Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness

A Second Trip To The Salad Bar of Craziness

I rarely post about the same subject/story twice, but something about the right-wing talk-show host junket to Iraq is really pressing my buttons (that and a lack of people sending me interesting links, and it being in the low 100s in Austin, fueling my malaise). I think it has something to do with an almost Carlinesque outlook I am adopting on American culture, one whichmay ultimately be self-defeating, as I msyelf am a typical, know-nothing internet writer.

The paradigm that I see in the post-9/11 years is that of "Dumbass Ascendant," the idea that facts, scientific inquiry, and investigative journalism can be brushed aside by either: (1) attacking the source without respect to the underlying findings [e.g. "that sounds like a French name," "Oh, he just doesn't like the President," or "I don't see why so-and-so is siding with the terrorists."]; (2) transforming the definition of the terms "theory" and "observable phenomenon" into that of the term "hypothesis." This is most literally done in the realm of intelligent design, but it has foreign policy equivalents; or (3) employing "apples and oranges" comparisons suggested by God-knows what pop culture sources, such as "military fatalities in Iraq vs. deaths by car accident in California."

I kind of touched on the phenomenon in a pop culture sense when discussing a perpetually outraged radio talk show host who was bitching about a player with an injury who had to sit out of a pivotal Red Sox-Yankees series last year. Medical science? Feh! Get out there and play! I haven't seen my dick because of my gut in 20 years, but I'm dispensing advice to athletes! On an international stage, it sounds like:

"We believe that the emphasis has been placed on the negative and if Americans knew what really was going on over there they would have an entirely different picture."

and

"War is war, and it's dangerous, and the killing is taking place all of the time. At the same time, where there is danger, there is success and there is a mainstream media that is determined to shut out that success."

Or, put another way by the Pythons:

HOWARD: Can I just say this at this time, please?
GRIM REAPER: Silence! I have come for you.
ANGELA: You mean, to...
GRIM REAPER: Take you away. That is my purpose. I am death.
GEOFFREY: Well, that's cast rather a gloom over the evening, hasn't it?
HOWARD: I don't see it that way, Geoff. Let me tell you what I think we're dealing with here: a potentially positive learning experience to get an...
GRIM REAPER: Shut up! Shut up, you American. You always talk, you Americans. You talk and you talk and say 'let me tell you something' and 'I just wanna say this'. Well, you're dead now, so shut up!

In essence, I think that the last four years have, in the national consciousness, a license not to shut up. I'll shut up now.

Posted by Norbizness at July 6, 2005 12:46 PM