When one doesn't agree with what is written, without even reading it in the context of all the information available, it demonstrates with laser-like focus exactly the point that Brooks was making in his column.

In the last paragraph of he column, Brooks makes his main point...

"We live in a country in which many people live in information cocoons in which they only talk to members of their own party and read blogs of their own sect. They come away with perceptions fundamentally at odds with reality..."

Wow! Some of the responses here demonstrate exactly what Brooks was saying about the situation in our country right now. If this dosen't demonstrate the metaphor used to describe the act of lashing out at the bearer of bad news, I don't know what does. Kill the messenger.