This site has always been about what's going on inside my head (or my friends' heads). Reviews of movies, commentary on news items, or just crap going on in my life--but there's just too much that is obviously wrong with the world to keep up with everyone who disagrees with me.
When it comes to my commentary on government and business, I present my opinions and the facts they're based on as things that are fairly obviously wrong in the world. The thing is, there are so many people out there that are just stone-cold blind to what America is really about and what it's really supposed to be about.
I tell one friend that extreme capitalism is bad and he says that corporations are fine in his mind. The system works, he says, adding that it works the best of any systems humans have ever tried to use. I wasn't saying anything about moderate capitalism, but everyone is so fast to assume that an attack on any part of something means the attacker hates anything and everything about the attacked.
Like when I talk about the USG and point out how Bush has broken laws, people essentially accuse me of being anti-American. People say that anyone who is critical of the Bush 43 Admin is part of the "Hate America First" crowd. Mediamatters.org has a post and an audio clip featuring Bill O'Reilly essentially saying that critics of the war in Iraq are undermining that war and are therefore traitors.
Now, I'm not allowed to compare this kind of behavior to a certain European country in history that was taken over by national socialists who had people in the media saying the exact same kind of thing, so what's a guy to do?
You try to point out things from history that seem to be happenning again and you come face-to-face with accusations rooted in such fear that history even could repeat itself. Thanks to some perverted exaggeration of [[Godwin's Law]], we're not allowed to cite certain examples from history without being written off as too absurd to contemplate.
It's like a UFO abductee trying to be taken seriously by the mainstream press. The difference is, I and many others are making legitimate comparisons to things that happened in the lead up to that unmentionable moment of that European country's take over by national socialists.
That's OK, I guess--I don't have time to blog on it all anyway.
But I'm a Chicken Little for even bringing this stuff up.
I'm wrong to even dare to mention that the Government Accountability Office already found that the Bush 43 Adminitstration broke Federal Law and no one, including the conservative Republicans are doing anything about it.
As far as I'm concerned, when one law is violated by the highest office in the land, it devalues every other law in the land. (And Republicans were pissed because of Clinton--what a bunch of hypocrites.)
But there are so many laws in this land being violated--not just by Bush, but by other Republicans and a few Democrats, too, I'd wager.
The thing is, no one does anything about it.
No one cares.
No one says anything.
It gets reported once or twice in the mainstream press and then what?
Nothing.
Thinking about O'Reilly's absurd comment that dissent=undermining of war=treason reminds me of a jpeg a friend emailed me a while back:
And that pic doesn't even have any references to the Nazis so it's legal, I guess.
So, in the end what's the point? Noone's listenning and noone's caring. If they are caring they're not doing anything about it. Hell, I'd be happy to see a few more comments on this site from people who actually agree with me. Am I THAT good at stating what's wrong that no one can fill in a few other blanks for me? Round out my argument a bit?
I guess I should be happy I get the amount of hits that I get. I guess it would just be nice if I could feel like I was getting somewhere.
I support you, Pete!
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I don't comment a lot of the time because I feel like I'm not contributing if I just say, "Right on!" I've been spending too much time on forums where the mods wield a heavy banhammer, I guess... =D
Well shit man... You have like 2000+ posts right? I don't blame you, that gets hard to keep up... On my old site I use to get hundreds of comments a day... I had to start just being the poster and only answering to tech support and bug reports...
ReplyDeleteJen: Well, you're contributing to my spirit when you do posts like that :) But seriously, do I make my arguments so well that they can't be added to? Maybe I'm a better writer than I think. Still, reading Shakespeare to what seems like a brick wall isn't that fulfilling :)
ReplyDeleteEnse: Ha! It's actually only 1700+ and yeah, I think that's what I'll be doing. Although TheFiancee suggested something tonight that I think I'll do--create a sort of FAQ category with answers to challenges like:
"How did Bush break the law?"
Rather than explaining, I just post a link to a post that explains it. Perhaps I could call it a FAC--for Frequently Answered Challenges. :D
Thanks for commenting guys. I appreciate it.
Hey Pete...
ReplyDeleteI think "getting somewhere" is the wrong focus. The fact that you are out there, posting your mind to the world, *that's* what's important.
As with anything, those that agree silently nod their heads. Those that disagree are the most vocal. So you may be hearing from the vocal ones.
Dude! I love your image of reading Shakespeare to a brick wall. And to be honest, what an incredibly artistic thing to do (I might have to do a performance piece like that at some point). Now, if you were looking for contrapuntal response/verse from the wall, you are doing it for the wrong reason. I imagine that one reads Shakespeare to a brick wall not to have the wall respond, but to hear the language of an artist cast out into the world. Those who recognize the value of that language will stop and listen. Those who don't get it will walk on, or call you mad. Whatever. Are you doing it for them, for the wall, or for the Shakespeare?
Okay, enough of my silliness. Thanks for posting. I read you for the sense you make to me. I don't even know how I found your blog. I just keep coming back. Thanks for being there.
Wow--thanks for your words, Atis--very kind.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I'm doing this for all of the above--myself, everyone else and the wall. I do it for myself because I feel I need to contribute something. For everyone else, I feel that we are all being lied to and it's the wall that I'm trying to change.
It's just nice to know there are people out there who agree with me. Logically, I know there are, but sometimes it gets pretty lonely being the only voice of reason you hear. Just a comment every once in a while goes a long way, so thanks for posting.