Say Anything Blog

Atrios a/k/a Duncan Black, the popular blogger responsible for Eschaton, has slammed Glenn Reynolds (of Instapundit) for wearing this "celebrate diversity" shirt.

Eschaton - In the previous post someone linked to a conservative t-shirt seller, proudly featuring Reynolds wearing this T-shirt. Now, Glenn's a gun fan and I imagine he's just celebrating the joys of guns, or whatever, but this shirt is no joke. There's a serious subtext here which is totally obvious to me that I think should be pointed out. Now, I don't think everyone who has purchased a shirt like this has purchased it with the subtext in mind, but nonetheless the message is clear.

The caption is "celebrate diversity." The colors of the caption are commonly used pan-African colors: red, yellow, and green. While, for many, the "joke" (though, I'm not sure why it's funny) is that here diversity is a diversity of guns. Ha ha. But, look, the clear message here is that the way to celebrate diversity, particularly that pan-African diversity, is to buy a bunch of fucking guns. In other words, celebrate diversity by arming yourself.

Glenn responds in his typically balanced, rational way:

I don't which is more embarrassing for Black, here -- the comments of his critics, or the comments of his supporters? Make up your own mind.

But hey, anybody can write a blog post that doesn't work out. It's no big deal.

But Michelle has the best line on the whole issue:

Perhaps the lefties have been so conditioned to read political incorrectness into everything they see, read or hear that they can no longer take anything at face value.

I concur.

If Atrios wanted to single out a Republican or "right-winger" to criticize for being racist or fascist he has plenty of deserving targets. The right is no more immune from wackos and hate mongers than the left is. But for Atrios to go after someone like Glenn Reynolds, a man who many conservatives criticize for not being right-wing enough, for being "the transmitter of some truly hateful ideas" is lunacy, plain and simple.