’s their mystique. They benefit from that, feed on it as Ms. Malkin frequently demonstrates. The progressives, however, by their self-chosen title and the label "Liberal," must hold to a higher standard of behavior at all times. Dr. Frisch blew it. And by doing so, took all of us lefties down with her, by the karmic convergence of ideological association.
This illustrates another Buddhist teaching of Interdependence: All things are connected. By shamelessly spouting her vile thoughts, Liberals and their ideas nationwide are discredited. I’ve never met the women, and likely never will, but I am affected by her senseless tirade, as much as any.
To Jeff Goldstein, to all conservative Americans, I extend a heartfelt apology from the Liberal sphere for Dr. Frisch’s words. Please refrain from the very human tendency to generalize all progressives by her actions. The vast majority of us know better. May you and your family live in peace.
Namaste.
July 9th, 2006 at 8:40 am
This is almost a nice gesture, Tannish. But what, exactly, is vitriolic in Michelle’s post on the matter? What “fairly bubbles”? Who are the “pit bulls Googling”? And how, exactly, is Blackfive “harping” on it in one single post?
Why can’t it just be wrong? Why does condemnation have to go both ways regarding the clear wrongdoing of just one person? Why must your condemnation include things about your political opponents that just aren’t true? Why isn’t it enough to note that one of yours is way off the rails?
This is why we never get anywhere.
July 9th, 2006 at 11:49 am
Namaste:
This is mostly an intelligent and reasonable post. But you had to put this sentence in there too: “No doubt her army of salivating lap-dog pit bulls are Googling the perp’s address…” and this: “To be sure, the right suffers from it’s share of whackjobs, but that’s their mystique. They benefit from that, feed on it as Ms. Malkin frequently demonstrates.”
And then you have this plea to Jeff Goldstein: “Please refrain from the very human tendency to generalize all progressives by her actions.”
Yeah. what you said. Please refrain from the very human tendency to generalize all conservatives by any one conservatives actions.
Is it possible that you are unaware that we on the right view Michael Moore, Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Steven Colbert and a slew of other prominent leftist figures in pretty much the same way you view Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, etc? Is it possible you don’t understand that when liberals get together to gush over the political hit-job movie “Fahrenheit 911″ that we view that as you “feeding on the mystique” of lies, exaggerations and intentional misrepresentations?
You sound like a reasonable and rational person, and yet in the very post that you ask the right to separate Dr. Frisch from the “normal” progressives, you demonstrate exactly the same kind of simplified caricatures of the right as Dr. Frisch, does, you just don’t descend to the level of offensive vitriol that she espouses.
I spent a lot of time reading responses to this affair on both sides of the blogosphere yesterday, and let me tell you, it is amazaing how startingly similar the attitudes and condescenscion is on both sides. You could take a typical post on a right-wing website, replace “moonbat” with “wingnut”, replace “Kossack” with “Dittohead”, replace “traitor” with “baby-killer” and post that on a leftwing site and it would slide right into the thread as if it were born to be there.
It’s sad, really.
July 9th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
Deb wrote:
Jeff - I lost my job. You won.
Of course, she didn’t lose her job. She resigned, and writes that no one asked her to resign or put pressure on her in any way. In fact, she writes that she was planning on resigning anyway, since she wanted to move back to Oregon to be among the moonbats there (her words)
It’s like giving up watermelon for lent. Big sacrifice, eh, Deb?
The truly disturbing thing isn’t that Deb executed this psych experiment on the blogosphere (say something outrageous, see how stirred up they get). It’s the posters that are defending her. Yes, she was out of bounds, they say, but Rumsfeld/Goldstein/Malkin/Bushitler are so much worse! Anything she does is fair, since her targets are pure distilled evil!
Then there are those that say all she did was words. Words never hurt, only actions count.
To those people, I will note that Charles Manson was never charged with hurting anyone himself. That Pol Pot never fired a gun, that Jim Jones only gave the orders to mix up the coolaid and pass it around. Words ARE deeds.
It would help everyone - Debbi, the left side of the blogosphere, the general public, EVERYONE - if Debbi would show some genuine contrition. I doubt she will, because she doesn’t believe she’s done anything wrong.
July 9th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
The vast majority of you clearly don’t know better, sorry.