Savages
In response to this column by Dan Savage, a friend wrote me:
He sure does. I'm going to minimize my ranting (here, at least) about the eminently depressing prospect of the Alaskan governor as anything other than a flash in the pan we'll one day laugh nostalgically about. Her emergence and by-golly embrace ('Teen pregnancy? Oh, honey, it happens to all of us, don't you worry about it! You're a woman, hear you roar!') by the Right speaks to the exact issues people like Savage make all the more obvious; thoughtfulness, open-mindedness, rationality, objectivity, and intelligence are near-worthless currency in this, and increasingly all, elections. Obama, Savage, and others are strong, intelligent, and decisive writers and thinkers who effectively tease out the subtleties of a situation to hopefully better grasp the bigger picture. Unfortunately as we've seen, these are not requirements for holding public office. (I've been stunned by the immediate and repeated ironies of the Palin pick; the McCain ads about celebrity, the attacks on lack of experience, the Rovian mantras of lies becoming truth. Wholly less subtle and therefore more masterful than the elevation of Bush to competence over a very different McCain in 2000. Political science theses will be written on just her emergence in the race. So much for not ranting...)
I never understood so saliently before a few months ago how much people adjust their 'reasoning' to fit the situation at hand into their little box of a world view. The callous geniuses behind this race and the previous two are schooling me on just how malleable one's sensibilities are; how quickly people will turn on a dime to fit everything they say into the running commentary in their heads, even if the reality has taken a complete 180; even if they are obviously and completely refuting something they said on camera just days before. I've realized for what seems like a very long time now that most people are truly unable to maintain any consistency of strength and intelligence throughout different aspects of their lives, but it's nevertheless depressing to see such blatant proof of that splayed across the teleprompters and TV screens.
Liberalism is not exempt here - there are buckets of hypocrisy and pandering on both sides of the aisle, politics and the complexities of American life being what it is. However, in this race at least, the bullying ignorance and cheering hypocrisy of the Republican party is most breathtaking and dangerous because it could actually work for them.
Finally got around to reading Savage's column in this week's Metro Times; that's the one you asked me about, right? He managed to answer one letter before unleashing on the inane and obvious hypocrisy of Mrs. Palin and the rhetorical Right. I like his gumption, his spirit; he's a flaming gay homosexual liberal, and doesn't give a shit whether you like it or not. More so, he's not afraid of being a 'liberal,' a term the right has so thoroughly demonized that it holds almost as much esteem as 'pedophile' or 'leper' does anymore. I remember a time when being a liberal meant something good. Savage reminds me of that...
He sure does. I'm going to minimize my ranting (here, at least) about the eminently depressing prospect of the Alaskan governor as anything other than a flash in the pan we'll one day laugh nostalgically about. Her emergence and by-golly embrace ('Teen pregnancy? Oh, honey, it happens to all of us, don't you worry about it! You're a woman, hear you roar!') by the Right speaks to the exact issues people like Savage make all the more obvious; thoughtfulness, open-mindedness, rationality, objectivity, and intelligence are near-worthless currency in this, and increasingly all, elections. Obama, Savage, and others are strong, intelligent, and decisive writers and thinkers who effectively tease out the subtleties of a situation to hopefully better grasp the bigger picture. Unfortunately as we've seen, these are not requirements for holding public office. (I've been stunned by the immediate and repeated ironies of the Palin pick; the McCain ads about celebrity, the attacks on lack of experience, the Rovian mantras of lies becoming truth. Wholly less subtle and therefore more masterful than the elevation of Bush to competence over a very different McCain in 2000. Political science theses will be written on just her emergence in the race. So much for not ranting...)
I never understood so saliently before a few months ago how much people adjust their 'reasoning' to fit the situation at hand into their little box of a world view. The callous geniuses behind this race and the previous two are schooling me on just how malleable one's sensibilities are; how quickly people will turn on a dime to fit everything they say into the running commentary in their heads, even if the reality has taken a complete 180; even if they are obviously and completely refuting something they said on camera just days before. I've realized for what seems like a very long time now that most people are truly unable to maintain any consistency of strength and intelligence throughout different aspects of their lives, but it's nevertheless depressing to see such blatant proof of that splayed across the teleprompters and TV screens.
Liberalism is not exempt here - there are buckets of hypocrisy and pandering on both sides of the aisle, politics and the complexities of American life being what it is. However, in this race at least, the bullying ignorance and cheering hypocrisy of the Republican party is most breathtaking and dangerous because it could actually work for them.
posted by jim at 9/12/2008 06:22:00 AM
3 Comments:
Do you still think, if elected, McCain wouldn't be so bad?
*looking for 'delete comment' command...*
I stand SO corrected.
I figured a Democratic Congress would mitigate the worst of it and that he was a decent enough guy on the whole, but the way he's run this campaign is embarrassing and abhorrent.
If I said I Told You So, that'd be kind of a dick move. So I wont say I Told You So. No sir, not a single Told You So from me.
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