Or, But Words Can Never Hurt Me
Okay, so I'm sure you know that Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot, along with 18 other people, at a neighborhood meeting in Tucson. The shooter was a scattered, rambling, unsettling anti-government type; the victims included a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge who died while shielding a man with his own body.
When a tragedy like that takes place, the immediate instinct is to figure out why, God, why it happened--and it's a reasonable one. This tragedy had an easy focus: Sarah Palin's PAC had posted a map online pointing out Democrats who had supported Obama's health care reform bill. Each was marked with crosshairs; Palin introduced the map by saying, "Don't retreat, instead--RELOAD!"
That a woman targeted with crosshairs should end up shot is horrible but more ironic than suspicious; we have no reason to believe that Jared Lee Loughner was trying to follow Palin's instructions when he went after Giffords. But at the same time, it's significant--while Palin's map may not have been the instigator of this act, it definitely contributed to a growing culture of violent imagery and threatening political rhetoric.
Regardless of the Tea Partiers' own culpability for such rhetoric, it's easy to start with them. They're the ones who adopted the imagery of the American Revolution, which was a violent protest that went far beyond the dumping of tea into a harbor to actual and extensive bloodshed. In a time when objections to things like taxes are generally bloodless and handled by men in suits, Tea Partiers play the role of oppressed colonials who can only accomplish their goals at the business end of a rifle. In the hands of a Revolutionary War re-enactor, that's quaint; in the hands of an unorganized and impassioned crowd scattered across the nation, feeding each other's fervor and whipping themselves into a self-righteous frenzy, it's dangerous.
Showing posts with label tea par-tay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tea par-tay. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
On the Good, the Bad, and the Friday Random Ten
Okay, so I've been trying to come up with something witty, topical, and timely to head up this week's TGTBATFRT, and I've come to the conclusion that I got nothin'. I did try, though. Like, hard.
Sooo... how 'bout those Trekkies, or whatever? Right?
What's good (for the week ending 1/21):
- memories of a Mexican beach vacation to stave off the cold. And if you were my friend on Facebook, you'd know all about it. And if you knew all about it, you'd hate me forever, so it's probably best that things are as they are.
- new hotness. I'm cranking this baby out on a new MacBook Pro, and I gotta tell you, it's a thing of beauty. It's so shiny. And it's got a bomb-ass processor and a beefy hard drive. And it's shiny.
- new glasses. It might not seem like a huge thing, but when you've been wearing the same pair of glasses you've had since college, getting a pair that has the proper prescription and fits your face is a lovely thing. (I have been getting my contacts taken care of regularly, kthx.) They're a little bit naughty-librarian and a little bit put-my-hair-in-a-ponytail-and-wait-for-the-captain-of-the-football-team-to-ask-me-to-prom-on-a-bet. I'm calling it a good thing.
- being back on the job. It's nice to get back to the blog, even if I'm still not doing it at the rate I've been meaning to. Thanks to all of my reader who's nagged me about it.
- Clairol Perfect 10 Hair Color in Auburn Flash
What's bad:
- the Tea Partiers. I know, it's a really awful thing for me to say as a liberal and a more-or-less-moderate, and I'm supposed to… do something, I don't know, but I'm tired of them. In the beginning, it was kind of cool, at least in concept--I've never really followed them on their politics, but I liked their spunk. Now, it's completely misguided, and suddenly a bunch of old white guys are running around waving Obama signs with Hitler mustaches and blurting out idiotic Glenn Beck talking points every time a camera points at them. The whole thing in Tennessee is only the most recent example--guys, if you're going to name yourselves after a vehement and dramatic protest against unfair taxation, you need to try to stay at least a little bit on-message to not sound like some wandering kook with a committee. Or if you're going to back this particular horse, call yourselves the Revisionist Historians or something.
- My. Big. Redneck. Wedding. Great. Because our fumbling governor and ban on sex toys and bingo haven't made us look dumb enough already.
The Ten:
1. Ramsey Lewis, "Do What You Wanna (Mr. Scruff's Soul Party Mix)"
2. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, "Andante" (from Violin Concerto in D major)
3. Dean Fields, "Irish Bars"
4. Heather Nova, "Paper Cup"
5. Chicane, "No Ordinary Morning"
6. Giuseppe Verdi, "Libiamo" (from La Traviata)
7. Dirty Vegas, "7 AM"
8. Billy Idol, "Hot in the City"
9. Linkin Park, "Figure.09"
10. Frank Sinatra, "The Lady is a Tramp" (with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.)
Your opinions on stuff, and things, and your Tens go in comments.
Sooo... how 'bout those Trekkies, or whatever? Right?
