I enjoy reading BoingBoing, by and large, but I am on the verge of giving up on it. BoingBoing is written by a number of very clever and interesting people who happen to have political and cultural values that are, to put it mildly, left of center. That’s fine, but lately I have been noticing more and more… nastiness from these people.

I’m using BoingBoing here as a proxy for the entire Left because of two things I found there this morning.

First, they link to the story of Rachel Buchmann, a WHYY reporter who’s in hot water (and who has resigned her position) because of a nasty voice-mail message she left for the operators of Laptoplobbyist.com, a conservative website. BoingBoing’s comment is ‘I hear you, Rachel’.

What is it that they hear? Here’s a transcript of the message she left, made from the recording on Laptop Lobbyist’s website:

Hi. My name is Rachel, and my telephone number is (215) 351-2057. I wanted to tell you that you’re evil, horrible people. You are awful people, you represent horrible ideas, God hates you, and he wants to kill your children. You should all burn in hell. Bye.

Ms. Buchmann, writing here, blames this message on ‘spam rage’; she says that she was getting spam from the people at Laptop Lobbyist, and that this was what drove her to such distraction. You will note, however, that she does not mention spam in the message, though.

BoingBoing’s comment on this message wishing ill on others’ children, I remind you, was: ‘I hear you’.

Second, BoingBoing today also has an article about some posters that the Department of Justice has recently created to instruct cops (presumably) how to deal with Muslim and Sikh head coverings. In Western culture, a hat is a particularly impersonal garment: asking someone to take it off is less of a big deal than asking them to take off their coat. In some other cultures, however, the hat-analogue is quite personal; asking someone to take off his or her turban or hijab in public just isn’t done. So the DOJ, on both posters, recommends:

• Show respect.
• Explain why you need to conduct search.
• Offer private room for search, if available.
• Searches should be done by members of the same sex.
• Review applicable policies and procedures for more information.

Well, a BoingBoing reader has created, and BoingBoing has linked to, a parody poster titled ‘Common Redneck Head Coverings’, ostensibly for ‘South Asian shopkeepers in rural areas’. The text of this poster really deserves to be reproduced in full here:

Redneckism is a sub-culture that originated in the American south during the 19th century and is distinct from both patriotism and common sense. For dietary reasons, practicing Rednecks are often obese and reek of cheap domestic beer. Some Redneck men meticulously groom the top of their head, and let the back fully develop to produce a mullet effect (see photo a). Redneck “athletes” may fashion a NASCAR trucker cap (photo b). Redneck “activists” may don a white, cone-shaped hood (photo c); hoever, many opt to just be Toby Keith (photo d).

Points to Keep in Mind when servicing customers wearing a Redneck Head Covering:

Whistle “Dixie”
Explain that health dept. requires customers to wear shoes inthe store.
Offer pro wrestling, monster truck and hunting magazines.
Customers should be services by members of the same race.
Review applicable policies and procedures for more information.

Get it? Ha ha ha ha ha, let’s all laugh at the funny joke. The DOJ has produced some admittedly idiotic posters, both of which are solely about showing proper respect for people from other cultures, and for their habits.

The leftist response? To make a poster making fun of people from another culture, and accusing them of being racists. What does it matter, anyway? Those people are ‘awful’ and represent ‘terrible ideas’.

They’re free to believe whatever they like, of course, and in the grand scheme of things these are hardly horrible offenses. But you can hardly expect anyone to listen to you when you talk about ‘tolerance’ and ‘multiculturalism’ and then behave like this toward a culture that you do not happen to embrace.