Rust never sleeps, and Conquest's Second Law doesn't either. Maybe you could change your masthead to read "this explicitly right-wing blog winces at every hit" or something. Or hang some garlic over the mantel.
You mistake my intent. I don't want Obama to win. But conservatives who think that, because they think he's unelectable, he is actually unelectable are kidding themselves. The country would love to elect a black president and are in no way inoculated against that emotional appeal.
That's some video. Note how the participants are all clean-cut young paragons of modesty, decency and hope. No crusty, middle-aged conservative can see this youthful attraction to unspecified, amorphous "change" without thinking: "Uh-oh, Kennedy, Trudeau, etc.", not to mention worse in other countries. Plenty to be wary about. But as a parent I've become very concerned about the ultra-cynical world the young are being raised in and adopting as their guide, and as a blogger I can't help but note the bitter, divisive anger on all sides, both extramural and intramural. If Obama can inspire widely to surmount that, there has to be some potential good there. After all, the old order really doth changeth.
If you will permit a very stretched analogy, have you seen the movie, "Juno"? Perplexing for parents of teens, because it's a highly moral tale told in an ultra-cool and jarring tone. The preganant teen heroine is the epitome of modern cool cynicism--slap-happy talk about condoms and sex, loves gore movies and execrable music, etc. But when she discovers to her horror what a deserting loser the intended adoptive husband who semi-hits up on her is, she breaks down and tearfully, innocently begs her father to promise her that true, lifelong love really is possible. Very moving. If Obama is tapping into that kind of deeply buried yearning, watch out. Answering with McCain or Clinton might be like answering Juno with a lecture in sex education class on the nine rational principles for choosing the right partner.
Peter, even I, a very limited viewer of TV, recognized some actors from “CSI Miami” and an actor from “Shark.” Some others looked familiar, but I couldn't place them.
This is very much a theatrical production featuring actors, not average voters.
“Juno”? Hardly fit fare for anyone (other than anthropologists) never mind teenagers. Defining deviancy down?
Oh sure, erp, I never thought otherwise. And I'm aware that many dangerous demagogues have started like this. But so, in a way, did Reagan and Thatcher and MLK.
I'm interested in your take on Juno because I'm torn and feel similarly part of the time. I know we shouldn't suck up to the vulgarities of mass youth culture, but sometimes we do have to try and connect with the little terrorists. I'm currently organizing a ball hockey tournament for July and we've promised the kids warm-up music, which our 14 year old is taking charge of choosing. His and my respective music tastes might best be described as two contemptuous solitudes. But he keeps asking me to listen to the crap at length to see if it is good "warm-up music". I'm beginning to sense that something else is going on. Boy, bonding can be painful.
Well, as a Southerner, the group of Americans I think of who said 'Yes we can' against long odds were the Confedates, but they couldn't.
I think Obama is unelectable because of his association with Jew-baiting anti-Americans, his association with crooked Chicago fixers and his daddy.
I am unimpressed by the adulation of TV stars and so on, because, as everybody seems to forget, 90% percent of the population does not watch CSI, or the evening news or even the most popular movie of the year.
Journalists, who are almost all innumerate, don't get this. You should see how much air NPR devotes to cable shows, not one of which has ever been seen by as much as 3% of the population.
Had an interesting conversation in a bar last Tuesday with an old codger who turned out to be John McChesney, an NPR reporter. He was in town to cover the Article 32 hearings for some Fort Carson soldiers accused of the murder of another soldier last December. Nice guy, enthusiastic about the National Guardsmen he was embedded with in Iraq ("they're old, they're fat, they've got life experience"); not so much about the active-duty guys. I dunno, maybe that's on account of covering their court martials. Anyway, I would not get the feeling that he would have much idea what to make of Obama or the sort of people who are entranced by him. But I really, really don't get the feeling that NPR is to send old John digging after Obama's dirt any time soon. He's plenty electable.
11 comments:
Rust never sleeps, and Conquest's Second Law doesn't either. Maybe you could change your masthead to read "this explicitly right-wing blog winces at every hit" or something. Or hang some garlic over the mantel.
