A (usually comedic) blog I like to follow in my spare time recently published a post talking about the latest events in Libya to ask why conservatives are so against the pro-democracy uprisings of the so-called Jasmine Revolution, when a conservative Republican government undertook multi-billion dollar invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan in order to “bring democracy” to those lands. An interesting question, no doubt, for someone stuck in the false dichotomy of conservatives and liberals. Wouldn’t this be a fiscal boon, with democracy flourishing in the Middle-East at no expense to U.S. coffers? For those of us living outside of the dichotomy, the answer becomes more obvious why these explosive events are so reviled by the power-brokers of the status quo.
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Celebrity award shows and Superbowl parties are helping to force the mass uprisings in Egypt from the American consciousness, where even today thousands gather to protest the Mubarak dictatorship. As the popular revolt fades from the news, our government officials are free to drop the facade they wore last week to pretend solidarity with those fighting for a democratic Egypt. Now withdrawing calls for “immediate change” in Egypt, “administration officials warned Monday that a precipitous exit by Mubarak could set back the country’s democratic transition.” The thought process being broadcast now is that removing the dictator, as demanded by the people, might harm the prospects for democracy.
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It’s funny seeing the awkward “uhhhs” and “umms” being muttered after every word as U.S. officials try to formulate their praise for the revolt in Egypt. They absolutely hate what is happening, but as ‘defenders of freedom and democracy’ they are forced to applaud the fall of a dictator, even if they financed his very rule and in secret would rejoice the continuation of it. They are in a forced denial of their own prerogatives as they are asked to acknowledge ideals they don’t actually give a shit about. If concepts like “freedom” and “democracy” were at all considered in our country’s foreign policy, sweeping policy changes would take affect in virtually ever facet of our society. The fact is, our government would be perfectly happy if the rebellion were crushed, Mubarak’s place of power restored, and the Egyptian people were once again forced under the boot of an authoritarian police-state friendly to American interests.
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An odd man has shot and killed several people and severely injured a legislator of our United States government. The corporate-run media’s narrative is that the latest round of semi and/or outright violent rhetoric caused this man to shoot Representative Giffords and others that saturday in January. The connections are tenuous and depending on the source, one can make a convincing argument one way or the other. We could spend all day trying to decipher this and whether Mr. Loughner was a lefty or righty, which does not interest me as I am unconvinced that his actions were political to begin with. This is unimportant. It is the media’s narrative, so it is the way our culture is digesting it. Now that this narrative has survived, our government is using this reasoning to take steps to separate itself even more than it already is from the people who “elect” them.
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In the aftermath of Saturday’s shooting of Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords, we are faced with new calls to tone down rhetoric and moderate our political allegiances. In other words, come into the accepted fold. This is a sick way to move our political discourse further to the right. When politicians can paint targets on their political opponents and talk about the need to “reload” rather than “retreat” and other such violent rhetoric, they should not be surprised when someone acts on their words. Which in turn unleashes a deluge of calls for moderation in discourse. This only serves to sever those with legitimate complaints about our system from accepted discourse, leading us only to charge forward into oblivion.
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As more and more comes out of the Wikileaks’ latest deluge of secret documents released, the more I am shocked by what I learn. I’m pretty cynical by nature and yet some of this shit makes my jaw drop. I’ve already wrote about those that would rather stay asleep listening to Obama’s siren song and are calling for the silencing (or even killing) of these leakers. Now, I read on Mother Jones about how Obama worked with the GOP to quash any potential investigation into Bush’s torturous presidency. I guess at this point I shouldn’t be surprised.
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An eventful holiday season this seems to be! Right now, I seem to hear about the evils of Wikileaks from almost everywhere. Liberal blogs froth at the mouth, furious at the privilege of receiving more information on what their cherished Obama administration is really up to. I think it’s an anger analogous to someone refusing to be woken up in in the morning after a late night of drinking. The alarm goes off, but the rude reality – that it is indeed morning – is angrily denied and the alarm is silenced, or smashed. The ever-growing infamy of Julian Assange has become dangerous around the world. I wonder if he will take Ecuador up in their offer of residency? Will he be silenced?
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I’ll be travelling this week to see family, like many of you, and I simply can’t wait to see if I’ll be awarded the chance of either radiation dosage or molestation before being deemed “safe” to fly. These new procedures are an awkward attempt to make Americans feel like they are safe from terrorism in the air, that’s what this is all about, isn’t it? After all, these devices and procedures aren’t really here for our protection. Reactionary tactics like these and taking one’s shoes off while limiting the amounts of liquids allowed through security are just treating symptoms and ignoring the problem.
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Remember when Joe Sestak decided that Democrats needed more choice than reelecting newly Democratic Arlen Specter and decided to primary him? Well now that his position as the party’s candidate is secured, Sestak wants to make sure the choice are limited once again. You see, choice was only good as long as it provided him with another rung on his climb to power.
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I had to take this paragraph from a certain “extremely” liberal blog because it infuriates me to such an extent:
To all the people on the left who scream and yell about warrantless wiretapping of American citizens and internet privacy, have you ever heard of cookies (browser type cookies not chocolate chip)? How about spyware? I’ve heard and read several stories about how marketers know every little damn thing about us, target their ads to individual people and how there are massive databases on our every move we make. So if the marketers can know everything about us, what is the big deal with the government knowing the same info. At least their goals of protecting the public from terrorism is a noble goal, instead of a capitalistic one. And yes, I don’t like it when Republicans are in control but that is the price we pay for our democracy. I have a friend who was always paranoid about being watched and listened to by “the man” or big brother and I remember thinking to myself, what the hell do they want to spy on me for? They are wasting their damn time spying on me and since I’m not doing anything to be worried about, why worry about it?
It is such a call to moral equivalence that I couldn’t have faked a better example. The argument, it seems, is that the Left should be content with the government spying on its citizens because companies do similar things? I of course tried to make him see the error of such apathy, but my comments were promptly deleted.
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