tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post114520255443331533..comments2023-07-04T10:30:14.276-04:00Comments on Intrepid Liberal Journal: Anger Is Our Hammer of JusticeRobert Ellmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03526287813354418269noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post-1147063264473494792006-05-08T00:41:00.000-04:002006-05-08T00:41:00.000-04:00That's hillarious. I used to listen to Bob Grant ...That's hillarious. I used to listen to Bob Grant when I was a teenager in the late '70s when he was on WOR. But that was mostly because WOR also had Bob and Ray, Mystery Theater, and most of all, Gene Shepard running at the time. Bob Grant, and a radio evangelist they used to broadcast named "Garner Ted Armstrong", who was constantly prophesying the apocaplypse with regard to contempory events in the Middle East, were my first introductions to the trully twisted pricks of the universe.<BR/><BR/>But like you, out of youthfull naivetee I tried to listen to them with an open and logical mind.<BR/><BR/>Flash forward to the present:<BR/><BR/>I'm quite out of all sympathy. I'm out of "perspective" for these kinds of scum. No more benefit of the doubt. I really dont care why they are the way they are.<BR/><BR/>These republicans, these little people, these creatures, these hate mongering racists and fascists- today especially, with so much information available, with the history of the 20th century at everyone's finger tips- these ugly minds have no excuse left to hide behind.<BR/><BR/>They are the dirt of humanity, which is like saying they are the dirt of the dirt.<BR/><BR/>Our country and the world, are in dire peril. It is long past time to suspend judgement on stupidity and evil.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post-1146675051377408532006-05-03T12:50:00.000-04:002006-05-03T12:50:00.000-04:00The problem with anger of course is that it distor...The problem with anger of course is that it distorts your ability to think rationally. It's not reasonable to view the Right as a monolithic block of evil (especially of you then think that distinctions like the axis of evil are silly). There are many different "Rights." Wall Street types, for example, don't hate "urban dwellers." Civil Libertarians are a whole lot more conservative than they are liberal.<BR/><BR/>Personally, I think that the right is successful now because it has a good mix. What I mean by this, is it has its angry peons, the religious right, nativists, etc. but it also has the well-educated types that know alot more about economics than I do, and can make perfectly sophisticated arguments (who of course are completely using the first bunch). The left needs to try to create this mix. <BR/><BR/>I went to one of the more conservative of prestigious northeastern schools. During my senior year there was a big uproar in the conservative paper about there not being conservative professors. They didn't really care, but in defending the point you tend to kill your argument for affirmative action. Dumbasses or not, they were relatively articulate. The responses in the student papers, however, were generally absurd. At least half of them mentioned something about the racism involved in only teaching dead white men (obviously a big conservative college talking point) which had absolutely nothing to do with the issue. The people who were supposed to enter the argument, instead, got real emotional. (If ever you say that things are thematically linked in a political setting, you should probably stop talking)<BR/><BR/>Additionally having the impassioned gay, minority, Volvo driving, latte sipping segment of the party becoming louder and sel-righteous will turn off a lot of other factions of the party. We have to realize that alot of our key membership doesn't think that christian fundamentalism is crazy. We can't do things like protest the war, we have to do things like protest for a series of deadlines for the pullout of troops, and additional spending in the meantime, if we want to protest at all. Protesting bugs a lot of people, they become skeptical of people that have enough time on their hands to do it. We have to, in my opinion, be a little less angry, and a whole lot smarter . Perhaps the uneasy link between business social conservatives could be better attacked by trying to understand the conservatives. Part of that is also accepting that Democrats have failed becuase of things besides someone else's hate-preaching.<BR/><BR/>Getting mad is fine, but it'll just lead to more anger in the future.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post-1145916609045552102006-04-24T18:10:00.000-04:002006-04-24T18:10:00.000-04:00i agreed, VTPoet...it's the rethorical war that we...i agreed, VTPoet...it's the rethorical war that we're conceeding.jay lassiterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07345281883426261787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post-1145538029138643992006-04-20T09:00:00.000-04:002006-04-20T09:00:00.000-04:00Rob,Slightly off-topic but related(although I cong...Rob,<BR/><BR/>Slightly off-topic but related(although I congratulate you on giving a shout-out to Twisted Sister), what do you know about Norman Minetta? It suddenly struck me that this guy - a Clinton appointee - is one of the 2 remaining members of Bush's original cabinet and probably one of (if not the) longest-standing Secretary of Transportation in American history, but he's totally under the radar. The man was interned as a child in an American detention camp, has an airport named after him in San Jose (where he was Mayor), is the highest ranking Japanese-Amercian official ever and never appears in the news. Despite the justifible concerns about air-travel security that we are all being forced to live through. Despite Amtrak being pensioned off like an old horse to the glue factory. This is very weird to me, that no one seems to know or have looked at this man's record or history. Can you suggest any resources for an overview of this invisible man?<BR/><BR/>SimmieLegacy Userhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10719412333627232249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19150297.post-1145324346802614612006-04-17T21:39:00.000-04:002006-04-17T21:39:00.000-04:00I hear you.The trouble is, those who are not Repub...I hear you.<BR/><BR/>The trouble is, those who are not Republicans need to learn how to win the war of rhetoric. It's not enough to simply say: We're mad as hell and proud *of* it!<BR/><BR/>Until this lesson is learned, the Conservatives are going to continue squashing whiny little liberals into embarrassed silence. The Right Wing, so far, is in almost absolute control of the rhetorical war.<BR/><BR/>If it's losing some of its luster, it's only because their rhetoric is losing their war on reality (Iraq, Katrina, Tom Delay, Valerie Plame [sic?]).<BR/><BR/>However, losing the rhetorical war on *reality* is not the same as the war on the left. The left is still rhetorically moronoic and infantile & simply can't depend on reality. Conservatives learned this a long time ago. <BR/><BR/>That said, I'm glad to hear about MSOC, although I have never *heard* her myself. If she begins to really irritate the hard right (and we'll know it when the Right Wing "think tanks" begin attacking her), I wonder if her straightfoward talk will be any defense against their rhetoric.<BR/><BR/>Honest, plain spoken, and possibly angry words might not cut it.<BR/><BR/>"What's the matter with Kansas?" The book says it all. Until the left accept the realities of rhetorical discourse in modern political life, their anger is always going to be successfilly branded as whining, petty and mindless (rhetorically speaking.).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com