Wednesday, April 12, 2006
I have been felt guilty that clovers has dropped a lot of its political side in favor of sports and canadian trivia. That being said, the current political issues are of the sort that makes my commentary unnecessary. People are getting killed in Iraq, but public demonstration by a minority left has already been shown to be roundly useless in changing that course of action. Scalia is an outlandish dick, but denouncing that hardly seems worthwhile. South Dakota passed a terrible abortion law. But 2004 saw a round of anti-gay marriage amendments, so the fact that 51% of the country aren't liberals isn't exactly news. ANd because of the nature of the way national news is created and distributed, I can't help but feel that I am playing a game of "telephone." Reality happens, then something only vaguely resembling that reality is reported to me, which renders my attempt to make insights on that reality utterly meaningless. In addition, it seems that the only way to prevent getting dismissed as a elitist liberal is to adopt some conservative viewpoints to prove you aren't out of touch. This very construction is troubling.
This is what makes sports commentary appealing; the guys doing it aren't any smarter or better informed than I. The only person writing anything interesting is Chuck Klosterman. He was hired as the token quirky, hip columnist upon the suicide of Hunter S., and he who looks like the lost member of Death Cab for Cutie in his espn photo which sortof makes me hate him. But at least he had something interesting to say about Barry Bonds. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=klosterman/060411&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1
This is what makes sports commentary appealing; the guys doing it aren't any smarter or better informed than I. The only person writing anything interesting is Chuck Klosterman. He was hired as the token quirky, hip columnist upon the suicide of Hunter S., and he who looks like the lost member of Death Cab for Cutie in his espn photo which sortof makes me hate him. But at least he had something interesting to say about Barry Bonds. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=klosterman/060411&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1
# posted by 8yearoldsdude @ 11:42 AM 
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This essay was really quite good. I particularly lked this concept:
"Here was a man accomplishing unbelievable things -- things so unbelievable that they literally should not have been believed, even as they were happening. But we did not really believe or disbelieve. We just sort of watched it happen, and then we watched it get out of control, and then we expressed shock without feeling a grain of surprise, and then we tried to figure out how we were supposed to reconcile an alien reality we unconsciously understood all along."
I think this should be applied to politics as well... it seems the same reaction that Democrats have.
"Here was a man accomplishing unbelievable things -- things so unbelievable that they literally should not have been believed, even as they were happening. But we did not really believe or disbelieve. We just sort of watched it happen, and then we watched it get out of control, and then we expressed shock without feeling a grain of surprise, and then we tried to figure out how we were supposed to reconcile an alien reality we unconsciously understood all along."
I think this should be applied to politics as well... it seems the same reaction that Democrats have.
# posted by 
: 7:00 PM
: 7:00 PM
"In addition, it seems that the only way to prevent getting dismissed as a elitist liberal is to adopt some conservative viewpoints to prove you aren't out of touch."
No it isn't! Just because liberal doctrine espouses an ethic of inclusiveness and conservative doctrine doesn't shouldn't mean that conservative doctrine dictates what constitutes being "in touch." Buying into the rhetoric that Stephen Colbert parodies (I *love* Stephen Colbert) seems to me a huge mistake. Buying into the power of its framing devices, however, is another story. The way that liberals are framing the abortion debate (Hillary Clinton is the famous one but this is pretty much NARAL's party line now too) is a good example of the difference this can make. Acknowledging and sympathizing with a conservative viewpoint (killing fetuses is undesirable) and then explaining that your way is actually a more effective solution (real sex education and readily available birth control prevent people from killing fetuses with coat hangers a lot better than do abstinence-only sex "education"), now that's the way to adopt a conservative viewpoint. NARAL teaches its members to respond to "I'm Pro-Life" by saying "So am I," but I must admit I can't quite bring myself to do it. I haven't read it, but George Lakoff's _Don't Think of An Elephant_ is all about this and is supposed to be good. Just because someone points a finger and calls you a liberal elitist doesn't mean you are one.
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No it isn't! Just because liberal doctrine espouses an ethic of inclusiveness and conservative doctrine doesn't shouldn't mean that conservative doctrine dictates what constitutes being "in touch." Buying into the rhetoric that Stephen Colbert parodies (I *love* Stephen Colbert) seems to me a huge mistake. Buying into the power of its framing devices, however, is another story. The way that liberals are framing the abortion debate (Hillary Clinton is the famous one but this is pretty much NARAL's party line now too) is a good example of the difference this can make. Acknowledging and sympathizing with a conservative viewpoint (killing fetuses is undesirable) and then explaining that your way is actually a more effective solution (real sex education and readily available birth control prevent people from killing fetuses with coat hangers a lot better than do abstinence-only sex "education"), now that's the way to adopt a conservative viewpoint. NARAL teaches its members to respond to "I'm Pro-Life" by saying "So am I," but I must admit I can't quite bring myself to do it. I haven't read it, but George Lakoff's _Don't Think of An Elephant_ is all about this and is supposed to be good. Just because someone points a finger and calls you a liberal elitist doesn't mean you are one.
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