monchieland: a reality-based community

Tiny Revolution has an insightful comparison of Holocaust deniers in Iran and right-wing Iraq Clusterfrack deniers in the U. S., such as Michelle Malkin. Seems like Iran isn't the only place that gives nutjobs a prominent platform to promote their wacky views. Here's a taste:

[E]very society has hatemongering nutjobs like Malkin. So the mere fact that she exists isn't remarkable. However, normal countries leave them to fulminate in their parents' basement. Abnormal countries let them host "conferences" or put them on Hannity & Colmes.

Two nitpicks: 1. I would replace the word "normal" with "healthy" and the word "abnormal" with "unhealthy"; and 2. Healthy countries do let them host "conferences" -- they just don't sponsor them and their leaders don't put in personal appearances.

That said, this post led to a discussion in the comments section as to whether right-wingers are more susceptible to this type of whackjob denial than lefties are. Well, there are lefties who claim, for example, that there's no evidence the Pentagon was hit by a passenger plane on 9-11 -- but I don't see them getting invited onto cable news programs or writing columns for The New York Times.

The lefty whackos who are the equivalent of the Malkins and Holocaust deniers have long been relegated to their parents' basements, while, starting about 20-25 years ago, the righty whackos have been invited back upstairs and onto cable news shows and daily newspaper op-ed pages.

In healthy societies, both brands of nutjobs would still be in the basement.