Durbin and Rhetorical Excess

ShrinkWrapped, a practicing Psychoanalyst and Psychiatrist, has an interesting take on the rhetorical excesses of the left in which he has concerns that they could ultimately lead to violence. Here is a very salient part of what he wrote:

Durban (sic), et al, who assert that that Gitmo and Abu Graib have rendered us indistinguishable form Pol Pot, the Nazis and the Soviets, are objectively wrong. There is, in fact, no resemblance of what we are doing in Gitmo to what constitutes actual torture.

If Durban, et al, actually believe in the literal truth of their statement, then, at best, they have lost the ability to differentiate their own fantasied elaboration of reality and reality. This is to be expected in the fever swamps of DU, but is frightening coming from a United States Senator.

If Durban, et al, know they are making outrageously exaggerated statements, then they either are overtly opposed to their own country and are willing to risk the death of Americans in Iraq and at home in order to damage an evil administration that has plunged us into a horribly immoral adventure for reasons hidden to most of us, or they are cynically risking the deaths of American military people abroad and innocents in Iraq and elsewhere, in the service of their corrupt needs, for power and narcissistic gratification.

In the former case, their stupidity is dangerous. These statements offer reinforcements to our enemies in the information war, convince the Jihadists they can win if they persist long enough, and give impetus to the more radical elements on the left. Further, the risk of violence increases with every statement that legitimizes the kind of paranoid fantasies that are being supported by such talk.

Now here is the kicker:

If the Bush administration is the equivalent of Pol Pot, the Nazis, and the Soviets, all right thinking Americans must oppose the evil, even with violence. In fact, violence against such a state would be a moral necessity.

If they do not believe their own rhetoric, and recognize the hyperbolic nature of their assertions, their opportunism puts people in danger in the same way as above, but with even less justification; it is, if anything, more despicable.

You should read the entire post Dangerous Portents II and his previous post on the subject, Dangerous Portents.

(h/t: Roger L. Simon)