House of Eratosthenes

I shall not be participating. Mind you, John Hawkins is not calling for votes to be stuffed or dummied-up or cast by dead people or registered to hundreds of people named “Mickey Mouse” who all live at the same address. All he asked, here, was “how do we help her win?” Furthermore, among those who are ready to log on with hundreds of machines with different IP addresses and rig the system for Bristol Palin — they’re doing something I wouldn’t do, but I’ll not think the worse of them for it. I’m not doing what they’re doing, because I just don’t give a rip. Yes, the “you’re becoming the very thing you hate” deal does apply…but only so much. Assuming the ballots are really being stuffed, or can be — they’re altering the outcome of a silly reality teevee show, not unilaterally deciding who’s going to represent Minnesota in the United States Senate.

I should make it clear here that I am not pursuing any kind of high ground. I’m one of those unfortunate disableds who cannot arouse passion in trivial, meaningless things. I’m not a sports fan, can’t tell you for sure what sport the Miami Dolphins play, cannot list the first names of the Kardashians, I don’t know if America’s Got Talent is still on the air or not. But a first-term Senator from Chicago is elected President, end-runs around the Constitution and puts our country into levels of debt George W. Bush never even could’ve dreamed about — suddenly I start paying attention. Hey, what can I say. I’m funny.

Nor do I sympathize much with the “we must not lower ourselves to be like them” types of conservatives. I do admire them for trying to be good people, or to prevent themselves from becoming bad people. But I think when they pursue these fantasies about their chivalrous behavior affecting the outcome, they’re fooling themselves. They’re missing out on a key point: There is a reason we admire civilized behavior when people argue. It’s like passing a water bottle around a circle of people, with an obvious social taboo against backwash. You can observe this or you can ignore it; but the outcome is only affected by those who ignore. You can’t sip cleanly out of the bottle and undo the backwash, right? That’s the way arguing is. Once someone’s polluted the environment, the deed is done and there’s no going back.

We saw it with the Tea Party. A movement can be filled stem-to-stern with people who behave decently, interact courteously, salute the flag, call older people by “sir” or “ma’am,” pick up their own trash at demonstrations. And at the end of the day, whoever wants to put the hate on is going to go ahead and do that anyway. Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, and for no other reason — because no minds will be changed.

Anyway, Maggie Block had something to say about helping Bristol Palin win:

What about the fact that her dancing really and truly SUCKS! No offense John but why the “us vs them” attitude”? Aren’t we all people 1st, Americans 2nd, with affiliation somewhere down the line? I was rooting for Bristol, (I think her mother is an ignorant wolf shooting hick) I hoped she would do well, but the girl can’t dance. Maybe I am naive, (being that I’m a liberal democrat) but there is more to life than politics… I[t] shouldn’t matter if her Mother is Sarah Palin, Princess Diana or the antichrist.

Ms. Block is missing something. John Hawkins did not start this absurd situation. I don’t want to speak for him, but there is a phenomenon taking place here and there is urgency in recognizing it. The current happening seems to be merely a symptom, of something much bigger that is always with us whether there’s something to manifest it or not.

I don’t know how she missed out on what’s going on. Someone who lives completely outside of the whole matter, I could see them being ignorant about it. But anyone who’s paid the slightest bit of attention knows something about the Bristol-Derangement-Syndrome churning away out there, which reached a frenzied boil once Brandy was eliminated.

An extremely abbreviated and lazy round-up of examples…spelling and grammar mistakes left uncorrected…

Like politica like dancing

I am so close to wretching… and wretching… and wretching. I’m sure the only thing that has kept me from doing so is that I haven’t yet had the appetite to eat anything! I won’t bother taking the time draw the analogies between Bristol, her dancing ability and the voting results as compared to republicans in general and the downhill state of our nation…

Anonymous

Bristol can NOT dance. This is not about talent or ability it’s about the Tea Party voting block conspiracy. I’m not watching the show anymore, not just this season.

AnimeGirl229

The teabaggers strikes again! I mean seriously what do you expect? someone made a website of how to vote for bristol I know they tring to avoid trying saying it, but it has to be said she has made it through all this time because of the tea party.

Tim

You people do realize that the “Stars” part of the shows title refers to the non-dance professionals that the show keeps on staff… Palin is not a star by any stretch of the imagination.

Hypocrit, yes (I can’t wait for her kid to see all this in about 15 years), Teabagger tool, absolutely, but she is no Star. She should never have been on the show to begin with. The fact that she has made it this far only proves that this show is no longer about talent or who the best is.

