Friday, May 14, 2004
Probably best if you don't listen
Bush thinks isolating himself from alternative views is the key to understanding what's happening. (He also thinks his inner circle is the most objective source of news on the planet). I think he deserves the Saddam Hussein award for leaders with rose-colored sources of information. Though as Josh Marshall says, he can be his own yes man.
So let's be the opposite of Bush, and listen to some of what the other side is saying.
Rumsfield told troops in Iraq: "I'm a survivor", which I thought was a weird thing to say. TNR points out the audience---troops who spend their time dodging bullets, mortars, and IEDs, have a lot more right to the word "survivor". A friend of mine pointed out yesterday that Rumsfields often incoherent answers to questions smack of postmodernism. They often do radically deny the ability to know things, or just come so far out of left field you wonder if he's trying out for Waiting for Godot. So is it any surprise he would also use the language of self-help (all about being a "survivor") to dwell on his own misfortune? I just don't know what to make of this guy.
Warning: painful content ahead
I found this contest by MaxSpeak last night, to find the most offensive blog post to a blog linked from Instapundit. I don't think it's 100% fair to blame a linker for what goes up on blogs, since they update so often, but as an existence proof for some of the hate being spewed on the American right, the idea has merit. It's also painful and frightening to read the entries. A shocking large amount of genocidal rage against all Muslims. And a number of people who seem to be seriously discussing killing American leftwingers and Democrats. Not only do I think there is no parallel on the American left to this widespread hate, but I doubt many major political movements in the industrialized world have such a genocidal fringe. (The unironic use of terms like Nazi and fascist by these folks to describe their hypothetical victims is a sort of bonus, I guess.)
Let's hope its all talk. But even then, shouldn't the grownups on that side of spectrum be a bit worried?
Okay, that's it, I'm going to go take a shower, and try to wash the hate off.
So let's be the opposite of Bush, and listen to some of what the other side is saying.
Rumsfield told troops in Iraq: "I'm a survivor", which I thought was a weird thing to say. TNR points out the audience---troops who spend their time dodging bullets, mortars, and IEDs, have a lot more right to the word "survivor". A friend of mine pointed out yesterday that Rumsfields often incoherent answers to questions smack of postmodernism. They often do radically deny the ability to know things, or just come so far out of left field you wonder if he's trying out for Waiting for Godot. So is it any surprise he would also use the language of self-help (all about being a "survivor") to dwell on his own misfortune? I just don't know what to make of this guy.
Warning: painful content ahead
I found this contest by MaxSpeak last night, to find the most offensive blog post to a blog linked from Instapundit. I don't think it's 100% fair to blame a linker for what goes up on blogs, since they update so often, but as an existence proof for some of the hate being spewed on the American right, the idea has merit. It's also painful and frightening to read the entries. A shocking large amount of genocidal rage against all Muslims. And a number of people who seem to be seriously discussing killing American leftwingers and Democrats. Not only do I think there is no parallel on the American left to this widespread hate, but I doubt many major political movements in the industrialized world have such a genocidal fringe. (The unironic use of terms like Nazi and fascist by these folks to describe their hypothetical victims is a sort of bonus, I guess.)
Let's hope its all talk. But even then, shouldn't the grownups on that side of spectrum be a bit worried?
Okay, that's it, I'm going to go take a shower, and try to wash the hate off.
