Part II: The Unbearable Lightness of Being David Sirota

Note:  Earlier this week I published a post about narcissism in zealots, and I used Tim Wise as an example. I also mentioned David Sirota because it was a twitter storm erupting around their tweets that inspired Part I: Tim Wise Meets a Buzz Saw Called Black Twitter. Initially, I planned to write about both men in one post, but there was such an abundance of material, I split the post into two parts.  

I don't like David Sirota. Honestly, I loathe him. I'm not one who usually loathes, but then again, I haven't encountered anyone with so many loathsome qualities, except Glenn Greenwald, who is vastly superior in the loathsome quality category.  Anyone who has had an encounter with Sirota is well aware of his inflated sense of his own self-importance as well as his mistaken notion that he possesses a great intellect. Forgive me for using an old cliché, but if you look up the definition of narcissism in Webster's, you'll see Sirota's picture. Combine that with his zealotry, and the result is a self-righteous, self-important buffoon.

 You may very well ask what is his passion? Opposition to use of drones and NSA spying? Single payer health care? Climate change? If your answer is none of the above, then you'd be correct. His passion is an unquenchable hatred for President Obama. For example, shortly after President Obama's climate change speech, and the night Wendy Davis was filibustering the anti-abortion bill before the Texas state legislature, David Sirota was tweeting criticism of President Obama's climate speech, a speech that was generally hailed as wide-ranging and historical. When all of liberal Twitter was glued to the tweets coming from the Texas state legislature and celebrating Wendy Davis, Sirota took that moment to unleash his criticism of the President's speech, pointing out once again the President's "hypocrisy." In his blind hatred of President Obama, he misses his own hypocrisy. Don't forget this is the man who was a paid political operative for Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, or as I like to call him, Gov. Clean Coal.

My first encounter with Sirota was during the health care reform debate. I responded to his tweet criticizing HCR by saying the reform package looked like a good compromise to me. His reply was:

"@desertcronenm Mitt Romney's GOP health care bill is Obama's bill. A verifiable fact. So logic suggests u like it because u like Romney/GOP." 

Of course, that was waving a red flag right under my nose. I certainly didn't take the high ground in our little debate, but snarky condescension has a way of triggering my inner childish self. However, I discovered during that exchange, he has an Achilles heel--his wife's resounding defeat in a Denver school board election, but more about that later. During that exchange, one impression began to form in mind - Sirota doesn't like to be crossed by ordinary folk. Evidently, I'm not the only one.

According to Dan Sachar, "when Sirota responds to comments – he keeps falling into this trap, continually calling Obama supporters blind supporters, insulting our intelligence with broad generalizations that include the notion that any criticism of David’s critiques of Obama MUST therefore come from cultists who can’t stand to hear any criticism at all. In other words, Sirota isn’t ever wrong, and if we take issue with his analysis we are guilty of 'blind worship' of Obama."

When I tweeted a comment about his tweet criticizing the climate speech, I knew he would come after me because his narcissism would surely overwhelm his brain. Predictably, he showed up, just as he had several times before when I commented some of his other tweets. As I said earlier, Sirota does not like to be criticized by the common folk, the peasantry, the groundlings; however, I was prepared. After all, I taught teenagers for 30 years so I know a few things about adolescent behavior. By then two of my followers joined in, and Sirota accused us of being "slacktivists," those on twitter who bitch but do nothing. He rattled off that'd he'd worked on the campaigns of Sen. Sanders and Gov. Schweitzer, never mentioning he was a paid political operative.

And, then, like fly to the honey, he asked what we'd ever done, what offices we'd ever held. Once again I reminded him that I'd actually run against and beaten an incumbent school board president. He suddenly ignored me and launched an attack on the African-American follower, never once referring to me or the other white in the conversation again. As several twitter followers observed, the criticism of ordinary folks who happen to be black particularly enrages him. Let me rephrase that--any criticism by any African-American, well-known or not, really perturbs him. Refer to his rebuttal of Melissa Harris-Perry's criticism of white liberals although she never mentions his name.

Probably his most egregious offense though, and generally directed toward AA's, is his quoting Martin Luther King Jr. to support his latest criticism of the President. Sirota, who clearly believes his intellect and knowledge is incomparable, cannot see that African-Americans really know Martin Luther King Jr. They really know not only the history, culture, and folklore of their own people but all American history, which includes political history as well. As a result, the verbal beat down he generally receives on Twitter is just brutal.

His narcissism blinds him. His zealotry cripples him. He is shouting into an echo chamber, only admired by those who reflect his own arrogance and white privilege. He doesn't care if we commoners buy into his garbage; he doesn't care if we are unmoved by his arguments. I spent 30 years persuading teens to love Shakespeare, poetry, and writing. You don't bully people if you want them to listen to you. Nope, he's found a small market for his Obama Hate and targets for his derision.  For all his pomposity, his self-aggrandizement, you know what he can't do no matter how dirty he fights, no matter how many of his liberal friends come to his aid? He can't win a school board position. But I can.