Knee-Jerk

This blog is called THE REACTOR for a reason. I tend to be very opinionated (at the very least, in my own mind) about things that happen from day to day. I have knee-jerk reactions to many things, which sometimes I unfortunately write about and publish without a second thought.
Such is the nature of the blogosphere (+10 points for using that word), and it's not always bad. They say that the first initial reaction to something is usually correct. And I have several test scores in college that would verify that statement.
But sometimes, the knee-jerk reaction is cultivated into an almost reflexive hatred of something, or in this case, someone.

The political atmosphere has been like this for the past ten years or so (or perhaps that's just what I remember). First it was a violent reaction of hatred and scoffery (sp?) at anything Bush said. Then, in the past few years, it's been a violent reaction to anything Pundits have said. And I mean you, Left and Right.
This is not okay. It leads to ridiculous things being said and ill-researched, illegitimate claims being touted. Both sides, including myself, are guilty of this.
A great example, and one that made me laugh, was an incident between the Huffington Post and Glenn Beck. Which is about as extreme to both sides as you can get.
Apparently, Mr. Beck wrote a fiction novel. He made a book trailer for it, which is apparently the thing to do these days. In it, there are some cleverly-worded lines that seem to be, to excuse the expression, ripped from today's headlines.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man

There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.

That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,

And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,

As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,

The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Pretty crazy stuff, right? Well, the good folks at the HuffPo reacted instantly to it, calling it "crazy" and "ridiculous." They called the lines "about nothing." Soon after that article was published, Mr. Beck owned them all on the radio by pointing out the lines are actually from The Gods of the Copybook Headings, a poem by Rudyard Kipling. Yes, that Rudyard Kipling.
The Huffington Post immediately responded with a halfhearted disclaimer:

UPDATE: This was not meant to imply that Beck wrote the lines used in the trailer. They are from a Rudyard Kipling poem, "The Gods of the Copybook Headings."

And everyone went: "Uh huh. Riiiight."
Be careful what you say, boys and girls. You just might be wrong.