When people talk about the 'liberal media'...
... what exactly are they referring to? 'Penthouse'?
I made the mistake of reading the news today, where I found that the current Idiot in Chief has been lying his ass off (big surprise there) throughout this whole 'war' (we now return to our regularly scheduled empire expansion). The supposed bunker we bombed to try to get Saddam (what the hell ever happened to Osama?) turned out to be a *farm*; the 'daring rescue' of one of our soldiers turned out to be a scripted farce which the family says they are not allowed to talk about; and Bush's cronies are making billions off of government contracts that didn't follow the usual legally-accepted bid process. These are all being reported as though they are *good* things.
When the previous Idiot in Chief was caught lying, they damn near hung him. The current one talks bullshit every time he speaks, and people wave flags. Up until last year, I believed that the reason people supported such flagrant deceit was that they realized that the American lifestyle depends on imperialist expansion (in this light Bush's lies 'benefit' all members of the empire, so he is to be supported, but Clinton's lies only benefited himself, so he was not to be supported)... alot of Americans seem to view war with something like the same mindset they view football games, i.e. rabid fanatical support of 'our side', but I had always believed that in the back of their minds they were capable of some moral sense, something along the lines of "I don't think we should kill people, but if it keeps our gas prices down..."
Last year I found out that I was mistaken, and it shocked the hell out of me. Brian, an engineer at my former workplace, was a very firm believer in the sanctity of American foreign policy. He would often comment on how the only reason we ever get into wars is to defeat the foes of democracy (remember democracy? I do...), and to bring enlightenment to the poor ignorant non-white peoples of whereverthehell we happen to be bombing this week. I guess it is notable that in the 'have'/'have not' classification, Brian is a 'have', so I assumed that his conservatism grew from a desire to keep what he has. Winston Churchill once said that a young man who is a conservative has no heart, but an old man who is a liberal has no brain... I don't agree with that line of thought, but I understand it, or at least thought I understood it, since I have observed that alot of people talk (too fucking much, if you ask me) as though their actions are moral and honorable, right up until there is a conflict that threatens their self-interest, at which point they 'look out for number one'. There sure seem to be alot of 'number one's out there nowadays.
I hadn't realized that there were people in this country that actually believed that 'God is on our side', that 'Might Makes Right', and that it is our duty to support the President regardless of how reprehensible his actions are. (Well, a Republican President anyway... I often wonder where all of these people with their lofty ideals regarding fealty were during the Clinton lynchings). In recent months, it's become all too clear though... I hardly recognize this country anymore.
I think that the main difference between the Democrats and the Republicans (I know, it's getting harder and harder to tell them apart thanks to the spinelessness of the Democrats) is that the Democrats tell us they are *not* going to fuck us, and then they fuck us, while the Republicans tell us they *are* going to fuck us, and then they fuck us... and to the Average Joe, this lends a certain sense of integrity to the actions of the Republicans.
Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch over something I've said, note this: my glitch is not with a specific party. Both of the leading parties suck, and I think that blind devotion to *any* party is contrary to the premise this country was supposedly founded on, that each person will actually fucking *think* about the issues and then vote their conscience. In practice, it's looking more and more like alot of people don't have a conscience, so they pick whatever party best fits their particular brand of ignorance and hatred, and they start yelling 'go team'.
The thing that really upsets me is that people are so full of hate... and instead of rejecting this, Americans are embracing hate as a value to be taught to their children. Hate people who aren't white, and if they are white hate them if they aren't Americans... and if they are Americans, hate them if they don't belong to the same party we do... and if they do belong to the same party as we do, hate them if they don't support all the same aspects of the party platform that we do. This is the great experiment in democracy? Puke.
I guess I owe thanks to Brian, for opening my eyes to this. He'd probably feel proud. And he'd never stop to think that his world, the world that he helped me to see, is so much bleaker than it needs to be.
I made the mistake of reading the news today, where I found that the current Idiot in Chief has been lying his ass off (big surprise there) throughout this whole 'war' (we now return to our regularly scheduled empire expansion). The supposed bunker we bombed to try to get Saddam (what the hell ever happened to Osama?) turned out to be a *farm*; the 'daring rescue' of one of our soldiers turned out to be a scripted farce which the family says they are not allowed to talk about; and Bush's cronies are making billions off of government contracts that didn't follow the usual legally-accepted bid process. These are all being reported as though they are *good* things.
When the previous Idiot in Chief was caught lying, they damn near hung him. The current one talks bullshit every time he speaks, and people wave flags. Up until last year, I believed that the reason people supported such flagrant deceit was that they realized that the American lifestyle depends on imperialist expansion (in this light Bush's lies 'benefit' all members of the empire, so he is to be supported, but Clinton's lies only benefited himself, so he was not to be supported)... alot of Americans seem to view war with something like the same mindset they view football games, i.e. rabid fanatical support of 'our side', but I had always believed that in the back of their minds they were capable of some moral sense, something along the lines of "I don't think we should kill people, but if it keeps our gas prices down..."
Last year I found out that I was mistaken, and it shocked the hell out of me. Brian, an engineer at my former workplace, was a very firm believer in the sanctity of American foreign policy. He would often comment on how the only reason we ever get into wars is to defeat the foes of democracy (remember democracy? I do...), and to bring enlightenment to the poor ignorant non-white peoples of whereverthehell we happen to be bombing this week. I guess it is notable that in the 'have'/'have not' classification, Brian is a 'have', so I assumed that his conservatism grew from a desire to keep what he has. Winston Churchill once said that a young man who is a conservative has no heart, but an old man who is a liberal has no brain... I don't agree with that line of thought, but I understand it, or at least thought I understood it, since I have observed that alot of people talk (too fucking much, if you ask me) as though their actions are moral and honorable, right up until there is a conflict that threatens their self-interest, at which point they 'look out for number one'. There sure seem to be alot of 'number one's out there nowadays.
I hadn't realized that there were people in this country that actually believed that 'God is on our side', that 'Might Makes Right', and that it is our duty to support the President regardless of how reprehensible his actions are. (Well, a Republican President anyway... I often wonder where all of these people with their lofty ideals regarding fealty were during the Clinton lynchings). In recent months, it's become all too clear though... I hardly recognize this country anymore.
I think that the main difference between the Democrats and the Republicans (I know, it's getting harder and harder to tell them apart thanks to the spinelessness of the Democrats) is that the Democrats tell us they are *not* going to fuck us, and then they fuck us, while the Republicans tell us they *are* going to fuck us, and then they fuck us... and to the Average Joe, this lends a certain sense of integrity to the actions of the Republicans.
Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch over something I've said, note this: my glitch is not with a specific party. Both of the leading parties suck, and I think that blind devotion to *any* party is contrary to the premise this country was supposedly founded on, that each person will actually fucking *think* about the issues and then vote their conscience. In practice, it's looking more and more like alot of people don't have a conscience, so they pick whatever party best fits their particular brand of ignorance and hatred, and they start yelling 'go team'.
The thing that really upsets me is that people are so full of hate... and instead of rejecting this, Americans are embracing hate as a value to be taught to their children. Hate people who aren't white, and if they are white hate them if they aren't Americans... and if they are Americans, hate them if they don't belong to the same party we do... and if they do belong to the same party as we do, hate them if they don't support all the same aspects of the party platform that we do. This is the great experiment in democracy? Puke.
I guess I owe thanks to Brian, for opening my eyes to this. He'd probably feel proud. And he'd never stop to think that his world, the world that he helped me to see, is so much bleaker than it needs to be.
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