I’ve been getting some nasty mail from readers saying that I overlooked nasty signs in the 9/12 rally. In my comment on the signs – and different natures of protest – I was going by the Washington Post report, linked to below, which did not record any nasty signs. To appease certain readers, and just to be clear: I don’t like nasty signs, or nastiness in general.

A reader sent me a photo of an adolescent carrying a sign that said something about the “Communism” and “racism” of the president. And he was wearing a T-shirt that said something about a new era of Communism and how it requires a counterbalancing McCarthyism.

No, I don’t like this kind of thing – and I don’t like adolescents to wear political T-shirts, or to carry political signs. I don’t even think that college students should participate in politics (as a rule)! My general sentiment is: Wait till you know something, and have some experience of the world, and maybe wait, too, until you have to pay taxes.

Let me reproduce the above-mentioned reader’s e-mail, then make a (further) comment:

What do you think of these homemade signs? I wonder if you will post anything on The Corner condemning this kind of crap. Seeing as you are the phoniest of phony patriots, it seems highly unlikely. No surprise there. Like any phony you are a sniveling coward.

My question: Why do people write like this? My answer: I don’t know. I have taken up this issue lately, including in my Impromptus of last Thursday. I’m afraid that there is a jacobinical spirit about, and it is reflected in the inboxes of those of us who write on politics – who write on the Web about politics. There is almost never any such mail – or any mail at all – about articles that appear in print.

And these e-mails pretty much never have a salutation or a signature (as was the case with the above).

This “jacobinical spirit” I have mentioned is sorely at odds with the easygoing, republican nature of this country. But of course, that is only one aspect of this country’s nature. I am not naïve (alas). (If only!)