As you know, dear Readers, I make a diligent effort to keep abreast of the latest insanity from the "Look over there, a sick baby holding a dying puppy!" faction of the War Party. This taxing project involves several agonizing daily minutes on DailyKos, a site dedicated to the proposition that one ah dese days, oh boy, one ah dese days, you'll be sorry, you'll see. The people who frequent the site see politics as a sort of psychotherapy, and the emotional effluvia that runs through the postings and diaries is one of the most lachrymose spectacles imaginable, with all sorts of ostensible adults blubbering for someone to return them to the bliss of the Clinton years, almost universally described in terms otherwise reserved for the unique experience of the womb--warm, nourishing, safe, and with the screams of mommy's victims muted by walls of flesh. The metaphor unfortunately breaks down, but you get the picture. The frequenters of DailyKos have long since abandoned any conception of politics as merely instrumental. Into the tacky discipline they pour hopes, dreams, aspirations, and a lot of lousy personality. It's never difficult to find some sentimental panegyric to those wise, noble creatures, the Democratic Presidential Candidates. Consider something called the NewHampster, which writes:
I love Joe, Bill, John, Dennis, Chris, Mike, Barack and HillaryA Capetian would weep at such praise. Aside from the unremarkable inconsistency (how can you love Mike Gravel and Hillary Clinton simultaneously, for instance, unless you don't listen to what either one says. Ah, you don't. Ne'ermind) there's the goofy Happy-Meal marketing-copy feel of it. Shouldn't that last line be "Collect them all!"
[...]Joe Biden for his honest heart felt passion.
Bill Richardson for his wealth of experience in foreign policy, managing government and the fact the he's a Sox fan.
John Edwards for his life long work for the little guys.
Dennis Kucinich for his bluntness, honesty and principles.
Chris Dodd for his stance on national service.
Mike Gravel because you have to love the crazy guy.
Barack Obama for his beautiful oration, his organizing skills and his belief in Democratic principles.
Hillary Clinton because she will always stand by me and never, ever stop fighting the wrong wing conspirators.
Why do you love them all?
We could note the merits of each argument, but what would you say? That Obama is a terrible orator prone to the windiest gasbaggery since William Jennings Bryan at least, full of the sort of ecclesiastical nonsense that you could just as easily get on AM radio at four in the morning, Martin Luther King Jr. as rewritten by a bad white screenwriter and spoken by a pompous black guy? That Hillary Clinton will not "always stand by" anyone or anything? That she's not fucking Ghandi, for chrissakes, nor even a Staples Sister? That Mike Gravel is not actually crazy? That national service sounds good until--oops!--the next war comes around and highway cleanup turns into conscription? That there is no such animal, vegetable, or mineral as "the little guy?"
Even more than anyone that you adore.
37 comments:
eh, not so fond of the national service, even if it didn't ease the burden of military conscription. At a certain level it is a concession that the individual is physically subservient to the state. I'll concede meta-consent to paying taxes and generally abiding the law, but I draw the line at indentured servitude.
National service is the Dems way of improving and punishing The People; possibly also intended to give bewildered, aggravated parents an ironclad, relatively guilt-free way of getting rid of their kids.
For some reason, all I can think of is "Doe, a deer, a female deer...."
That's an interesting (arbitrary?) line to draw rana, "conscript my property, but not my labor."
Oh well, I wonder if a mandatory service plan would fly under the 13th anyway.
YF
One of the more influential objections to the continuation of the last draft came from the Gates Commission, led by Alan Greenspan and Milton Friedman, each of whom later compared military conscription to slavery. I happen to think that on the whole they each deserve half the praise they receive, but they've got that one right. The idea of the inviolability of the individual commands such a distinction; your poor paraphrasing aside.
Oh my gods. Oh my Gods! You weren't kidding. Someone actually wrote all that, without a wisp of irony. And then people chimed in and added their own little thoughts and then they were all doing it. And I read it.
i just threw up in my mouth a little.
the "nationakl service" thing is also a sly way of pointing the finger at those lazy, shiftless kids, away from those paragons of civic activism, middle aged white chickenhawks.
Scan DKO$ long enough and you can find even more mind-numbingly oblivious panegyrics than NewHampster's latest mash note to The Other War Party. DKO$ is the Mickey Mouse Club House for willfully ignorant dems, hopelessly deluded pwogwessive, and the occasional merit class pundit wannabe.
