[T]he thuggishness of masses of Americans who not only are venting about insane nonsense, not only are undermining their own interests acting as marionettes of laughing corporate predators, and not only are taking down democracy around themselves in order to do so, but are in fact also destroying the entire Enlightenment project of rationality-based management of public affairs as well. The single most frightening characteristic of this movement, to my mind, is that fact that no amount of evidence or logic could persuade these folks to abandon the lies they've attached themselves to ...Not that we disagree w/ any of his points, but if there are a total of a two million of these professional ignoramuses on every whack job email list in the country we'll eat one of those moldy ball caps we're always wearing. We suspect that serious, dedicated 'Baggers are out there bagging, & their numbers won't increase much. Fingers crossed, of course. Sure, we'd love to see some of them go ape shit, to thrill us out of jadedness for thirty seconds & for the political disadvantage to supporters of the status quo, but our dreams are seldom fulfilled.
Imminent danger to the republic or not, the Enlightenment, such as it was, is coming more & more into question, these dark days.
"I think it is very hard because [Democrats] don't have the message machine the Republicans do," said George Lakoff, a UC Berkeley linguistics professor who has advised some Democrats on how to sharpen their message. "The Democrats still believe in Enlightenment reason: If you just tell people the truth, they will come to the right conclusion."At this point we get very confused: Have we already entered the age of post-pseudo-post-modernism, or were we side-tracked into the Bizarro World of pseudo-post-post-modernism? And what was wrong w/ modernism anyway?
UPDATE (Around 1232 PDT): READ THE COMMENTS! Frontline reporting from King of Comments Peabody, as well as a philosophy note!
9 comments:
Read Adorno (or, for that matter, my Master's thesis). The enlightenment led inevitably, in a Hegelian way, to the Holocaust. At least that's what Adorno says. And I have my problems with Hegel.
But on another note, I went to Adam Schiff's so-called "town hall" on health care last night and there were at least 2,000 right-wing nuts booing him, shouting him down, and carrying signs that said "no Marxism" "Stop tyranny! No socialized health care!" and "No Obamacare" with a hammer and sickle instead of a "c". There were lots of signs denouncing socialism and the inevitable "Don't tread on me" flags. One guy was even carrying a large photo of Obama with a Hitler moustache. And these fuckers were RABID! Many, I suspect, don't live in Schiff's district. And they were all white and mostly male. And the depth of hatred they have for Obama has to be seen to be believed. They don't just dislike him or his policies, they have a deep and abiding hatred for him. Adam Schiff almost got lost in the anti-Obama shuffle last night.
P.
Peabody is making me sad.
Bad Peabody!
The point about their numbers, M.B., is they have the corporate media on their side.
Remember when millions of people demonstrated against the War on Iraq?
No? Those people didn't reflect the corporate interest. Just a buncha dirty hippies, like that whacko screamer guy, Dr. Howard Dean. And that crazy guy who invented the internets, fat Al Gore.
But no, these teabaggers are REAL AMERICANS, and their concerns about Obama Death Panels are SERIOUS.
Because keeping the health care status quo reflects the corporate interest.
~
P.S. More extended post starting with the above over here.
~
"Oh, shit!" Editor Types:
Two thousand, angry, bitter, white male clingers? How much of Klandale & the High Desert is in Schiff's district? (Or conveniently close?)
The Trib's local edition, linked in the item, indicates mere hundreds.
In Pennsylvania, a protester predicted that God would harshly judge Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter and his "damn cronies on Capitol Hill."
And in Alhambra, several hundred people representing both sides of the debate showed up for a gathering hosted by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank). People waved signs: "No Nazi Health Care" and "Reform Now."
One woman shouted at Schiff, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" But Meredith Fox, 51, said she had come to learn more about the issue, and was upset by the crowd's behavior. "People don't even want to listen," Fox said.
What's Alhambra like these days, anyway?
This has me a little worried. Thanks for the on the spot report Peabody. We are getting almost nothing about the clusterfucking in this neck of the woods.
Right Wing Death Machine posters on a forum I frequent are big fans of the Enlightenment as it is apparently what separates us from the Moozelums who go crazy at public meetings, shouting and waving death threat signs.
Schiff's district includes Klandale, Burbank, Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra, and Monterey Park. The Alhambra police estimated the crowd at 3,000 and I believe them. The place was mobbed, and about 2/3 of them were the rabid right-wingers. As for Alhambra itself, neither you nor I nor anybody we know could afford to live there. It seems predominantly Chinese.
P.
Thank you, christena.
When I decide to market for best sales, I will be sure to look you up.
~
When Schiff mentioned Henry Waxman's name in connection with the bill, the crowd went apoplectic. Fuckin' foamers......
P.
Nostalgia Editor Indicates:
That Enlightenment cuts both ways, doesn't it?
Used to hang in the 'Hambra (w/ a college friend from there & his posse) when we first moved to the Southland: All middle & lower middle-class honkies & Hispanics then, & duller than dishwater. Save for the Latins (most of whose families had been here since the 19th century, & who were culturally indistinguishable from their Anglo neighbors) Alhambra could have been a chunk of the Indiana, Iowa or Nebraska of the day teleported just east of East L. A.
Peabody/APD vs. L. A. Times (whose liberal bias no doubt understated the size & threat of the foamers) for crowd estimates is an obvious choice. Mr. Schiff has to represent some politically grim burgs, & there are more than 2,000 crazy (This is California.) old white guys available in most of them.
Crap, does the invasion of "Christenas" (It would be Jesus-based.) mean the fascist Word Verification regime must be instituted? One comment is no different from the next, if we're counting.
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