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...
Me quoting me, on the tenth of March:
As this sense of community becomes more militant, people begin to get the idea that they are “giving back” simply by becoming an additional voice in micro-revolutions that are already several voices strong. A great example of this is one of the favorite recurring platitudes from the utterly anti-individualist social-butterfly Obama fan: “I want to be part of this.” And so across the landscape there arises a feeling that each individual has contributed, by “helping” to make something happen that would have happened anyway. This poisons the idea that an individual can make a difference, while offering a toxic disguise that what is taking place is precisely the opposite — we start to make what are thought of as “differences” by adding our support to things that would’ve hummed along just fine without us.
Me quoting me, on the ninth of May:
Have you ever noticed that when left-wingers “want to be a part of this,” the “this” under discussion is seldom-to-never something that actually needs their support in order to succeed? They don’t seem to want to actually change the outcome of anything when they “want to be a part of” something. You can grow old waiting for liberals “want[ing] to be a part of” something that needs a tie-breaker vote; I don’t recall hearing of any liberals “want[ing] to be a part of” a Gore victory in 2000 or a Kerry victory in ‘04.
Me quoting me, today, commenting on Sister Toldjah’s blog which includes an amazing picture of the weekend Obama rally…seventy thousand heartbeats, give or take, “want[ing] to be a part of” something that really doesn’t need that much help, and maybe that’s exactly why they “want to be a part of” it.
And if I dare say so myself, my final uppercut is worthy of emphasis here:
Just had a “GOP commercial we really need” moment.
I don’t know if you can wrap up the following in thirty seconds, but it would really drive the point home assuming people would pay the level of attention to it that I would.
Think of Jay Leno’s “jaywalking” format. The reporter shoves a microphone in the faces of random people and asks them, what things did you decide to do because a lot of other people were already doing them?
And he gets back answers like go to a rock concert, go to an Obama rally, take part in an anti-war demonstration, go to an Obama rally, smoke some dope, go to an Obama rally, jump off a bridge, go to an Obama rally…
Next question: How happy are you with those things you decided to do…and the answers are…kinda sorta, not very, I guess it would’ve gone all right without me, I was young & dumb, what can I say…seemed like a great idea at the time.
I dunno. Maybe there’s no effective way to get that message across. Things we do just because everyone else is already doing them, aren’t going to culminate in a demonstrably positive effect on anything. And maybe that’s the whole point. Having a notable and beneficial effect on something, an effect that wouldn’t take place if you were missing, can be a frightening thing to an immature mind.
They want to be a part of something, without having an effect on that thing by including themselves in it.
What an exquisitely frustrating thing this internal contradiction must be. It must be like drinking endlessly from an elixir that is supposed to slake an agonizing thirst, and feels like it is, and ultimately is not. “I want to be a part…I want to make a difference…ooh, no, no I don’t, I want to be a part of something without making a difference one way or the other. I want to go through the motions of contributing to collective inertia, while in fact individually remaining completely devoid of mass.”
Poor, frustrated, delusional, demented souls.
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Poor, frustrated, delusional, demented souls.
But there’s power in these numbers, no matter how delusional these folks are. I fear for our country.
- Buck | 05/19/2008 @ 15:51There is indeed, and as well you should.
But perhaps their passive reckoning with this “change” — the fact that they are all so quick to say “I want to be part of this change,” not “I want to drive this change” — holds the key to this problem. Their dedication to the avoidance of responsibility. Perhaps that is the salt for their Triffids. Somehow.
- mkfreeberg | 05/19/2008 @ 16:11I want to be right about something — end up on the winning side. And I won’t have to actually take any responsibility for it being something I actually thought about in depth. So no one will question me. Then I’ll look good. And I won’t have to actually take any responsibility for it being something I actually thought about in depth.
That’s about what it amounts to.
Thanks for the flashback. I must’ve missed uour original post. And it was apparently excellent.
- philmon | 05/19/2008 @ 22:06