What's good (for the week ending 1/21):
- memories of a Mexican beach vacation to stave off the cold. And if you were my friend on Facebook, you'd know all about it. And if you knew all about it, you'd hate me forever, so it's probably best that things are as they are.
- new hotness. I'm cranking this baby out on a new MacBook Pro, and I gotta tell you, it's a thing of beauty. It's so shiny. And it's got a bomb-ass processor and a beefy hard drive. And it's shiny.
- new glasses. It might not seem like a huge thing, but when you've been wearing the same pair of glasses you've had since college, getting a pair that has the proper prescription and fits your face is a lovely thing. (I have been getting my contacts taken care of regularly, kthx.) They're a little bit naughty-librarian and a little bit put-my-hair-in-a-ponytail-and-wait-for-the-captain-of-the-football-team-to-ask-me-to-prom-on-a-bet. I'm calling it a good thing.
- being back on the job. It's nice to get back to the blog, even if I'm still not doing it at the rate I've been meaning to. Thanks to all of my reader who's nagged me about it.
- Clairol Perfect 10 Hair Color in Auburn Flash
What's bad:
- the Tea Partiers. I know, it's a really awful thing for me to say as a liberal and a more-or-less-moderate, and I'm supposed to… do something, I don't know, but I'm tired of them. In the beginning, it was kind of cool, at least in concept--I've never really followed them on their politics, but I liked their spunk. Now, it's completely misguided, and suddenly a bunch of old white guys are running around waving Obama signs with Hitler mustaches and blurting out idiotic Glenn Beck talking points every time a camera points at them. The whole thing in Tennessee is only the most recent example--guys, if you're going to name yourselves after a vehement and dramatic protest against unfair taxation, you need to try to stay at least a little bit on-message to not sound like some wandering kook with a committee. Or if you're going to back this particular horse, call yourselves the Revisionist Historians or something.
- My. Big. Redneck. Wedding. Great. Because our fumbling governor and ban on sex toys and bingo haven't made us look dumb enough already.
The Ten:
1. Ramsey Lewis, "Do What You Wanna (Mr. Scruff's Soul Party Mix)"
2. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, "Andante" (from Violin Concerto in D major)
3. Dean Fields, "Irish Bars"
4. Heather Nova, "Paper Cup"
5. Chicane, "No Ordinary Morning"
6. Giuseppe Verdi, "Libiamo" (from La Traviata)
7. Dirty Vegas, "7 AM"
8. Billy Idol, "Hot in the City"
9. Linkin Park, "Figure.09"
10. Frank Sinatra, "The Lady is a Tramp" (with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.)
Your opinions on stuff, and things, and your Tens go in comments.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
On obscuring the truth about history
Okay, so the state of Tennessee has had a rather rough relationship with the educational system going way back. (History buffs may remember a certain trial about a certain teacher and intimations about a certain primate.) Well, they're back, and this time it's social studies they're after.
Now, I'm not sure exactly what Hal is getting at here. If it's his contention that it's the criticism that's made up, well, there's plenty of very real criticism out there on those subjects. And if it's those specific claims that he says are made up--the displacement of Native Americans, slavery--there's pretty good evidence for those things, too.
I'm not saying that the Founding Fathers were all bad. Our very country exists because of their role in our independence from Great Britain. Our system of government (humanly flawed though it may be) is due to their hard work (and some strategic borrowing of ideas, which is how these things get made). Said Fathers even made significant contributions to concepts of human rights and liberties that we still reference today--think about Thomas Jefferson's writings on the separation of church and state and James Madison's on immigration. On the whole, they were stand-up guys who made a lot of hard decisions during a hard time, and much of it has turned out well.
A coalition of Tennessee Tea Party groups has formulated a list of "demands" focused on the state's educational curriculum and political agenda that they want the state's legislature to heed this session.
…
Hal Rounds, spokesman for the group, recently claimed at a news conference that there was "an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the Founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another."
Now, I'm not sure exactly what Hal is getting at here. If it's his contention that it's the criticism that's made up, well, there's plenty of very real criticism out there on those subjects. And if it's those specific claims that he says are made up--the displacement of Native Americans, slavery--there's pretty good evidence for those things, too.
I'm not saying that the Founding Fathers were all bad. Our very country exists because of their role in our independence from Great Britain. Our system of government (humanly flawed though it may be) is due to their hard work (and some strategic borrowing of ideas, which is how these things get made). Said Fathers even made significant contributions to concepts of human rights and liberties that we still reference today--think about Thomas Jefferson's writings on the separation of church and state and James Madison's on immigration. On the whole, they were stand-up guys who made a lot of hard decisions during a hard time, and much of it has turned out well.
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