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...
Movie critic Pauline Kael is often quoted as saying something along the lines of “I don’t understand how Nixon won [in 1972]; nobody I know voted for him.” That quote seems to be apocryphal. Perhaps this one is better sourced somewhere:
I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. But sometimes when I’m in a theater I can feel them.
Whether she said anything of this variety or not, the point is still there — it’s called the false consensus effect, and what it means is that you’ve been cloistering yourself without realizing it. Labor too long and too hard at chasing the next Hot New TrendTM, intermingle with a bit too much energy and dedication with your own Circle Of TrustTM, and gradually alienate yourself from whoever might be outside that crowd; pretty soon, you’ll become an expert on what everybody thinks, and you’ll be chronically wrong.
This, it would appear, is now an affliction suffered by Chris Collinswood of NBC (video at Ms. Underestimated, H/T to Karol), and manifested when he questioned Kobe Bryant about how it feels to be part of Team USA.
Collinsworth: Where does the patriotism come from inside of you? Historically, what is it?
Kobe: Well, you know it’s just our country, it’s…we believe is the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it’s just a sense of pride that you have; that you say “You know what? Our country is the best!”
Collinsworth: Is that a “cool” thing to say, in this day and age? That you love your country, and that you’re fighting for the red, white and blue? It seems sort of like a day gone by.
Kobe: No, it’s a cool thing for me to say. I feel great about it, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I mean, this is a tremendous honor.
I’m still mulling over a challenge posed by sf4 to come up with my own “comprehensive platform” defining conservatism as I see it. This one is definitely going in. I might call it the Collinswood Plank of conservatism: Yes, the United States is a great country, not in some liberal politician’s Utopian vision, but as you see it right now, in the moment in which you’re reading this sentence; and yes, it is very cool to think so.
That, and it’s up to the individual to decide what’s “cool.” We do not decide what is cool as part of a crowd. We use the brains the good Lord gave us, to figure out what’s right, and then we stand up for it.
I suspect the liberals would agree that this is emblematic of conservatism — as they usually do, by mumbling smart-ass comments, as opposed to coming up with meaningless examples purporting to express the opposite. And, I suppose further that the liberals would agree they are dedicated to the opposite — as they usually do, by changing the subject rather than debating the point. If I’m correct on all counts, I would advise the McCain campaign not to wait for my platform to emerge. They should campaign on this right freakin’ now. Let’s have an election about whether the United States is a great country or not. Make it about whether, when you happen to be in another country, you should be holding your head high as an American, or moping around, staring at your own shoes.
Vote for Obama if you think we should be ashamed.
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Um…isn’t GOP 2.0 on the sidebar a definition of what Conservatism should be? (Broadly speaking.)
- Duffy | 08/18/2008 @ 13:25Collinsworth is a frickin’ twit. Period, full-stop. It was good… no, GREAT… to see Bryant put him in his place. Not that Collinsworth would learn something from that… coz he’s like… convinced.
- Buck | 08/18/2008 @ 16:36Duffy: Thanks for calling attention to “GOP 2.0.” Those folks may indeed have a lot of points on which most conservatives will agree. However, my suggestion to Morgan was for a local, evolving, cooperative effort to *draw out a consensus* as to what “most conservatives” agree on (assuming there’s a degree of consensus!).
It may well be that the folks who came up with GOP-2 have done essentially what I had in mind. OTOH, a parallel effort would act as a verification–or might discover either some points that are less universal, or some that the first group might have missed.
Elections can be won by lots of things: Looks, good speaking ability, charisma, and better ideas than the other guy, to name a few. The first two don’t do much for me. Number 3 is useful if you’re trying to persuade the electorate to get behind something that’s contra to their normal judgment. That leaves the “better ideas” point. And in my experience, our side has *most* of the good ideas. But some of these need to be refined or fleshed out as to details so folks who aren’t political fanatics can separate their essence from the distorted interpretations devised by the MSM.
Sorry, too long. Anyway, I think the idea has merit.
- sf4 | 08/20/2008 @ 02:10