The joint venture of Newsweek and Washington Post On Faith blog has been a source of near constant enjoyment to me since its inception.
My delight with them stems mostly from a masochistic delight in illogic. Writer Susan Jacoby does not disappoint me with her latest rant. Jacoby, one of On Faith’s in house atheists, wishes in today’s edition that all ObamaCare protesters, whom she calls “wretched specimens of humanity,” would be made by a mythical God to suffer a painful sickness to make them “feel like they were dying.”
So sweet. But remember conservatives are the mean cruel nasty un-American types.
Jacoby starts out invoking Jesus even though she’s an atheist. She clearly has the understanding of religion of an atheist. She starts out by saying:
“it does seem reasonable that the Jesus of the gospels would not have bothered to heal the sick unless he believed that health care was a right.”
Brilliant, huh? OK. According to that logic, then booze should be a right too since Jesus turned water into wine.
Are there any editors over there at On Faith? Heck forget editors, are there any grownups over there? But it only gets worse from there.
Jacoby then goes to call anyone who opposes ObamaCare “anti-health care reform crazies” who are not only “morally wrong” but “antirational” and “immoral.”
She goes on to wish there was a God if only to bring down a plague of sorts on conservatives:
One reason I don’t believe in God is that if he existed, I just feel certain that he would inflict some really, really uncomfortable (not fatal–I’ve never liked the Passover tale of the plagues or the slaying of the Egyptian first-born) ailment on the screamers at town hall meetings. Something like poison ivy. No, not bad enough. Poison ivy plus a flu severe enough to make them seek medical attention. And then they’d have to wait, say, five or six hours to see their doctor, since physicians pack in too many patients because insurance companies reimburse them for high-tech procedures, not talking with patients and treating ordinary miseries of the flesh. Yes, if there were a deity, he’d definitely spread around some nasty bacteria at the town halls. And he’d spare the too-polite proponents of reform. This fantasy god wouldn’t kill anyone but would just make a few wretched specimens of humanity feel like they were dying. Just for a while.
Funny thing is that I’d bet Jacoby is firmly against waterboarding and torturing Al Qaeda terrorists but I guess she’s cool with torturing conservatives. Making someone feel like they’re dying sounds like torture, doesn’t it?
Are we sure Newsweek really wants to stand behind this imbecilic hate-filled rant? Or has quality so long since left these two bankrupt organizations that they don’t recognize drivel upon seeing it?
August 21, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Have you read Newsweek lately, since they revamped their format? Keith Olberman looks positively centrist by comparison. Even Anna Quindlen has bailed out.
August 21, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Don't forget that anyone who opposes ObamaCare is a racist, as she pointed out but failed to support with anything even resembling a fact.
What is her excuse for 1993?
And can anyone oppose the president on any issue with being called a racist?
August 21, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Does anyone here know about Susan Jacoby? She is the epitome of a 60's liberal lost in the modern era. Though she claims she was raised Catholic she says she only learned of her father being Jewish in her 20's (you'd have thought "Jacoby" would have given it away, much like "O'Donnelly" might possibly give away one's Irish roots). As an avid atheist and vehemently anti-Catholic, we all pretty much know what she is thinking on any topic at any moment in time. Probably the best thing any of us could do for her "cause" is to ignore her completely and not take anything she says seriously. Thankfully, her following is dying out with the last of the flower-children.
August 21, 2009 at 8:40 pm
"Funny thing is that I'd bet Jacoby is firmly against waterboarding and torturing Al Qaeda terrorists but I guess she's cool with torturing conservatives. Making someone feel like they're dying sounds like torture, doesn't it?"
Well, google Susan Jacoby and torture and you get: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/susan_jacoby/2009/05/whats_wrong_with_torture_let_me_count_the_ways.html
August 21, 2009 at 9:15 pm
There's just so much "I know how everything works" in her rhetoric and logic that it's not worth debating her.
If this is being Liberal, than I want to be Right.
