Get 'em, Dean

Dean Esmay of Dean's World posts about reader reactions to his statement that "anyone who paid to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 has blood on his hands." Some, but by no means all, of the good part:

"You see, the cure for hate-speech is more speech. Nazis and communists and Michael Moore apologists and white supremacists are all allowed to say whatever they want--and the rest of us are free to call them out on their lies and to identify them for what they are.

"I am also amused by people who say that my words are 'angry.' They aren't. They're my dispassionate evaluation and judgement. It's simply the truth: if you paid to see this movie you are complicit in mass murder--because it is used as a recruitment film by terrorist groups, and its many lies motivate some of the very people shooting at our troops now. It has also created a morale problem for our troops--not a pressing one, as it turns out, but multiple reports from the field confirm that it's so.

"So. If you paid to see this film, you have blood on your hands. Furthermore, if you defend this movie, then you are either horribly misinformed or you are a human cockroach."

Strong words, yes. But they're just words, and getting steamed about them is more about you and your issues than what the speaker is actually saying. Calm down, make your case, and don't be offended if people answer your strong words with their own. You gettin' all this, Dixie Chicks?