Guilt and a dilemma...

Orright, do please follow along.

A state representative, from my town, started a blog. I believe he was the first legislator, or among the first, to do this. I was impressed not only with his sense, but with his willingness to confront and expose the foully corrupt practices he found in Nashville. I link to him on the sidebar. He, for some unknown reason, links to me. Kindness and pity come to mind.

During the post Katrina stuff, I read a very impressive piece by a Jamaican ( I grew up in the W. I.) columnist in which he suggested that crying racism to justify theft and worse was both dishonest and insulting to decent black citizens, and that black citizens might do better to strive to provide a good example rather than whinge and riot. I posted a quote from Mr. Levy's column as a teaser.

I reckoned without the stupidity and Pavlovian indoctrination of the left, for whom ANY discussion of racial matters beyond "Look at what the blue eyed devils have done to the poor innocent noble (insert victim group)" is absolutely taboo. Some of these defenders of tolerance read the posted part of the Levy piece and leaped to the conclusion they have been trained to see and so much wanted to believe.

Doubleplusungood thoughtcrime!

I discovered this when I saw comments on Rep. Campfield's blog denouncing him for linking to me. I truly didn't, and don't, see bigotry in Mr. Levy's thoughts or in my own. I believe, as he seems to, that we ought to expect, white and black, the best from ourselves and our neighbors. That justifying evil relieves the evil doers, and degrades those who share their colour by suggesting that they are mere objects whose behaviour is dictated by others rather than by their own decisions.

Now I see that in response to these bigoted jackass shouters, Rep. Campfield has found it necessary to disable comments on his blog. The protectors of free speech- at least when it's "Bush is a motherfucker"- have managed to silence hundreds of people. Many of them disagreed with Rep. Campfield and used the comments to challenge and teach a legislator who wanted to stay in touch with the people he represents.

Nice going, petty tyrants. I feel badly that my blog led to this, but not very. The left behaves as though the way to deal with disagreement is to silence it. I just happened to be the catalyst. I do feel sorry for the people of Tennessee, who have been deprived of a direct conduit to a part of their government.

My dilemma is this. Since quoting Mr. Levy makes me a "racist", should I remove the links to other blogs to prevent them being tarred by the same brush? I still believe the linked bloggers have something to offer, and so I want to give them publicity for what that is worth.

So, to my tiny blog roll, I'll take you off if you like. And for those who link to me, feel free to take me off as well if the assault of the civil liberty advocates bothers you.