the stepping down digression
Quote:
Originally posted by pfflam
It is a tough time to moderate, what with the political situation being very immediate and with dire consequences . . .
Originally posted by pfflam
It is a tough time to moderate, what with the political situation being very immediate and with dire consequences . . .
Goddamnit!!!! I was logged in. You fucking arsehole, fucking lost my fucking reply. Fuck it!
We'll try again shall we.
Here I think is one of the problems AO continually runs up against. So many passionate people being, well, passionate. The question is whether it's really as important as it seems.
I loathe and detest George and his phony war as much as the next right thinking person (no offense Cons) but having watched this sort of crap unfold for 40 odd years I find I just can't get that worked up about it anymore. Back in the mid seventies, if you'd asked me if I thought there was any way the US and USSR (remember them) were going to avoid nuking the planet to smithereens, I'd have howled with derision before jumping on the soapbox and giving you a lecture about peace and disarmament.
Yeah well, so much for that.
Back about the same time they were saying we were going to run out of oil any minute. Now, after 'fessing up that they miscalculated slightly, here we are 25 years later fighting wars over the stuff. The reds under the bed were going to get us. Now you'd be hard pressed to find a genuine red,
My point is, you have to keep these things in perspective. One man's meat is another woman's poisson. Chances are, in five or ten years time the current political situation and its apparent dire consequences will be just another blip on the history meter.
And if it does come to the crunch and it is the end of the world (as we know it), George, Iraq and Wheelie Bin Laden will be the last thing on your mind. When and if the fat lady sings, all that will matter will be saving your own skin and that of those near and dear to you.
Anyway, back on topic....HIT ME WITH A FEATHER HEATHER!
"there is this Heather girl in my life" WOOHOO
"Very, very special" DOUBLE WOOHOO!
(where's all my stuff? codey things, smilies etc?)
(It did it to me again! This time I'd taken the precaution of copying my reply. I am bloody logged in - see there's my name at the top of the page. Now work damn you.)
Comments
Originally posted by crazychester
Goddamnit!!!! I was logged in. You fucking arsehole, fucking lost my fucking reply. Fuck it!
)
I don't know . . . i've been around for 40+ years too, and I don't like to see America being dragged down in so many ways . .. wars being started that need not have been: "his phony war" is not merely his war it is all of ours, and, what's moreso, it will effect our country deep into the future: setting America's place in the global community while my daughter is tryng to live a good life.
I can just shrug my shoulders and say it just another blip on the vast image-mediated-reality-hyperreal landscape of commodity capital, but, I think that that is not right: it isn't just another thing, just another way of being, another lifestyle or 'choice' . . the word 'war' still has gravitas for me. I preffer to think of it as something to avoid if possible and something to wage only when it is really in the best interests of the US and the world . . .
And then there is the 'Environment', a word that in itself has been belittled by said same machine . . . needless to say, I think that that is absolutely important . . . but I won't go on about it here . . .
Besides, jadedness is part of the package of today's image machine: 'too above the frey' to care; that is 'cool', aloof, bored, 'knowing' . . . all of my students wear this attitude like a stupid badge, completely unaware that they are being a reflex of a profound marketted image and 'reality'.
Not saying that that is you . . .
Originally posted by pfflam
I don't know . . . i've been around for 40+ years too, and I don't like to see America being dragged down in so many ways . .. wars being started that need not have been: "his phony war" is not merely his war it is all of ours, and, what's moreso, it will effect our country deep into the future: setting America's place in the global community while my daughter is tryng to live a good life.
Christ, another reply disappears into the ether.
Yeah I think I am rather jaded although not for the same reasons as the younger generation. And the de-politicization of youth bothers me. 25 years ago we'd have been demonstrating every Friday in the Union Courtyard if something like Iraq was going on.
Part of the problem for me is that democracy has turned out to be a bad joke. Sounds great in theory; much harder to make work in practice. At least you can do something about environmental issues on an individual basis even if your pollies won't sign the Kyoto Agreement.
But a couple of points. If it's really that much of a concern there are probably far more constructive things you can do about it than argue with people on an internet message board. As has been pointed out previously, dmz, NaplesX, Scott, SDW et al aren't showing much evidence of changing their minds. The Fellowships of this world are the exception rather than the rule.
Also, and this is a personal observation that may be coloured (but remember I'm of your political bent), it seems to me that it's the lefties who are most inclined to become rude and abusive. This intrigues me because we're nearly always in the majority and so have the upperhand anyway. If you look at dmz and NaplesX posts for instance, they're nearly always mild-mannered. One of the reasons I often feel sorry for them because they usually conduct themselves with more dignity than those on my side of the political divide.
Originally posted by crazychester
[B]Christ, another reply disappears into the ether.
Yeah I think I am rather jaded although not for the same reasons as the younger generation. And the de-politicization of youth bothers me. 25 years ago we'd have been demonstrating every Friday in the Union Courtyard if something like Iraq was going on.
Blame our dumbed down media for one. Regarding coverage of political events, they now assume the posture of administration lapdogs and cheerleaders, rather than watchdogs and whistleblowers.
If the public had been given the true facts about Iraq before the war started, by a media with some integrity and even-handedness (without our having to jump through hoops and dig through obscure memoranda and articles), American public support for the war would have undoubtedly echoed that in the rest of the world, where anti-war opinion was commonly 75%+, and in some nations up to 90%. If we had only known before the fact that it was all based on lies, misrepresentations, double standards, greed, and favors for the privileged few, maybe 840 American troops and 11000 Iraqi civilians would still be alive, and Osama bin Forgotten could have been caught....
We Americans are a decent and reasonable bunch of people. The last 33 months have seen deception, a monstrous false flag operation, phoney wars, erosions of civil rights and liberties, election fraud, and grand scale corporate crime. This entire administration is the consummate anti-American operation.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!
ok, back off topic hehe
sammi-jo:
I seem to remeber that many people felt that the war was based on false facts before the war: like those labs, clearly it was generally known even before Powell went to the council . . . and yellow cake too
but yes, I agree with your last paragraph.
Originally posted by Powerdoc
I have split the Fship's thread (but not Fship !). Free for you to disgress as much you can
I really hate SUVs.
(Now if somebody would just go fix the "Is Apple deluding themselves?" title in CH, I'll be a happy woman. But noooooo. I'm being punished.)
Whaaaaaaaaaaa????
Originally posted by GreggWSmith
I love SUV's!
Of course you do! You're Greg W. Smith! From Texas!
Originally posted by GreggWSmith
I love SUV's!
Me too!
-Neø
Originally posted by segovius
Iraq is a quagmire and Bush sucks.
So does Kerry.
Oh and fundies suck too. Majorly.
And accordions.
Oddly enough, sucking doesn't suck.
Originally posted by BRussell
Whatever we do here in the US, we shouldn't ever, EVER go metric.
Nah metric's great once you get the hang of it. Except for grams, of course.
And I can't tell you how thrilled I am at having a thread in my name started by somebody else that's about nothing at all. I'm not being sarcastic. I'm absolutely chuffed.
It's made my day.