Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Just An Observation II
Someday, I should make a list of delusional people. By that I mean, delusional classes of people. A week ago, I asked, “Is there a more delusional character, anywhere, than the guy who hates blogs?” Blogs, after all, like any purely “free” communication medium, have achieved a nearly perfect balance. I can find a hundred blogs that say Republicans suck, I can find a zillion blogs that say Democrats suck; I can find a good assortment of blogs that say peanut butter sandwiches taste good with cottage cheese and tartar sauce on them, that Celine Dion is overrated and ugly, that Nepal is a great place to raise a family of cats…you just name it, I’ll find a blog that agrees with you. The “‘sphere,” it seems, is ready to chirp up and say anything about everything…which means, as a form of communication, it really has nothing to say about anything.
And I’ve answered my own question. A more delusional character: It would be the guy who hates George W. Bush, for the simple reason lots of other people do. Just peer pressure at work. Whether he’s willing to admit that’s what is going on, or not, this guy has to be the most delusional type of person walking around today. And you just know he’s out there, because people who hate George Bush for other reasons spend a lot of time and energy and money talking about the President’s approval ratings, when the ratings are on a downslide…the subject abruptly changes when said ratings are on an uptick. Why go to so much effort to saturate us in the reminder that “most” people dislike the President, unless, that message has a bearing on the decisions a lot of people will be making?
Now, there are a lot of reasons to dislike this President. Those who have identified a reason, or two, or three, and settled on those as their justification for hating him, are outside the scope of my observation. I’m just looking at the Bush-haters who have no reason aside from the impression they’ve formed, that it’s the cool thing to do. Or…those who recognize, with a more-or-less equal level of empathy, all of the available reasons — hating George Bush comes first, finding a reason for doing so is decidedly secondary. Those people. They’re delusional. More delusional than the forementioned blog-hater, I think.
I’m counting 860 days, give or take, before our current President has just as much of an influence on the events that truly impact you or I, as, let’s say, his Dad. His successor, Republican or Democrat, will appoint judges, cabinet members, diplomats, Supreme Court justices; declassify information; command the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard; issue executive orders; veto bills coming out of Congress, and approve others; restrict government funds from some programs that have to do with abortion and separation of church-and-state, and approve those funds for other such programs; and issue pardons. And make decisions about a number of other critical concerns, many of them unilaterally.
People who hate George Bush because it’s the chic thing to do, may, at that time, be responsible for electing a Democrat, a Democrat who campaigned on the “I hate George Bush too!” platform. And they have some pretty good odds, four years from now, for regretting it once the “I hate George Bush!” President starts working his magic. Americans, now and then, have shown strong support for what my media instructs me to believe were “extreme right-wing” platforms; Americans have never shown that kind of support for what I know to be extreme left-wing platforms, even if my media instructs me to believe they are “moderate” platforms. That whole sandal-wearing baby-killing soldier-slandering mediocrity-promoting rich-people-hating wundermush of liberal goodness.
So it’s more of a certainty than most other things that are called certainties: In four years, we’re going to have millions of people who voted for an “I hate Bush” President, and, should that candidate prevail in 2008, will regret it. It’s good meat for the prospectus of some new business concern aspiring, somehow, to make millions of dollars off this certainty. And when it comes to pass, and people ask themselves “Why did I vote for this guy again?” they’ll have just one answer. I voted for him, because he said nasty things about…that guy, down in Crawford Texas, about whom I never hear anymore. That guy I hated because hating him was the cool thing to do.
And so four years from now, George Bush will be what Gerald Ford is now. Hating George Bush, at that time, will be what owning a Cabbage Patch doll, or a Pet Rock, is now. To even have an opinion about George Bush, then, will be like having an opinion about William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech, now. Nobody says this out loud. Everybody, Republican and Democrat, knows it to be true. We’re fighting, rather bumptiously and spittle-flingingly, about a bunch of crap due to become utterly irrelevant with a speed that is best described as somewhere between astonishing, and neck-breaking.
Hating President George Bush: It’s not a logical argument, it’s a fashion trend. Everybody knows that to be true, too. Except even as fashion trends go, this one leaves a lot undone. Fashion trends, after all, go out of style…whenever. They can burn out in the blink of an eye, like the Spice Girls, or they can smolder endlessly like that sagging pants thing. You just don’t know when it’ll happen; I suspect, for those given to following fashion trends, this is part of the appeal. This one has an actual expiration date, right down to the hour! And so — while I can understand the appeal of fashion in general, I’m really lost in understanding the appeal of this one.
It bears repeating: The above does not apply to the substantial reasons for hating George Bush. Like, for example, the Bush Doctrine with the pillar of pre-emptive action. That’s a good, solid, meaty argument with great points on both sides, having a direct bearing on our continued survival. I’m just talking about this highly fashionable practice of hating George Bush, for the simple reasons that this is what “everybody” is doing.
Yes, that’s about the most delusional class of people we have walking around right now. Until I think of another.
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“[those who] hate[s] George W. Bush, for the simple reason lots of other people do.”
YES – exactly! For no other reason than he’s not one of “theirs”, and by “they” I mean the democrats. If Bush said tomorrow “cut and run” from Iraq, somehow we all know that the Democrats would counter with telling us we should STAY in Iraq. There is no open discussion with the Left.
- David Drake | 09/13/2006 @ 17:05That’s a bitchin’ graphic. DO you do your own work?
If so, nicely done. If not, nice choice.
- Good Lieutenant | 09/14/2006 @ 08:34Thanks. Yeah, it’s mine.
I was just thinking last night, I forgot Boy Scouts. Boy Scouts, stay-at-home moms, and nerds. Lots of hate directed there, with some sad, lonely lives behind the hate, it would appear.
- mkfreeberg | 09/14/2006 @ 08:40