Buckle up chitlins! It's been a while since I last blogged, so we've got a lot of ground to cover and the natives are getting restless.
A few weeks ago I saw V for Vendetta. Before I saw the movie bought the comic and read it. The movie is not quite the original, but it is one of those rare and excellent instances where it is a different and worthwhile work in it's own right. Suffice it to say that you should make time for both, it will be a cool, thought-provoking, and disturbing experience, and you might be a better person afterwards.
There is a scene where V addresses the nation on TV(movie excerpt): "...We've had a sting of embezzlers, frauds, liars, and lunatics making a string of catastrophic decisions. This is plain fact. But who elected them? It was YOU! You who appointed these people! You who gave them the power to make your decisions for you! While I'll admit that anyone can make a mistake once, to go on making the same lethal errors century after century seems to me nothing short of deliberate. You have encouraged these malicious incompetents, who have made your [life] a shambles. you have accepted without question their senseless orders. You have allowed them to fill your [world] with dangerous and unproven machines. You could have stopped them. All you had to say was 'NO.' You have no spine. You have no pride." -text quoted and edited from the comic-
That indictment stings and shakes me. It shakes me because even though I have spoken out against the current administration and their ilk, at some point I still buy in. In some way I have signed Socrates's stupid social contract.
How scary is it that when a video of some guys tagging Air Force One comes out, and later is revealed to be a Hoax, that I seriously wonder if it's not the original that is a fake, but the report of it's fallacy?
How shameful is it that, when someone steps up to be this generation's Edward R. Murrow -awesome as that was- they're not a member of the government or the 4th estate. But rather an entertainer. And meanwhile, the 4th estate is undershooting the intelligence of the lowest-common- denominator.
These people have disenfranchised us, failed us, spied on us, stolen from us, and betrayed us. And still they sit in power. What's it gonna take? When will you say 'No.'?
I want my spine back. I want to be able to be proud. I want to not fear my government but rather my government to fear ME.
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The following is a transcription of the comments string posted with this blog on Myspace. If any of the parties involved object to my re-posting their comments here, lemme know and I'll delete them.
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ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". It's a statement with lost meaning, when the world's most powerful men throw money at the political system to make our country do for them, with nary a thought towards the common good.
Call me a pessimist, but I think altruism is destroyed at this level; there must be a mechanism in place to quickly dissassemble would be honest representatives quickly into their separate, moral, and then buyable and electable parts. It strikes me as just about impossible that in all the time we've had this representative democracy (and not just us) that no honest man could possibly make a difference. I think this mechanism, for lack of a more descriptive term, could be called Lobbyists; but it can't just be lobbyists; it must be a tool used by one or many. There's probably a think tank out there, a dozen psychiatrists and greasy con men judging, assessing each possible elected representative before the ballots are even cast, planning, plotting, designing, baiting the method to break them into the politicians that we always see.
We cannot elect these people. We cannot change their methods or their access. How can an honest man make a difference?
Posted by Richard on Thursday, May 11, 2006 at 12:36 PM
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I do believe people are getting angry. The body count is rising, the violations of civil liberties are starting to hit papers that people can no longer sweep under the liberal radical rug, and people who before I think were in the blind act of following quietly are no longer remaining so quiet. I like to think the tide is turning.
The thing I noticed most about this is how much Americans hate being wrong. I think foremost this is what kept this from coming together for so long. It was either my side or theirs. We believe this cold, black and white truth and they dont believe like I do. The greater more important picture was lost in the competition of who was right. Its stupid, and childish but so is human nature. Politicians ate this stuff up because it kept them from having to talk about reality which is much more difficult to deal with than calling your opponent soft on crime and of bad moral values.
The funniest thing I thought about the Colbert piece is that everyone but GW and the press found him funny. The truthiness hurts especially when its true and driving your poll numbers down. Couldnt we all have a nice dinner after all? Apparently someone in the inner circle saw the Colbert report but forgot that it was on a comedy central and booked him anyways.
As far as the lack of grit on behalf of the 4th estate I think it has to do with access. Reporters who actually dug in and looked for answers were walked out. I think an easy gauge of this will be the evolution of fox news after the next election. Theyll either become more shrill and become the extreme red news network or evolve to match the weird control tone of America. Im curious to see which way theyll swing.
Anyway things swing I dont think I can ever support one party controlling the 3 branches of government. Thats my greatest hope to keep this horse shit from ever happening again.
Posted by Melissa on Friday, May 12, 2006 at 10:12 AM
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Malcontent. I'm reporting you to the NSA.
Posted by SAMMÆL on Sunday, May 14, 2006 at 9:17 PM
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