I mean the way regular people like you and me, and the people all around us at work and the grocery store and places, talk about political figures we don't like.
Remember how, during the GWBush presidency, we all talked about him like he was a dictator, a Hitler who was taking away our rights? And the Patriot Act was the end of our country as we knew it? I won't bother with links; we all remember our posts. We believed we were right, and that we knew what repugs and Faux Nooz and Rush Limpdick and Glenn Prick didn't know: that Bush was basically the antichrist, and we were in big trouble.
Over the last week and a half, I've been temping at a local car dealership, answering the phones and filing and stuff. During this time, I've heard almost the exact same things, word for word, that we used to say about Bush -- only this time, these guys are saying it about Obama. They really think they're right. People who seemed sensible only moments before suddenly start saying things like "Obama is exactly like Hitler!" and "this healthcare bill is the end of our democracy!" "Obama's the antichrist!"
These people list things like "parallels" between Hitler's Third Reich and Obama's presidency (stuff about their talent as public speakers, the takeover of businesses by the government, etc.); you've heard it all on Faux Nooz. The thing is, they all believe they're right too, just like we do. They all think they know the truth, and that the other side is completely wrong and full of idiots, and that NOW we're all screwed because this crazy guy in office is taking our country straight to the gulag or the concentration camp or whatever.
A lot has changed since Bush took office in 2000. But are we in nazi Germany? It doesn't feel like it; no one's coming for my neighbor yet, or for me. All our bloggy jokes about getting picked up and put in Gitmo for trashing Bush/Cheney? Never happened, at least not to any of us.
Who's right? Who's wrong? Do any of us really know what's happening in D.C.? Do we have any control over what happens in D.C., or Afghanistan or Iraq or anyplace outside our own homes and jobs? Is our government even our government anymore? I mean, one minute Chimpy McStagger is signing blank checks to Halliburton for providing our soldiers with contaminated drinking water; the next minute, the Carebear is allowing offshore drilling pretty much everywhere.
Sometimes you just have to say WHAT THE FUCK?, you know?
I've thought before that our government/power elite exist in their own world, completely insulated from the everyday, the mundane concerns you and I live with. Our media is part of their world; they prop up Bush and his wars, give pub to morons like Sarah Palin and the teabaggers, let insane sociopaths like Glenn Prick or Rush Limpdick air their verbal poison.
We--you and me and all our neighbors--are simply the entertainment in this world. That powerful elite populace, all 1% of them, just point and laugh. And can you blame them? Look at the way we're portrayed on TV, on shows like Cops, American Idol, World's Dumbest, 19 Kids and Counting, Faux Nooz's entire schedule. Notice a trend there?
I'm reminded of an Ani DiFranco lyric from her song "Tamburitza Lingua":
TV is, after all, the modern-day Roman ColiseumThe power elite are sitting in those seats, making "thumbs down" gestures when it comes to doing anything that might help us get out of there alive. They'd rather we get eaten by the lions, or better yet, that we kill each other.
Human devastation as mass entertainment
And now millions sit jeering
Collectively cheering
The bloodthirsty hierarchy of the patriarchal arrangement
You watch one channel and you hear how crucial it is that we vote out all the democrats in the next election, or basically the country will collapse. You watch another channel and you hear the same thing, only with voting out republicans.
Who's right? Who's wrong? Does it even matter? Is our innate stupidity and need to put down that which is different from us so powerful that, no matter what side we're on, we're still singing the same songs but just substituting different nouns in the "I hate __________" spots? Are we any different from them?
Or are we just right?
19 comments:
Excellent post, miss.
I think the political parties are more alike than not as you point out. It pisses me off because I do see the wealthy getting away with everything under the sun and laughing all the way to the bank (that we bailed out).
I am glad to see that as this recession deepens and as Obama prepares to pull a Herbert Hoover by increasing taxes during this recession that you are beginning to see the light. I can see that you are beginning to miss Bush now.
Go join the Tea Party and get to know these nice people and you will be rewarded.
I look foeward to the day you revert to the original name of your blog, Impeachment and Other Dreams.
Moderate_Democrat
You know what I look "foeward" to? When Dick Armey starts issuing a fucking dictionary to his teabagging dupes.
There were a lot of bloggers who broke Godwin's Law about Bush and compared him to Hitler. A major difference is that the elected Democrats and mainstream media ignored most of this rhetoric. Not so with elected Republicans and Fox News.
Now we get people getting arrested on a regular basis, crazy people threatening elected officials or planting pipe bombs or starting militias that plan to kill cops and start the next American Revolution.
That is the difference. A lot more armed crazy people on their side and a lot more irresponsible voices on the radio egging these nuts towards violence.
Liberality's worries about the rigged game are valid, but our side really does want dignity and equality for all, while their side only wants it for people "like them". They are on the wrong side of history.
Matty Boy you already posted my comment, you are right. The problem today are the 24/7 lies and incendiary hate speech on the public airwaves.
It really must be polarizing to have a two party system. At times it is agonizing the vote splitting that happens here in Canada, which effectively eliminates some the chances of a party coming into power. But I am so glad we have a lot of choice.
If you're temping at a car dealership, simply grab the keys of anyone making annoying comments.
Sneak into their car and drop a deuce in their backseat.
CDP--thanks; that means a lot coming from you.
Lib--Amen.
Anon--um, did you read the post? Or any of my past posts?
Kirby--ha ha ha!!!!!
Matty Boy--you're right on it, sir. Thank you for your clarity.
Jo--hey! Welcome to my bloggy!
Barbara--is there anything we CAN'T learn from you Canucks?
Zip--or right on the hood, baby.
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