Sunday, June 10, 2012

This Is Pretty Funny...

This, to be blunt, is the tragic flaw of the modern liberal. We choose to see ourselves as innocent victims of an escalating right-wing fanaticism. But too often we serve as willing accomplices to this escalation and to the resulting degradation of our civic discourse. We do this, without even meaning to, by consuming conservative folly as mass entertainment. 

If this sounds like a harsh assessment, trust me, I’m among the worst offenders. Yes, I’m one of those enlightened masochists who tune in to conservative talk radio when driving alone. I recognize this as pathological behavior, and I always make sure to switch the station back to NPR before returning the car to my wife. But I can’t help myself. I take a perverse and complicated pleasure in listening to all the mean, manipulative things those people say. 

[...]

So why do I do this? 

The first and most damning reason is that some part of me truly enjoys resenting conservatives. I know I shouldn’t, that I should strive for equanimity. But secretly I feel the same helplessness and rage that animates the extreme right wing of this country. I see a world dangerously out of balance — morally, economically, ecologically — and my natural impulse is to blame those figures who, in my view, embody the decadent ignorance of the age. They become convenient scapegoats. 

Rather than taking up the banner and the burden of the causes I believe in, or questioning my own consumptive habits, I’ve come to rely on private moments of indignation for moral vindication. I fume at the iniquity of Pundit A and laugh at the hypocrisy of Candidate B and feel absolved — without ever having left my couch. It’s a closed system of scorn and self-congratulation. 
This is just another thinly-disguised call for "civility" in our political discourse, something that reoccurs regularly when the Left either suffers a major defeat (Wisconsin, this time) or is down in the polls.  I agree with Mr. Almond on his titular point: Liberals ARE ruining America, but not for the reasons he states.  No, it has more to do with profligate spending, nanny-state regulation, bloated bureaucracies, public-sector unions, teachers who don't/can't teach, and tree-hugging do-gooders of various and sundry stripes, all tilting left.  THAT'S why Liberals are ruining America.

―:☺:―

In other news... Panic in El-Eh!  Them Debbils brought the Stanley Cup Final to 3-2 by winning again last evening.  Game Six is tomorrow night in El-Eh, and the hand-wringing has already begun.  Things are getting very interesting.

8 comments:

  1. Anti-Federal (Mommy) Dogmatist10 June, 2012 11:43

    This fixation on the "me" is what I am against. This is both a far left and a far right political issue.

    I'd like to see the whole Senate replaced. They are all extremists.

    Which is also why I support getting rid of the IRS, and going to a VAT (national sales tax). No more subsidies/tax writeoffs. The IRS is too powerful for a republic.

    If you push people to far, they will bring out their weapons. Just look at the Civil war, the Arab Spring. You can't take down a million Waco's.

    People should ask themselves if their political direction is worth the destruction of a country? If the answer is no, then shut the fuck up.

    That goes for the far left and the far right.

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    Replies
    1. I like yer ideers about the IRS and the VAT, kinda-sorta on the latter.

      Delete
  2. Term limits; we gotta start somewhere and that would help.

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    Replies
    1. Term limits will never happen, Kris... the system is stacked against the concept.

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  3. I'm thinking the media are who's running things. Seriously, it's extremes that sell: really cute or really bloody (and spontaneous bloody's easier to find).
    Then, in sports, a six or seven game playoff draws more viewers than a sweep of a single playoff game.
    It's all about the freakin' money.

    BTW - when I drive the wife's car, I have to switch the radio back from NPR to the talk show station.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm a big NPR fan, Skip. But my local station in P-Ville doesn't carry all the programs I used to like. That said, when I'm on a long road trip it's All NPR, All the Time.

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  4. I'll be watching game six. This is the most fun, in any sport, when one team grabs the "insurmountable" lead and the other team starts coming back. Great theater.

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    Replies
    1. I'll be watching, too. And hopin them Debbils win so we'll have a Game Seven. NOTHING compares to a Game Seven in the SCF. Nothing.

      Delete

Just be polite... that's all I ask.