Jones Alley
it's time to fight
Why have we lost the last two elections, elections that pitted eminently qualified and experienced candidates against a functionally illiterate man that can't put two coherent sentences in a row? What we need to realize is that the Republithugs that have scammed themselves back into office again have turned our greatest strength into a liability. That strength? In a word, we are SMARTER than they are. When Bill O'Reilly insulted Jon Stewart and his audience by calling them a bunch of "stoned slackers," Stewart came right back with statistics that showed that it was O'Reilly's viewers who were the low-education, lower social strata, and more bigoted demographic, and that Stewart's audience tended to be college graduates and professional people. We ARE the party of the intellectuals.
The only way to fight brains is by making brains a liability. You can't outsmart intellectuals, the only other option is to demonize them and neutralize their intelligence with societal disdain. How do you do that? You create an environment where the heroes are not the intellectual people, the ones who bring true progress to our species. You elevate people like athletes and entertainers to levels of fame and adulation that are way out of proportion to their accomplishments. A nineteen year-old kid that can jump high and put a round ball through a hoop with a high percentage of accuracy is not a hero, he is an aberration. They assertively equate that kind of accomplishment with that of somebody who studies for years in school and works hard in their selected field of intellectual endeavor, and NOBODY QUESTIONS IT. A movie star that lifted weights for years is somehow perceived to have the savvy to run one of the largest states in the country, and NOBODY QUESTIONS IT. Religious leaders are granted credibility simply because of the beliefs they claim to espouse and NOBODY QUESTIONS IT. A "C" student who has run every business that he ever headed into the ground, who brings the state that he governs to the point of insolvency is somehow portrayed as a success worthy of being a two-term president, primarily based upon what he says about himself rather than on the facts, and NOBODY QUESTIONS IT.
We like to think that we are the party of fair play, and we should be, but we can't permit this to continue because we are afraid that people will think we are being "mean" to an intellectually-challenged leader. WHO CARES WHAT THEY THINK? THE TRUTH IS NOT AN INSULT. For the last couple of days, John Kerry has been playing the diplomat, telling his supporters that we should all be "reaching across the aisle" to the scoundrels who cheated the United States two days ago. That is telling the beaten spouse to "reach out" to their abuser. By following that policy, we are endorsing being sodomized by these people. For the second time in four years, the Democratic candidate chose to drop out for the sake of "uniting the nation" and the Republicans thanked them for being so gracious. If that graciousness is such a wonderful quality, why didn't THEY consider backing out? The Republicans had TEN THOUSAND lawyers ready to go in Ohio if the election results were disputed. Apparently, being gracious is not a high-value trait in their world-view, unless it is an act by a Democrat who is chickening out of a confrontation.
We lose because we are worried about offending people. Well, do you see the Republithugs worried about offending people? They had anti-homosexual ballot initiatives pass in a flood on Tuesday. I would imagine that offends nearly all of the homosexuals in this country. Did the Busheviks care? No, they used that issue to lather up their base, and to pack the polls with the simple-minded bigots who also happened to vote for Bush. The truth is, everybody in this country should be offended every day, frequently. If you live in a country where you aren't offended, you do not live in a free country. As a people, we need to thicken our skins and realize that how we choose to live individually should not be forced upon anyone else, and that the freedom that other people have to "offend" us represents our own freedom to pursue our own direction in our own life.
We are patting ourselves on the back because of our "sportsmanship" while our opponents are laughing as they bathe in the blood of heroes. We try to tiptoe around the issue of religion in our political discourse. Any truly religious person understands that their own take on how the universe works is a deeply personal thing, and that they have no right to impose their belief on anybody else. Yet instead of standing up and EDUCATING the public about what true religious freedom is, the Democrats avoid confronting that world-view head-on and try to pretend that by mouthing a few gracious platitudes to the effect that all should be free to worship however they see fit in this country that the fundamentalist base of our opponents will be satisfied with that. We need to stand up tall and proud and tell these people that their insistence on religious conformity is UN-AMERICAN. We need to rub their noses in this shameful behavior. Yes, we'll make some enemies, but you know what? WE ALREADY HAVE ENEMIES, and they exploit our very weakness of NOT confronting these issues honestly to gain tactical advantages.
We permitted these people to get away with mocking a real war hero by wearing band-aids with purple hearts painted on them during their national convention. Where was the outrage by the Democrats? We should have beat the hell out of some of these people, we should have made them fear us and realize that we are warriors and not doormats to be treated with disdain. Yes, we need to win fairly and honestly so we can hold our heads high, but we should not be afraid of shedding the rhetorical blood of the people who are sworn to destroy our way of life.