That's an interesting (arbitrary?) line to draw rana, "conscript my property, but not my labor."
Hardly arbitrary. Your person and your possessions are quite distinct - as one might easily demonstrate by considering the difference between shooting your TV set and shooting yourself.
There is also the argument that your possessions are, in fact, the fruits of social endeavour - without a stable civil society and a functioning legal system, there isn't much of an economy to speak of and so your property would consist solely of what you could personally fashion directly from the locally-available raw materials.
You know, I find this blog alternately fascinating and frustrating. Here it is in a nutshell:
What the fuck are you doing to make things better? I mean, at least the DKOS folks (of which I am not one) are trying. Whether or not you agree with them, their hearts are in the right place.
Whereas you're just a whiny ass bitch most of the time, with your own brand of effete snobbery and grandiose vocabulary. Basically, put up or shut up. If you don't think the system can be fixed from the inside, then get your friggin gun and go to town. Sheesh.
And as for the "inviolability of the individual" -- have you never joined ANYTHING EVER? Club, fraternity, job, marriage? Jesus, marriage is the ultimate violation of the individual: I have to schedule beer night. National Service is no different. Give something to get something. No different from a lowly paid-labor job.
Now, back to work.
Ahhh, the "do you have a better answer?" crowd can't bear it anymore. And with anti-homo innuendo even. Well played, sir!
Okay, Anon, so you're saying this is just theater? Fine, it gets 2 out of 5 stars, because it's fairly one-note.
Until you stop talking and start doing, you're just playing. Like my kid at home, with his fake kitchen set.
Curious: what was the anti-homo innuendo? Totally unintentional.
I don't see much skepticism in "Govt skeptic" I see "obey, you effete homos"
Govt true believer: There is a role for everyone. Why do you think writing is doing nothing? What are the Kos people doing but WRITING. The difference is what they write is generally drivel that supports the conventional wisdom and a system that has arguably failed miserably. Their drivel merely makes people feel happy that they donated $10 to Hillary. Forgive me if I don't see that kind of action, the writing or the donations, as very useful (in fact, they are counterproductive).
Ioz provides analysis and humor, which makes us laugh at the protestations of our rulers. Given the police state that has been created, laughing may be all we can do particularly as voting for Sleeping Hillary and any of the remaining Dwarves does nothing but maintain the current policy direction and system failures.
Mommy, one day I wish for a world so carefree that we can be completely ignorant of the founding ideals of a country and be rewarded for trying, irrespective of truth or success.
Brian, you're still missing the point.
If you only piss on stuff all the time, then you're just a pisser. Plain and simple. If you want to prove you're more than a pisser, then get off your ass and change the way things are. It's easy to be a pisser. It's hard to change things. You're doing the easy part. When you chip in and make constructive worthwhile change, then I'll respect this a little more.
On that note, I am a skeptic -- it just happens that I'm also skeptical of YOU, the pisser crowd. Deal with it. I never said "obey" and I never said "homo" but if you need that to disqualify me from your "bad kid" discussion, that's fine.
BTW, can ANYONE here offer a constructive suggestion on how to fix what's broken in our so-called republic?
la rana: so you want a world so crappy and hopeless that you no longer have the obligation to try to improve it? How clever and original. I thought we all outgrew that sophomore year of high school.
The road to hell. Etc.
For the record, IOZ is not an ass bitch. He's a top. Thanks. I'll be here all week.
Ahhhh, the truth is revealed. For the record, the misunderstanding can be attributed to a missing hyphen.
As in, whiny-ass bitch. As in, no homo interpretation. Just whining.
IOZ, I guess you're not doing the paving, just the whistling and walking, huh? Does that make you more virtuous? Do your thoughts redeem you?
But but but if it doesn't happen online, it doesn't happen!!! And and and I give regularly to MoveOn.org! And and and I voted for Kerry! That makes me soooooo much better than you faggy IOZ pissers who aren't constructive at all and just make fun of stuff and never never never do anything!
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
No, they were nihilists man. They kept saying they believe in nothing.
i saved latin. what did you ever do?
You are missing my point, Government War Party Stooge. What is the constructive activity that Kos and Democratic Party apologists are engaging in? Just let Nan, who has never met a Democratic Party war that she dislikes (read her reaction to some of Clinton's bombings and killings) do her thing?
