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SpiralTruth
Just another post-modern quest for meaning.
Browsing the archives for the people are strange category.
I recently stumbled upon Michelle Malkin, someone I had no clue existed but who is apparently quite popular with the far right of the United States. I found myself gritting my teeth as I read attack piece after attack piece, each one held together by questionable links and even more questionable reasoning, and as I continued to read, I tried to figure out what it was about Malkin’s “journalism” that made it so distasteful. After all, my last post was an undisguised bashing of Rahim Jaffer, a politician I find particularly loathsome.
So, what’s the difference between someone like Malkin and someone like me? I fear that the truth is: not much. Both of us believe that we’re one of the good guys and that whoever or whatever we attack constitutes the bad. Our arguments seem rock solid to us and hopelessly contrived to each other.
This isn’t anything new, of course. We’ve all complained about how polarized debate is becoming at one time or another in the last decade. It’s almost as much fun to complain about polarization as it is to be polarized. And as we become more and more aware of this polarization, it’s tempting to blame it on the rise of the Internet – and the rise of blogging, in particular. After all, if we didn’t have all these “amateurs” out there editorializing everything to the point that facts are considered secondary to the narrative they’re trying to convey – and instead left it all to “real journalists” to deliver informed, well researched news – wouldn’t we be better off?
Some might say you can tell a lot about a man by his favourite intoxicants. Marijuana and LSD, for example, have long been associated with idealistic hippies that will never amount to anything in life. Take, for example, Steve Jobs. He’s been quoted as saying that taking LSD was one of the three most important things he’s ever done. What a loser! If he’d only done something more productive – like, say, help invent the personal computer and become CEO of one of the most innovative companies around…
Bill Clinton seemed to like marijuana, even if he didn’t inhale. It’s long been known that pot has a negative affect on ambition, and it obviously affected Mr. Clinton’s. Instead of making a name for America by starting a long term war or two, he wasted his talents on reducing the deficit, boosting the economy, and creating a budget surplus. Thankfully, his successor knew how all that money should really be used. Clinton might be satisfied with balanced budgets and rescuing reporters from North Korea, but George Bush knew that Jesus lovin’ cowboy swagger – and pre-emptively bombing the fuck out of countries – is where it’s at.
And what drug is George Bush famous for taking a spin or two with? That’s right… cocaine.
So, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Rahim Jaffer, who has long been critical of marijuana and parties like the NDP who advocate decriminalization of the substance, has been caught in possession of cocaine.
Not only in possession of cocaine. Also drunk driving (aren’t the conservatives all about “responsibility”?)… in an SUV (way to help the environment, buddy). And, yes, this is also the guy who got someone to impersonate him on a radio show. If there was a lifetime douchebag award, he would certainly be in the lead to receive it.
As expected, the refrain from fellow right-wingers in Canada seems to be: pot smokers are still deserving of jail time, but Rahim is only human, and we should forgive him for making a mistake.
Today, on the 8th anniversary of 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security’s Absurdity Level is set to orange, and there is a high risk that the TV drama queens out there will try to milk this thing for yet another year. Yes, you know you’re desperate for news when your own erroneous reporting about a major event becomes your top news story this morning.
Or perhaps this is simply more evidence of the singularity that Kurzweil and others are getting all worked up about. The medium itself is the story. It has become self aware. We’re walking around in a hall of mirrors, and the only question that makes any sense to ask is: how deep do the reflections go?
In any event, it’s amusing to watch a major news network try and save face in real time…