August 21, 2009 at 9:20 pm
she's living in lala land if she thinks a 5-6 hour wait would be avoided if we had obamacare. We have socialized medicine in Ireland, and you can wait a year for an appointment, and sometimes several days for a bed if its an emergency.
August 21, 2009 at 9:22 pm
she's living in lala land if she thinks a 5-6 hour wait would be avoided if we had obamacare. We have socialized medicine in Ireland, and you can wait a year for an appointment, and sometimes several days for a bed if its an emergency.
August 22, 2009 at 1:42 am
Re: CM,
In other words, she'd rather the sick conservative be cursed with 5-6 waiting for a doctor to actually treat them then the hours to be told it'll take months or years to actually be treated for something due to the "blessings" of socialism.
But those months our simply the peon's homage to Susan Jacoby's god, which is simply the super-powerful state.
August 22, 2009 at 2:05 am
I found a howler in her line about how we "conservatives" don't believe in a "right to health care."
I found it funny precisely because the governments that ration health care and deny it to so many in countries around the world, and who do advocate denying it to many here, obviously don't believe in a "right" to health care either.
Afterall, rights are something governments aren't supposed to be able to deny.
Or is Susan saying I have a "right" to health care – unless I actually need it?
August 22, 2009 at 7:47 am
The illogic hurts my brain. I'm all for health care reform and think something needs to be done, I'm just not convinced the current plan being proposed is the way to do it.
August 22, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Wow, that has to be one of the most illogical, nasty rants I've ever read. Where the heck is an editor? The bit at the end, when she says that God is a myth so it's up to her and her friends to preach the gospel of humanity, sends chills up my spine. Because we all know how great the "gospel of humanity" has turned out to be everywhere it's been "preached."
August 22, 2009 at 2:46 pm
The hypocrisy is glaring.
If you're a person of faith and speak out against abortion or homosexuality – you need to shut up and sit down.
If you're a person of faith who, on the grounds that treating human beings with a C-B analysis or QALY undermines the fact humans are created in the image and likeness of God – you need to shut up and sit down. Or you're going to hell (which doesn't really exist anyway, if you believe there's no God) or deserve a horrible disease.
But if you're, say, Barack Obama, it's okay to play the "health care as religious obligation" card. Because he's…well, I don't know.
August 22, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Rermember, Obama's the One who said to Republicans that he wanted them to "be quiet" as he went about fixing healthcare.
August 22, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Yes, "be quiet." Because, according to the liberals, there's nothing less democratic that open discussion, loud arguments, dissent and debate. In fact, the nation was founded on the single agenda and voice of the majority party wasn't it? Right. Be quiet. Hopefully we won't be "quiet" in November, 2010.
August 22, 2009 at 7:52 pm
I think we should get even with Newsweek by wishing a tornado on them. That'll show them. Maybe we can bring about Armageddon by wishing harm on each other. No, I'm not a Troll! I visit this blog everyday! Even though some of you find my comments irritating, please stop deleting them. Thank you!
August 23, 2009 at 5:30 am
My whole family (outside of immediate) voted for Obama, and is most definitely liberal. My sister, my brother, and now my father, who has had a subscription most of his life, have all canceled their subscriptions. My father even wrote a note in stating why, including how the magazine had been "ruined." So hey guys – even the liberals are getting how bad Newsweek is… Will THAT be when they begin to notice?
August 23, 2009 at 5:47 am
My apologies, my memory was off. He called it "a joke." And it is not like he has become a conservative, nor have my siblings. It's just not even good reading to liberals anymore…
August 23, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I hope newsweek headquarters gets a tornado. And if we're lucky, maybe there will be homosexuals in there when it happens. We need to practice our faith better by spending more time condemning sinners and people who disagree with our partisan politics.
August 23, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Hey annon@ 9:29
Dude, you really need to put the bong away and get some fresh air.
Oxygen, it does a brain good.
CBS
August 25, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Oh, Susan Jacoby. I was a fan of her book about revenge, Wild Justice, and the dust jacket photo of her was, well, sexy as hell. Or so I thought at the time. What a disappointment she turned out this way. Oh well!