“Most Improved” only counts when you improve beyond your competetors, as opposed to the “Hey, I didn’t fall down, doncha know”-category.

sharon lopez

I think dwts are about to lose a lot of their ratings.It was a travesty that Maks and Brandi got booted off.When politics enter something like dwts,then I think it’s time for the producers to sit back and evaluate what is happening.If Bristol Palin win this season,I and a lot of other people will stop watching dwts.It’s a wonderful program but politics is ruining it just as it does everything else.The ratings keeps dwts going and if they drop,so will the program.

The end-of-sentence-impaired k_s_w48

Don’t tell me this BP was not some political scam going on if her Mother was not SP she would never have gotten as far as she did so don’t tell me BP got this far because of being popular with the audience I agree this is just a big scam of a show I’m sure DWT will loose much of their viewing audience after this show.

Steed2

What makes it look like a conspiracy is the infuriating spin ABC is putting on this! Why not just admit, we didn’t plan for the response, we tried to improve the show and maybe tried too many things, and the judges felt like they couldn’t judge Bristol at the same level and be fair. Over and done with. But instead we get Brooke, Tom, Producers, and anyone ABC can trot out doing the political spin tactic… “American voted and Bristol won her place.” Maybe some of America voted, but long-time viewers and voters have not been able to get in to vote for other dancers since week 4 and nothing was done about it! I’m one of them, I know that frustration so don’t tell me all of America voted for Bristol, they didn’t! To speak to your point faye5830, another spin point, “Bristol is the most improved and deserves her chance.” She is the most improved, because she was so totally lousy to start with. But she has NOT come up to the caliber of a finalist. Not even close! It is a once in a lifetime chance that she unfairly receives instead of someone else more deserving getting that fair once in a lifetime chance! And the spin that starts me seething, “all the complainers don’t vote and don’t understand the show! ABC! How dare you! I have loyally watched every episode of every season, voted for some winners and some losers, I have tried to vote each week this season and except for the first two weeks I have not been able to complete my phone calls because the phones are blocked and unless I want to stay up until 3 in the morning, which I did last week, I have been unable to cast votes online! I know that it’s a percentage system so even if you give Bristol a lower score than others, because she is at the bottom of the leader board means nothing, because in most weeks she was only 4% below the leader hence the fact; if the judges had given her the lower scores she deserved she may not have made it. The fact is Faye5830 there have been contestants in every season people complained about. Nicole was a pro, Pamela was too sexy, Emmit had the NFL behind him, and, significantly Kelly Osborne couldn’t dance. But none of them had the extra unfair advantages Bristol has been given and if they made it to the finals, when they did, they were finals caliber dancers and based on last week, Bristol clearly is not. Want all of this bitterness and anger to go away? Treat all contestants the same! If one is judged easy, they all get judged easy! If fans from one side are log-jamming the phones, add extra lines, if one contestant has their name all over GMA one day, then another one gets their name all over GMA the next day, or better yet, none of them ever do! The Erin Andrews segment on GMA Tuesday saying “everyone is voting for Bristol” with 3 hours of voting left without any mention of anyone voting for Brandy, Kyle, and Jennifer is the type of Palin pandering that makes people livid!

A couple of things appear repeatedly, and I can’t help noticing them.

When you hear people say that Bristol’s mother, Sarah, is some kind of a dolt or a dimbulb or a dumbass — you get the feeling that if they were stating their feelings honestly, they’d be saying something like “I want the world to know I think Sarah Palin is a dumbass.” An excessive zeal to get their feelings on the record. When you apply some critical thinking skills to the situation, you see there is no call for any drama whatsoever. None. There are people who hate Sarah Palin and Bristol Palin, there are people who like Sarah but agree Bristol’s dancing leaves much to be desired, there are people who appreciate both of them. Everybody’s had their say. Nobody’s changing their mind.

There is a great enthusiasm about predicting what is going to happen. People will stop watching the show, the ratings will plummet, the show will get canceled…supposedly, the need to so opine, arises from the absolute certainty that these events are to take place. Well, if they’re so certain then why not just wait to see what happens?

As is the case with Maggie (herself), excessive (use) of (parentheses). And bangs!!!!!!

Lots and lots of anger. Over the wrong person getting eliminated on a reality show? I have to acknowledge that, sure, people get grumpy and upset all the time over “voting off the island” not going the way people expect or desire for it to go…but, and this latest part is only obvious, this isn’t that. It isn’t just that. There are extra ingredients in the mix. This is a toxic, bubbling stewpot with more seasonining than the usual batch.

