Jingoes Rush In

Recently, I was reading something about the middle east, so much is going on there now, in addition to Iraq we have Hamas and Iran to deal with. Well, I came across the term "jingoe." I admit I didn't know the term. So I did what any curious red blooded American would do in similar circumstances, I "googled" it. Apparently the term has enjoyed quite a bit of morphed meanings- now it refers to those hungry for war (hawks, war mongers, etc). As I surfed through the more than 380,000 google results, I came across the Jingoes Rush In site. This is the site I would most like to focus on in this post. Why? Because I so dislike intellectual dishonesty and Jingoes Rush In could be the "poster child" for the term. I want to share with you my thoughts and impressions of this particular site.


I find this site to be an excellent case study of the liberal style of presenting an issue, that being an emotive presentation as opposed to a more rigorous and ultimately more honest intellectual examination of an issue. Now, I know I just made reference to the "liberals" here. Bear in mind, I am not out to bash liberals, they do a fine job of undermining their own image without my having to attempt to tarnish it further here. I don't like to generalize either. For the record, not all liberals are thoughtless and emotive reactionaries, okay? So there, let's continue.


First, although the CIA World Fact Book is listed as a source for the statistical information presented, which seems to legitimize the site, notice no one or no particular institution actually takes ownership of the site, not a good sign there. We shall simply address the site's liberal stance and not worry about which particular liberal(s) out there actually generated it and posted it, okay? Notice that the format of the site presents statistical information such as the land mass of particular countries and which country has more televisions juxtaposed with photographs that depict war scenes. This tactic of presenting irrelevant statistical and visual information together is effective because it stirs emotion. The liberals are emotive and thus so are their arguments. It takes nothing to let emotions sway individuals. The real effort is in harnessing logical, accurate, and honest intellect. You don't see any attempt at all to a well reasoned point of view on the Jingoes Rush In site, do you?. Liberals think, why bother with the intellect? They figure the American public is so easily bamboozled... Well, unfortunately many Americans are. Case in point is the site referenced above. Photographs of war are always troubling. After all, war is not pretty, it isn't nice, and it certainly is not the first option for the vast majority of Americans. Just because war is ugly doesn't mean we should simply abstain. We're adults, our intellect tells us that principles such as self-preservation and freedom are worth fighting for. Supporting a war that needs to be fought and won shouldn't make one a "jingoe" by default. See? And so what if America has more televisions than Vietnam or Iraq? This is an intellectually dishonest ploy. Finally, distribution of wealth and consumption (obviously taken totally out of context) are valid concerns. By jumbling the issues of war, patriotism, global conflict, wealth and consumption together in such an irresponsible way, each of these issues is robbed of their true importance. The bottom line? Significant and serious issues are utilized by the liberal agenda for the trivial purpose of bashing conservatives. Once again, conservative Americans are smeared as boorish, self-absorbed, insensitive, war mongering, pigs. Wow. The liberal approach is to paint anyone who dares to disagree with their way of thinking as intolerant. I ask you, who is really the intolerant bunch here?

Now, I am not one to advocate self-interested, greed driven, American imperialism; however, if your going to debate any kind of policy issues then be honest with your point of view. Disingenuous arguments do more harm than good. Hey, Fight the Power!