* my great friend, paul, just sent through the old 'speechalist' video - which is worth watching again. and it reminded me of this truly extraordinary piece of work
* btw - i've been meaning to address the issue of righty v lefty blogs for a while (and am not sure if i have). on larry king, jon stewart made the (oft-repeated) case that we can't even agree on the Same Facts. stewart appeared to apportion blame equally. like everyone, i like to think that i'm open-minded - but i *never* spend any time at right-wing blogs (altho i do try to watch a lot of fox - and i used to try to read weeklystandard.) recently glenn has been spending a lot of time trying to argue against right-wing blogs - i understand the motivation - and i'm very aware of the problems of group-think - but it drives me mad (and amazes me) that people waste their time with right-wingness - simply because i can hardly remember a single issue that the Right has been right about. their 2 claims to fame are Rathergate and Eason Jordan! the closest i get to reading righty bloggers is reading tom maguire occasionally. i dont pretend for a minute to claim any intellectual superiority by ignoring the 'other side' of any argument - but it's probably not by accident that our side is called the 'reality-based-community' by people on the other side!
i welcome intellectual curiosity as much as anyone - but that doesn't mean that we equally indulge the possibility that the SkyMonster doesn't exist with the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Time and time again, the reality-based-crew has been exactly right, and the other side have nothing in their credit column. any reasonable definition of 'the other side' means 'the other side of the reality-based-crew' - not 'reality versus the opposite of reality'. and if there was any quibble about the definition of 'reality' then it would appear on the scoreboard. but it doesn't.
i unapologetically indulge in a lot of speculation here - and i'm sure i get a lot wrong, and i revise and re-evaluate certain theories as new information presents itself - but it's rarely because 'i was wrong and the righties were right', but most often because one of the other theories from the reality-based-crew turned out to be more accurate.
again, im all for challenging one's views, and i'm more than prepared to renounce anything that is incorrect, and i'm most desirous of bridging the divide between right&left - but only if it is reality-based - and we dont have a single shred of evidence that right-blogistan is ever right about anything - but even more than that, they continually demonstrate that they are intellectually dishonest - clinging desperately to stuff that simply isnt true. repeatedly.
even the idea/characterisation of left & right is absurd. the only meaningful characterisation is reality-based-vs-bush-cultists. i dont think my political views have changed much in the last 5 years, and i would have *never* considered myself a lefty before bush stole his first election. our universe is so upsidedown.
how did we get here?
and can we at least have some intellectual honesty? thats all i ask
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8 comments:
'how did we get here?'
oy--where to begin? for some psychologically fucked reason (on their part), i think the rightwing took heart/got strength the second Gore decided to stand down/take the high road and the supremes dropped trow and validated the bullshit. IMO it all went downhill from there, in a 'wheeee! we can do ANYthing now' kinda way.
i'm thinking one can't fight this bunch w/the rule of law; that the only way they'll back down is if dems/liberals resort to their own kind of smearing, cheating and outright lying.
ps, i hate thinking like this.
rimone - yeah, its hard to believe that operating by the 'rules' will ever beat these people. however i'm not sure that lying and cheating will either.
for years i thought that our only chance was rioting in the streets.
we'll see...
i've been thinking of rioting, um sorry, 'demonstrating' in front of the white house since back in december 2000. (i actually think i went a little mad back then, but anyway.) i think i've said this here before but, in the states, political protest has been marginalised off to the 'lunatic' fringe (right where they want it) beginning w/reagan. after being part of the anti-war protests in germany and in london in 03, i can honestly say i feel much better over on this side of the atlantic--more free to demonstate or whatever, w/o being looked-upon as some nut (that's what people called me when i expressed my outrage in NYC).
if only we knew then (dec 2000) what we knew now...
i wasnt particularly engaged in politics then - but i was in australia for a funeral at the time watching in complete amazement. in fact, i'll always remember it, becuase at the same time i saw the scariest docu about obl.
and yep - i'm sure that rendon actually produces the 'free mumia' signs for the antiwar protests. they're so much smarter abuot stuff than we are.
i had a LOT of interests (and i miss them) but something like switched on in my head back then and i haven't been the same since (amazement has become the new normal). w/the occupation of Iraq, i just can't look away, too many innocent people dying &c.
i think they've been practising like since the 70s to get where they are today (whatever it takes!).
ah - "other interests" - those were the days... kinda quaint, like the horse and buggy, and the geneva conventions
i was really together up to then--for most of my life, always busy making collages or learning something new...apart from a month or two in germany in 2002, that person has been dead for over five years and i want her back but don't know how (two stress counsellors beginning right before the last 'election' and continuing up to now).
i hope you're stronger than i am.
ps, if you'd like to talk in mail, please do so, if not now, then whenever. :)
rimone - i cant see your email address - try mine
i'm not very strong
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