It may well be that Cooper
thinks that some distributive property in blame can hasten the healing
of our national divide. He is mistaken. That property is what allows
the right to continue to smear good people and what allows the left to
avoid leadership. Punishing both sides in an attempt to be "even
handed" is not a remedy for an asymmetrical situation where the larger
goal is to restore community.
It is just as important for Anderson Cooper to stop interrupting Shirley Sherrod's story of empathy and community with his own narrative of false equivalence as it is for Andrew Breitbart to be stopped from his cynical attempt to fracture Shirley Sherrod's story and to destroy the teller for some short term political Tea Party gain. Don't wave away the getaway car, Anderson and don't hop into the backseat, either. We need a remedy here, not reflexive scattershot punishment. If community is our real goal, we need to make sure Shirley's story is told and retold, not hijacked by revisionists even if we are those revisionists.
It is just as important for Anderson Cooper to stop interrupting Shirley Sherrod's story of empathy and community with his own narrative of false equivalence as it is for Andrew Breitbart to be stopped from his cynical attempt to fracture Shirley Sherrod's story and to destroy the teller for some short term political Tea Party gain. Don't wave away the getaway car, Anderson and don't hop into the backseat, either. We need a remedy here, not reflexive scattershot punishment. If community is our real goal, we need to make sure Shirley's story is told and retold, not hijacked by revisionists even if we are those revisionists.
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