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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
 Posted - 09/26/2008 : 15:37:33
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http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080/page/1
Harsh? I don't think so.
True? Yes. Terrifyingly so.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2008 : 12:50:43 [Permalink]
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| I'm scared. |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2008 : 13:47:46 [Permalink]
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This is an important observation:| Ask yourself: how has 'elitism' become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth—in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn't seem too intelligent or well educated. |
Indeed. The history behind this trend is complex, and it almost certainly has to do with the far right's (largely successful) attempt to recruit fundamentalist Christians. But I'm still vexed as to why this is still compelling for so many.
ETA: I also find the title of the piece, "When Atheists Attack" to be a bit... well, 'insulting' is probably too strong. And it's certainly lazy. Oh well. |
| Edited by - Cuneiformist on 09/27/2008 13:51:33 |
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Zebra
Skeptic Friend
USA
354 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2008 : 22:43:50 [Permalink]
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The title Newsweek chose, "When Atheists Attack", was incendiary & inappropriate - like the editor hadn't even read the piece.
Matt Taibbi has also weighed in with a piece titled The scariest thing about Sarah Palin isn't how unqualified she is - it's what her candidacy says about America. It's an attack on the complacency of Americans, & how "we" are basically allowing the politicos to perpetrate all this shit on us.
..."She totally reminds me of my cousin!" the delegate screeched. "She's a real woman! The real thing!"
I stared at her open-mouthed. In that moment, the rank cynicism of the whole sorry deal was laid bare. Here's the thing about Americans. You can send their kids off by the thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all, saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore.
And none of it matters, so long as you remember a few months before Election Day to offer them a two-bit caricature culled from some cutting-room-floor episode of Roseanne as part of your presidential ticket. And if she's a good enough likeness of a loudmouthed middle-American archetype, as Sarah Palin is, John Q. Public will drop his giant-size bag of Doritos in gratitude, wipe the Sizzlin' Picante dust from his lips and rush to the booth to vote for her. Not because it makes sense, or because it has a chance of improving his life or anyone else's, but simply because it appeals to the low-humming narcissism that substitutes for his personality, because the image on TV reminds him of the mean, brainless slob he sees in the mirror every morning.
Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power.
...All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation.
The Palin speech was a political masterpiece, one of the most ingenious pieces of electoral theater this country has ever seen. Never before has a single televised image turned a party's fortunes around faster. ... |
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I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone* -Dick Cheney
*some restrictions may apply |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2008 : 06:56:11 [Permalink]
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| At first, I read Taibbi's and thought "that's a bit harsh" and then I thought about it for 30 or 40 seconds and thought "that's a bit harsh, but sadly true" |
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the_ignored
SFN Addict
2562 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2008 : 16:26:14 [Permalink]
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I don't know if this will cheer you up or not then. It seems Palin didn't do so well on an interview.
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>From: enuffenuff@fastmail.fm
(excerpt follows):
> I'm looking to teach these two bastards a lesson they'll never forget.
> Personal visit by mates of mine. No violence, just a wee little chat.
>
> **** has also committed more crimes than you can count with his
> incitement of hatred against a religion. That law came in about 2007
> much to ****'s ignorance. That is fact and his writing will become well
> know as well as him becoming a publicly known icon of hatred.
>
> Good luck with that fuckwit. And Reynold, fucking run, and don't stop.
> Disappear would be best as it was you who dared to attack me on my
> illness knowing nothing of the cause. You disgust me and you are top of
> the list boy. Again, no violence. Just regular reminders of who's there
> and visits to see you are behaving. Nothing scary in reality. But I'd
> still disappear if I was you.
What brought that on? this. Original posting here.
Another example of this guy's lunacy here. |
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Sam Harris vs Sarah Palin
