This piece, while saying nothing original, very neatly encapsulates my frustration and the current state of political dialectic.
...These aren't just lies. They're lies about lies. That's a really different thing. In life, a typical person lies. If they get caught – hopefully, they tender an apology; at the very least they stop telling the lie. But here we have a case where the liars not only don't do either of those things. They just keep on lying.But wait, there's more! Because it isn't only that they lie and then lie about the lies. They follow that by playing the victim, claiming that the allegation from the other people that they're lying is nonsense, or a sign that they're part of the Washington establishment, or "despicable."
How can a lone voice argue with this kind of hurricane force of prevarication, this tsunami of lies and misinformation, denial and outright invention? How to deal with something so horrifyingly absurd as the "Yes We Can!" iconic feminist posters at rallies supporting the GOP ticket? Seriously, where to begin? How to even begin to get your head around a group who denigrate feminism in all its forms, urge "thin-skinned" women to toughen up or stay out of the world of "the big boys who don't play nice," then turn around and embrace the image of feminism (but not the ideals) when Palin is criticized? And dismiss genuine constructive criticism of a public official's record as "sexism"?
How, indeed, to argue with someone who claims that "family values" is the cornerstone of their personal philosophy, then lauds a teenage unwed mother as a brave hero? How to argue when facts are never refuted with other facts, but by accusations of "playing dirty" or "making personal attacks," or, worst of all, the reduction of facts as "opinion"?
But it's not just Them, the politicians who are lying about their lies. I'm in despair because there are millions of people who believe Them when they say that A = B, and then believe them again the next day when they say that A = A, and always has been. What's the future of this country, this civilization, when the wealthy, educated voters of the United States in 2008 are no more rational, informed, or intuitive than the average 15th-century Frankish peasant?
3 comments:
Oh honey - I know... I know I know I know. I don't even know where to begin. I wrote to my senators, I voted, I signed the articles of impeachment for Bush, Cheney & the lot. He needs to be tried for war crimes. I don't know how anyone ANYONE could see them as anything more than the most dangerous of criminals. I don't know what's happening to the country that I love. There are a few of us left who can see. Hang your hope on that.
It's frightening how many idiots there are in this country. McCain and Palin keep lying and being stupid and way to many Americans continue to eat it up.
Actually the polls are looking a little better for O. right now. Sarah's bubble has burst, and hopefully a few more people will wake up and smell what the GOP has wrought.
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