My own response to Maggie follows:

I remember being accused of racism when I opposed the Ground Zero Mosque; the argument was that I would’ve gotten pissed off about it earlier if my motives were honest. Maggie, it seems to me this particular argument would apply to you. There’ve been a few dancers on DWTS who sucked donkey balls and still won out, haven’t there? I don’t pretend to be able to offer an exhaustive dossier, but I don’t think you can either.

Watching libs get all bent out of shape does little-to-nothing to gratify me or make me happier with life. But I do think there’s something wrong with people when they get bent out of shape at that name “Palin.” Think about it…she’s got a funny accent, she’s a housewife, she used to be the Governor and *maybe* she’ll run for something. A mature, capable, reasonable mindset that happens to disagree with Sarah Palin on the issues — would not get angry about it. There’s something unhealthy going on lately, and we need to learn what it is so we don’t elect any more sucky-ass presidents like The One we have right now.

For examples of what I’m talking about vis a vis the mosque issue, you can read up over here. You’ll see the other side has very little else to say besides “we think you’re a racist” and this accusation of racism is based on nothing more than this “where were you when” argument.

What am I to make of this? I’ll tell you. And the conclusion I’ve drawn about this, is a little bit out there. If it is true, it says a whole lot about humans and it isn’t good. But I’ve had a lot of time to watch Palin Derangement Syndrome by now, and I’m reasonably sure about what comes next.

I think this is all about race, but not about any one particular race. And I don’t think this is your typical strain of racism. It is not color-based. It does not seek a preservation of, elevation of, or special privileges for the similar; nor is it hostile toward the different.

This kind of racism is flipped around. It is racism against the human race. Sarah Palin, you see, should not be elected to any office associated with special honor or authority, and Bristol Palin should not be elevated to any position that makes her superior to Brandy or to anybody else. And quaint little midwestern accents, or decisions to carry Trig to term and not abort him, don’t have a whole lot to do with it.

The desire, here, is for special powers and perks and privileges to be reserved for special people. The issue is the responsibility that goes with that kind of power. See, you elect a hopey-changey demigod like Barack Obama to the presidency, and each of the rest of us get to toil away in a relatively anonymous, mundane existence. We’re spared from even having to learn enough about our own government, to immigrate legally to the country, were we not already born here. We don’t need to know that Congressmen are elected to two-year terms and Senators are elected to six-year terms, or any of that other complicated stuff. You see the mindset? All that stuff is too big for us, it’s too high of a bar for us to reach. We just to to work with our lunchboxes and thermos bottles…sit in our cubicles doing whatever…come home, eat dinner, and watch dreck on teevee. Like Dancing With The Stars, for example.

We hear much about the rabid, fire-breathing far-left types who are putting pressure on Obama to stick to the agenda. Out of those who continue to support Him and maintain their approval, I’d peg those types at about one in five, maybe one in three. I think what remains is much more responsible for this inexplicable white hot bitter hatred directed against the Palin family.

The Palins of Alaska seem poised to do precisely what was done by the Kennedys of Massachusetts. And yet there are so many who love the Kennedys and loathe the Palins. I’m saying — the battling between Republicans and democrats doesn’t have as much to do with it as it might seem at first. If I am right, then here is the real sin committed by Sarah Palin and her family: The Palins did not “undock” before embarking on endeavors of greatness. They did not separate themselves from the rest of us. They did not make themselves different…and so they are alienating a key constituency. They have offended those who seek to separate themselves & their peers from the remarkable, and maintain that separation.

I think these people are motivated simply by a desire to avoid responsibility. They don’t want to actually own anything. The only time they want to have an effect on something, is when they’re part of a large crowd having the effect so they can, when the time is right, get lost in it. They voted for Obama “To Be A Part Of This Thing.” That is their idea of doing something. Getting swallowed up.

They live out their entire lives never truly taking point on something, so they don’t want anyone else doing that either. That’s what I think. They don’t want to be reminded that we’re all together — because that would mean, if they don’t like something, they have every bit as much business coming up with a plan for fixing it, as Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, or anybody else. That’s too much “change” for them to handle. That is what I mean by “un-docking.” When Palin didn’t do it and pursued a high office anyway, she ticked off the lazy people…who know, inwardly, without anyone pointing it out, that to be a “Mama Grizzly,” you have to get up off a couch.

Look how these people do their threatening, when the time comes to offer a threat. They’re going to stop watching a show. Ooh, impressive! Hey, if the batteries in your remote are less than three years old, you can do that with a twitch in your thumb.