There are plenty of libertarian and left-anarchist blogs and sites out there that are discussing concrete alternatives to the Minor Branch of the War Party. Ioz may not be one of those blogs, but so what! At least he isn't bleating about how HILLARY (a warmonger if anyone) is going to save us all!
Brian,
Funny how you've pigeonholed me as a war party stooge, when actually I'm nothing of the sort. I didn't want this war, I don't want any more wars, I want smaller government that actually does its job, and I want less death and destruction. I don't vote D or R, but I do vote. But you wouldn't know that, because you're too busy pissing on everything, including anyone who says anything that doesn't end in "yeah, fuck it man!" followed by a hair flip.
I am way way left, but I'm not an anarchist because only people with nothing to lose are actually anarchists. And, I should point out, no one blogging/reading here is really a "left-anarchist" either, in anything other than name, because they're too busy whining to actually accomplish any anarchy. Prove me wrong.
Singling out some goofball poster from KOS is just dumb. You can find outliers anywhere, and they're all saying equally stupid things. Like pretending I called someone a faggy homo - you know, that kind of stuff.
Try having kids -- it'll make you actually want to build and fix stuff instead of just ranting about how everything sucks. And if you already have kids, well, I hope they grow up with a slightly more positive world view.
So long folks.
Let's see if he'll do it again.
Truth and success are meaningless. All that matters is [in the manner of Rocky Balboa] "Tryiiiiing!"
Fuck the tournament? Okay, dude. I can see you don't want to be cheered up. Come on, Donny.
" Jesus, marriage is the ultimate violation of the individual: I have to schedule beer night. National Service is no different."
???
You see, Steven, if he hadn't married, he would've been denied student loans.
"Well you should just try having children some time and see what that's like mister!"
How's that for pathologically aggrieved? Ya know, 'Govt Skeptic' just lives for those days he can scream at some pimply faced fast food worker: "THE CUSTOMER'S ALWAYS RIGHT!"
"Jesus, marriage is the ultimate violation of the individual ... National Service is no different."
huh. i didn't notice at first, but i guess they *are* the same. good news, ioz: turns out, you're exempt from the national service gig anyway.
Has anyone else alighted on "accomplish any anrachy"? Because I'll tell you, I've doublethinked it to the North Hills and back, and I can't figger it out.
Oh, hell. I can't manage a hair flip anymore. You know why, Govt. Skeptic? I had kids. That's why. I followed your goddamn program and it ruined my life. I lost all my hair! Needless to say I blame you, your whining, empty sanctimonious comments and those carefree anarchists sporting full heads of hair.
I saw an anarchist drinking pina colladas at Trader Vics.
His hair was perfect.
gogo gadget Democracy?
Gee, that's funny, I think everyone recognizes that Ralph Nader has "honest heart felt passion", "bluntness, honesty, and principles", and "life long work for the little guys", and he's even a crazy guy to boot...
Yet when I argued that on the Daily Kos, I got quite a different reaction from the commenters...
Try having kids -- it'll make you actually want to build and fix stuff instead of just ranting about how everything sucks.
Well, I did have a kid, and it made me actually want to smash and destroy stuff and rant about how everything sucks. Different strokes ...
Govt Skeptic, a very large part of what's wrong with this country is the segment of the population who think that politics is a form of entertainment, a real-life soap opera in which they have favorite beloved characters (Maybe Erica from All My Children should run for President!). These people invariably are ignorant about the history and political structure of their own country. In fact they're ignorant of politics as a whole. They are the ones who elect the rotten leadership we have. They are the problem. They are the ones who infest Daily Kos.
Yeah, "ass bitch" and "effete" I suppose is just my mis-reading. I guess not anti-homo, more like not-man-enough then: Quien es mas macho?. Then what's with the "hair flip" reference. Anti-skater maybe? They can be effete, anarchist pissants.
I do have kids, I think the world is going to hell soon, and I did something about it...I moved to "old" Europe. I might stay, we'll see how 2008 goes.
Peace.
Becoming a multimillionaire plaintiff's personal injury lawyer is about as far from helping anyone else as you can get.
It is one of the last areas where being a totally poker-faced liar in official government-sanctioned proceedings can directly earn you millions of dollars in one case, and you needn't adept at much of anything aside from acting with a certain malleable type of projected self-confidence.
Huckters who chase monetary and material possessions without purpose aren't serving others. John Edwards hasn't served anyone but himself and his clawing greedy family since he jumped out of the law school hatchery and into the kangaroo court.
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