Thursday, June 17, 2004
Discourse? You mean there's discourse?
Maybe it's summer time and there's not much to report. Maybe the incompetence of Bu$hCo thugs has become so banal it almost seems redundant to comment on their latest fuck up. I can't figure what's up in my kitchen much less within the blogosphere but it seems that recently I've seen some whining here and there about the sorry state of discourse in this country.
Clinton brought it up, a bit, when he spoke at the White House for the unveiling of his portrait, that we need to "return to vigorous debate about who's right and wrong, not who's good and bad". David Brooks at the NY Times has threatened he'll weigh in with his insight on this matter. The Daily Howler takes Brooksie to task most of this week and points out the fairly obvious...
Are you getting the sense that I'm going to piss in this campfire? Yeah, well, if you've read me for the past three years in my other blog, you know that I'm not convinced there's a lot you can say to someone on the right unless you first hit em' up with a load from a tranqulizer gun. As I've maintained these past few years, Progressives tend to base their arguments on reason while the Right is informed almost entirely by belief and emotion (and indulge in numerous logical fallacies in order to endow their arguments with characteristic stupidity). Ergo, discourse is impossible because "discourse" is based on - REASON.
After I started writing this last night, I began to realize it was looking like a thesis and not a blog. Screw that, I don't need a grade. But if I was going to grade Conservatives, whiny bitches they are, on the sorry state of discourse they moan and gnash teeth over, I'd give them an 'F'. Because all you have to do is look around and see that they're behaving like Nazi SS thugs.
Remember the "spontaneous protest" in Miami after the 2000 Presidential election that helped stop the announced manual recount of the 10,750 undervote in Miami-Dade County? I remember the images so well, Oxford-shirted Power-tied no-necked dittoheads frothing at the mouth and acting like drunken frat boys on a rampage. And we were supposed to believe these were outraged citizens who had spontaneously come together to riot AGAINST the democratic process... remember?
Yeah, it was such a "spontaneous" show of support for Bu$hCo stealing an election except that the Bush organization spent about $1.2 million to fly operatives to Florida to riot.
For me, that was a hint at how civilized these apes would behave, in the interest of "discourse".
Now fast forward to the past few weeks. The picture at the beginning of this entry should be enough to make your stomach churn, it's the image of Lori Haigh, owner of Capobianco Gallery in North Beach, San Francisco, was spat on and knocked unconscious for exhibiting artwork highlighting the torture of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. The assault came after two weeks of escalating threats by extreme right-wing elements.
Or just this past week when Bon Jovi raised $1 Million for Kerry and got death threats for his trouble:
Oh, those brave, noble conservatives, calling up rock singers and making anonymous death threats, while still making time to whimper about the polarization of discourse in this country...
Discourse? You mean there's discourse? Who's defining "discourse"? When we get the next Nobel Laureate (NOT) Bill O'Reilly comparing Michael Moore and Al Franken to Goebbels while comparing Hollywood celebs to the Nazi faithful, as his listeners drive around New Jersey making threats or punching women out in San Francisco. It seems pretty goddamned stupid to ask, "What happened to civil discourse in this country?" Drudge asks ESPN to censor Hunter S. Thompson, followed by the fuckwits in Freeperville taking HST to task with what amounts to name-calling without providing a single, cogent counter-argument... I mean really, REALLY, do I need some shit-for-brains wingnut to give me a black eye to get the sense of what's happened to discourse in this country?
YOU tell me....
Clinton brought it up, a bit, when he spoke at the White House for the unveiling of his portrait, that we need to "return to vigorous debate about who's right and wrong, not who's good and bad". David Brooks at the NY Times has threatened he'll weigh in with his insight on this matter. The Daily Howler takes Brooksie to task most of this week and points out the fairly obvious...
Are you getting the sense that I'm going to piss in this campfire? Yeah, well, if you've read me for the past three years in my other blog, you know that I'm not convinced there's a lot you can say to someone on the right unless you first hit em' up with a load from a tranqulizer gun. As I've maintained these past few years, Progressives tend to base their arguments on reason while the Right is informed almost entirely by belief and emotion (and indulge in numerous logical fallacies in order to endow their arguments with characteristic stupidity). Ergo, discourse is impossible because "discourse" is based on - REASON.
After I started writing this last night, I began to realize it was looking like a thesis and not a blog. Screw that, I don't need a grade. But if I was going to grade Conservatives, whiny bitches they are, on the sorry state of discourse they moan and gnash teeth over, I'd give them an 'F'. Because all you have to do is look around and see that they're behaving like Nazi SS thugs.
Remember the "spontaneous protest" in Miami after the 2000 Presidential election that helped stop the announced manual recount of the 10,750 undervote in Miami-Dade County? I remember the images so well, Oxford-shirted Power-tied no-necked dittoheads frothing at the mouth and acting like drunken frat boys on a rampage. And we were supposed to believe these were outraged citizens who had spontaneously come together to riot AGAINST the democratic process... remember?
Instigated by an order from New York congressman John Sweeney to "shut it down," dozens of screaming GOP demonstrators pounded on doors and a picture window at elections headquarters.
The mob gang-rushed a local Democrat carrying a blank sample ballot. They threatened that a thousand Cubans were on their way to the headquarters to stop the count. Several people were "trampled, punched or kicked," according to The New York Times. The canvassing board chair at first conceded that mob pressures played a role in the shutdown—which cost Gore the 168 votes as well—but later reversed his position.
Yeah, it was such a "spontaneous" show of support for Bu$hCo stealing an election except that the Bush organization spent about $1.2 million to fly operatives to Florida to riot.
For me, that was a hint at how civilized these apes would behave, in the interest of "discourse".
Now fast forward to the past few weeks. The picture at the beginning of this entry should be enough to make your stomach churn, it's the image of Lori Haigh, owner of Capobianco Gallery in North Beach, San Francisco, was spat on and knocked unconscious for exhibiting artwork highlighting the torture of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. The assault came after two weeks of escalating threats by extreme right-wing elements.
Or just this past week when Bon Jovi raised $1 Million for Kerry and got death threats for his trouble:
Musician Jon Bon Jovi says criticism and intimidation won't stop him from speaking out in support of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who raised $1 million at the singer's home Monday night. ``I've received hate mail at my house. I've had people drive by my home and shout things out,'' Bon Jovi told guests gathered outside his home along the Navesink River. ``And I think that they question my patriotism because I decided to stand up and have a voice. And I stood up to have a voice because I think that's the most American thing that you can do.''
Oh, those brave, noble conservatives, calling up rock singers and making anonymous death threats, while still making time to whimper about the polarization of discourse in this country...
Discourse? You mean there's discourse? Who's defining "discourse"? When we get the next Nobel Laureate (NOT) Bill O'Reilly comparing Michael Moore and Al Franken to Goebbels while comparing Hollywood celebs to the Nazi faithful, as his listeners drive around New Jersey making threats or punching women out in San Francisco. It seems pretty goddamned stupid to ask, "What happened to civil discourse in this country?" Drudge asks ESPN to censor Hunter S. Thompson, followed by the fuckwits in Freeperville taking HST to task with what amounts to name-calling without providing a single, cogent counter-argument... I mean really, REALLY, do I need some shit-for-brains wingnut to give me a black eye to get the sense of what's happened to discourse in this country?
YOU tell me....