So that’s what I think, it’s just plain laziness. There really is no other reason, logical or otherwise, for anybody to hate the Palins this much. Resigning a governorship is not sufficient provocation, carrying a Downs Syndrome baby to term doesn’t make the cut either, and neither does lasting a few extra rounds on a reality-dancing show.

The anti-Palin phenomenon pre-dates Sarah Palin herself. It pre-dates the term of time during which most Americans have known about her, it pre-dates her actual lifetime…it may pre-date the industrial revolution.

It is among the least productive distinctions of the human condition. It is within the worst that our species has to offer. It is cowardice. It is laziness. It is jealousy. It is resistance to human achievement itself.

It deserves excoriation, condemnation, retribution, and ultimately extinction. Just as much as any other kind of racism.

So hell yes, provoke them. Get this vile crabs-in-a-bucket mentality, this “ordinary people have to be ordinary” worldview out in the open. We’ve tried ignoring it, and the result is a full-frontal assault and threat against the continuing survival of the nation we love, from within; a threat more dire than any she has faced, possibly since the end of World War II. So a confrontation is necessary, and you can’t confront something that persists in hiding itself.

Cross-posted at Right Wing News and Washington Rebel.

I’ve been fascinated by this Palin hatred since her nomination. The other day I came across a column where the writer said she’s hated because she’s optimistic, happy and loves America. Folks on the Left aren’t usually at all happy about anything and, thusly, they can’t stand Sarah or her family.

I agree with all of your points, too. I would like to add another. The Left has big problems with people that stand on principle. They attack those principled-people because life, after all, is not all black and white. But, principles don’t change. Situations do. The content of a situation does but not the context. This is what drove them crazy about W and Rumsfeld and Cheyney and Reagan. They attacked W and never stopped. And, he never defended himself. He still won’t criticize Obama because of his principles yet Carter, Clinton and Obama are non-stop criticizing him. He stands on principle. Secretly, I wish he would say something…anything. But, it’s just not his nature and I admire that.

So, Sarah takes a Downs Syndrome child to term. Loves him, cares for him, because those are her principles. The Left hates her for that. She’s not nuanced. She has no gray area in her thinking. Relativism invites that and the Left loves it.

BTW, I’m a resident of Folsom, outside the prison, north side of the river, overlooking the bike trail.
- BillW. | 11/21/2010 @ 16:26
Pleased you’re here.

Probably rode straight past you.
- mkfreeberg | 11/21/2010 @ 16:34
Yes, no doubt. There are a few tough hills in this area…Oak Avenue Parkway terminus. Stop by for a cup next time.

Appreciate your hard work on this blog.
- BillW. | 11/21/2010 @ 16:43
So that’s what I think, it’s just plain laziness.

I’ve been too serious in other comments here, so let me be flip for a sec: when I see leftists acting like this, I think of the old line about cats. You know how cats always try to flop down exactly on top of whatever you’re reading? The joke goes “cats can’t read, and they want to make sure nobody else can, either.”

It’s not surprising that lots of cat owners, and (I’d guesstimate) 98% of Crazy Cat Ladies, are leftists. They’re just like their pets. They can’t achieve any kind of distinction, and so they want to make sure nobody else can. And it works in reverse: they’re worried that they’re not particularly intelligent, so they’re fanatics about being smart by proxy — Obama is “smart,” therefore those who support Him are smart; Palin is “dumb,” and so pointing out that she’s dumb makes one smart. Etc. Etc.
- Severian | 11/22/2010 @ 19:40
And there is an issue that is much, much bigger than Sarah Palin. Or politics for that matter.

All too often, nowadays, I see “intelligence” has something to do with making an observation that someone else is stupid. This is not a good thing at all.
- mkfreeberg | 11/22/2010 @ 19:58
It never works in reverse, though. For instance: I’m not a religious believer, but my girlfriend is — very much so. Friends ask me how I square this. I tell them I honestly don’t have a problem with it, since so many people so much smarter than me have had no problem reconciling their faith with their very great powers of reason. I’m not smarter than, say, Thomas Aquinas or Isaac Newton, so obviously my “atheism” doesn’t automatically make me smart.

The conservatives to whom I make this argument instinctively get it. The liberals always always always want to argue, since in their world believers are dumb, and therefore atheists are smart, and therefore there can be no smart believers or dumb atheists.

They really think like this. Even the smart ones — the actually smart ones, the high IQ ones, I mean.
- Severian | 11/22/2010 @ 20:12

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Memo For File CXXVSunday, November 21st, 2010

Memo For File CXXV
Sunday, November 21st, 2010