We are in a class war and it is a battle to the death. It is a war of the learned against those who are jealous of their learning. It is a war that is exacerbated by a few ruthlessly malevolent, frighteningly wealthy and powerful people who take advantage of this jealousy and fan it into flames to enrich and empower themselves. They are not only victimizing the Democrats, they are parasitically victimizing their own base as well, and their base masochistically embraces their own victimization because they do not have the perceptual abilities to understand how they are being manipulated.
Quit being polite. Make "LIBERAL" a compliment instead of a verbal slap. Tell everyone "I'M A LIBERAL." Say it loud, say it often, be proud of it. We have to learn how to play the semantic psychology game. Don't let people use terms like "pro-life" and "tax relief" around you. Call the other side "against choice" or "opponents of freedom." Remind everyone that taxes are what build highways, hire police and firemen, and that wealthy people get a larger share of the benefits of this country. Do cops patrol rich neighborhoods or ghetto neighborhoods more often? Wealthy people SHOULD contribute more, they receive more. When you hear someone use a construction like "Taxachusetts" tell them they have insulted you and everyone that agrees with you.
Don't let people talk about "freedom" being brought to Iraq and similar places. It is war, violence, death, oppression, poverty, disease, and imperialism that is being brought to Iraq, and Iraq is just the start. DON'T LET THEM LIE ANY MORE BY USING NOBLE-SOUNDING WORDS THAT MEAN THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THE ACTIONS BEING TAKEN. We lost because the Democratic party is wimpy. Just like the last election, Bush didn't win, we lost. We got walked all over by liars and crooks, and we are being forced to watch them dance in the endzone over another stolen election. Grow some balls. Get mad. Get vocal. Write letters to the editor every day. Call your local media when you see or hear them denigrate the progressive agenda. Picket companies that outsource or that flee to offshore tax shelters and suck Americans dry financially. We need to make religion a private matter again, not a touchstone that guarantees scoundrels respectability for hiding their true motivations behind flowery words. When somebody questions your patriotism, confront them aggressively. You SHOULD be mad when that happens. Shout about the false outrage that the other side uses to pretend they are helpless victims. Kerry said "we need to reach out" to the other side. No, we don't. Are they reaching out to us? Have they ever? The only way we can change things is by beating the competition at every turn. Didn't anyone notice that half of the Bush campaign revolved around insult and ridicule? Doesn't that offend anybody? It should. Why haven't people from our side been screaming bloody murder about the offensive and personal tactics used by the Republican campaign for the last two years?
Folks, it's a fight to the death, whether we want it to be or not, and the sooner we realize that, the better odds we have of surviving. It's time to choose. Stand up for your principles, or lay down and die.
...to be continued.
The only way to fight brains is by making brains a liability. You can't outsmart intellectuals, the only other option is to demonize them and neutralize their intelligence with societal disdain. How do you do that? You create an environment where the heroes are not the intellectual people, the ones who bring true progress to our species. You elevate people like athletes and entertainers to levels of fame and adulation that are way out of proportion to their accomplishments. A nineteen year-old kid that can jump high and put a round ball through a hoop with a high percentage of accuracy is not a hero, he is an aberration. They assertively equate that kind of accomplishment with that of somebody who studies for years in school and works hard in their selected field of intellectual endeavor, and NOBODY QUESTIONS IT. A movie star that lifted weights for years is somehow perceived to have the savvy to run one of the largest states in the country, and NOBODY QUESTIONS IT. Religious leaders are granted credibility simply because of the beliefs they claim to espouse and NOBODY QUESTIONS IT. A "C" student who has run every business that he ever headed into the ground, who brings the state that he governs to the point of insolvency is somehow portrayed as a success worthy of being a two-term president, primarily based upon what he says about himself rather than on the facts, and NOBODY QUESTIONS IT.
We like to think that we are the party of fair play, and we should be, but we can't permit this to continue because we are afraid that people will think we are being "mean" to an intellectually-challenged leader. WHO CARES WHAT THEY THINK? THE TRUTH IS NOT AN INSULT. For the last couple of days, John Kerry has been playing the diplomat, telling his supporters that we should all be "reaching across the aisle" to the scoundrels who cheated the United States two days ago. That is telling the beaten spouse to "reach out" to their abuser. By following that policy, we are endorsing being sodomized by these people. For the second time in four years, the Democratic candidate chose to drop out for the sake of "uniting the nation" and the Republicans thanked them for being so gracious. If that graciousness is such a wonderful quality, why didn't THEY consider backing out? The Republicans had TEN THOUSAND lawyers ready to go in Ohio if the election results were disputed. Apparently, being gracious is not a high-value trait in their world-view, unless it is an act by a Democrat who is chickening out of a confrontation.
We lose because we are worried about offending people. Well, do you see the Republithugs worried about offending people? They had anti-homosexual ballot initiatives pass in a flood on Tuesday. I would imagine that offends nearly all of the homosexuals in this country. Did the Busheviks care? No, they used that issue to lather up their base, and to pack the polls with the simple-minded bigots who also happened to vote for Bush. The truth is, everybody in this country should be offended every day, frequently. If you live in a country where you aren't offended, you do not live in a free country. As a people, we need to thicken our skins and realize that how we choose to live individually should not be forced upon anyone else, and that the freedom that other people have to "offend" us represents our own freedom to pursue our own direction in our own life.
We are patting ourselves on the back because of our "sportsmanship" while our opponents are laughing as they bathe in the blood of heroes. We try to tiptoe around the issue of religion in our political discourse. Any truly religious person understands that their own take on how the universe works is a deeply personal thing, and that they have no right to impose their belief on anybody else. Yet instead of standing up and EDUCATING the public about what true religious freedom is, the Democrats avoid confronting that world-view head-on and try to pretend that by mouthing a few gracious platitudes to the effect that all should be free to worship however they see fit in this country that the fundamentalist base of our opponents will be satisfied with that. We need to stand up tall and proud and tell these people that their insistence on religious conformity is UN-AMERICAN. We need to rub their noses in this shameful behavior. Yes, we'll make some enemies, but you know what? WE ALREADY HAVE ENEMIES, and they exploit our very weakness of NOT confronting these issues honestly to gain tactical advantages.
We permitted these people to get away with mocking a real war hero by wearing band-aids with purple hearts painted on them during their national convention. Where was the outrage by the Democrats? We should have beat the hell out of some of these people, we should have made them fear us and realize that we are warriors and not doormats to be treated with disdain. Yes, we need to win fairly and honestly so we can hold our heads high, but we should not be afraid of shedding the rhetorical blood of the people who are sworn to destroy our way of life.
We are in a class war and it is a battle to the death. It is a war of the learned against those who are jealous of their learning. It is a war that is exacerbated by a few ruthlessly malevolent, frighteningly wealthy and powerful people who take advantage of this jealousy and fan it into flames to enrich and empower themselves. They are not only victimizing the Democrats, they are parasitically victimizing their own base as well, and their base masochistically embraces their own victimization because they do not have the perceptual abilities to understand how they are being manipulated.
Quit being polite. Make "LIBERAL" a compliment instead of a verbal slap. Tell everyone "I'M A LIBERAL." Say it loud, say it often, be proud of it. We have to learn how to play the semantic psychology game. Don't let people use terms like "pro-life" and "tax relief" around you. Call the other side "against choice" or "opponents of freedom." Remind everyone that taxes are what build highways, hire police and firemen, and that wealthy people get a larger share of the benefits of this country. Do cops patrol rich neighborhoods or ghetto neighborhoods more often? Wealthy people SHOULD contribute more, they receive more. When you hear someone use a construction like "Taxachusetts" tell them they have insulted you and everyone that agrees with you.
Don't let people talk about "freedom" being brought to Iraq and similar places. It is war, violence, death, oppression, poverty, disease, and imperialism that is being brought to Iraq, and Iraq is just the start. DON'T LET THEM LIE ANY MORE BY USING NOBLE-SOUNDING WORDS THAT MEAN THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THE ACTIONS BEING TAKEN. We lost because the Democratic party is wimpy. Just like the last election, Bush didn't win, we lost. We got walked all over by liars and crooks, and we are being forced to watch them dance in the endzone over another stolen election. Grow some balls. Get mad. Get vocal. Write letters to the editor every day. Call your local media when you see or hear them denigrate the progressive agenda. Picket companies that outsource or that flee to offshore tax shelters and suck Americans dry financially. We need to make religion a private matter again, not a touchstone that guarantees scoundrels respectability for hiding their true motivations behind flowery words. When somebody questions your patriotism, confront them aggressively. You SHOULD be mad when that happens. Shout about the false outrage that the other side uses to pretend they are helpless victims. Kerry said "we need to reach out" to the other side. No, we don't. Are they reaching out to us? Have they ever? The only way we can change things is by beating the competition at every turn. Didn't anyone notice that half of the Bush campaign revolved around insult and ridicule? Doesn't that offend anybody? It should. Why haven't people from our side been screaming bloody murder about the offensive and personal tactics used by the Republican campaign for the last two years?
Folks, it's a fight to the death, whether we want it to be or not, and the sooner we realize that, the better odds we have of surviving. It's time to choose. Stand up for your principles, or lay down and die.
...to be continued.
posted by Milo Johnson at 11:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home