You mistake my intent. I don't want Obama to win. But conservatives who think that, because they think he's unelectable, he is actually unelectable are kidding themselves. The country would love to elect a black president and are in no way inoculated against that emotional appeal.
No, I know irony when you hit me over the head with it. But your irony's no match for that...goo, that subliminal gray goo.
That's some video. Note how the participants are all clean-cut young paragons of modesty, decency and hope. No crusty, middle-aged conservative can see this youthful attraction to unspecified, amorphous "change" without thinking: "Uh-oh, Kennedy, Trudeau, etc.", not to mention worse in other countries. Plenty to be wary about. But as a parent I've become very concerned about the ultra-cynical world the young are being raised in and adopting as their guide, and as a blogger I can't help but note the bitter, divisive anger on all sides, both extramural and intramural. If Obama can inspire widely to surmount that, there has to be some potential good there. After all, the old order really doth changeth.
If you will permit a very stretched analogy, have you seen the movie, "Juno"? Perplexing for parents of teens, because it's a highly moral tale told in an ultra-cool and jarring tone. The preganant teen heroine is the epitome of modern cool cynicism--slap-happy talk about condoms and sex, loves gore movies and execrable music, etc. But when she discovers to her horror what a deserting loser the intended adoptive husband who semi-hits up on her is, she breaks down and tearfully, innocently begs her father to promise her that true, lifelong love really is possible. Very moving. If Obama is tapping into that kind of deeply buried yearning, watch out. Answering with McCain or Clinton might be like answering Juno with a lecture in sex education class on the nine rational principles for choosing the right partner.
Peter, even I, a very limited viewer of TV, recognized some actors from “CSI Miami” and an actor from “Shark.” Some others looked familiar, but I couldn't place them.
This is very much a theatrical production featuring actors, not average voters.
“Juno”? Hardly fit fare for anyone (other than anthropologists) never mind teenagers. Defining deviancy down?
Oh sure, erp, I never thought otherwise. And I'm aware that many dangerous demagogues have started like this. But so, in a way, did Reagan and Thatcher and MLK.
I'm interested in your take on Juno because I'm torn and feel similarly part of the time. I know we shouldn't suck up to the vulgarities of mass youth culture, but sometimes we do have to try and connect with the little terrorists. I'm currently organizing a ball hockey tournament for July and we've promised the kids warm-up music, which our 14 year old is taking charge of choosing. His and my respective music tastes might best be described as two contemptuous solitudes. But he keeps asking me to listen to the crap at length to see if it is good "warm-up music". I'm beginning to sense that something else is going on. Boy, bonding can be painful.
Sorry, David, back to Obama.
Well, remember that I got Orrin Judd to like Black Sabbath, so there's hope for the two of you.
Black Sabbath is much closer to Bach than most of what they listen to today.
Well, as a Southerner, the group of Americans I think of who said 'Yes we can' against long odds were the Confedates, but they couldn't.
I think Obama is unelectable because of his association with Jew-baiting anti-Americans, his association with crooked Chicago fixers and his daddy.
I am unimpressed by the adulation of TV stars and so on, because, as everybody seems to forget, 90% percent of the population does not watch CSI, or the evening news or even the most popular movie of the year.
Journalists, who are almost all innumerate, don't get this. You should see how much air NPR devotes to cable shows, not one of which has ever been seen by as much as 3% of the population.
Sheesh.
Harry: I think that, for NPR, that's a feature, not a bug.
Had an interesting conversation in a bar last Tuesday with an old codger who turned out to be John McChesney, an NPR reporter. He was in town to cover the Article 32 hearings for some Fort Carson soldiers accused of the murder of another soldier last December. Nice guy, enthusiastic about the National Guardsmen he was embedded with in Iraq ("they're old, they're fat, they've got life experience"); not so much about the active-duty guys. I dunno, maybe that's on account of covering their court martials. Anyway, I would not get the feeling that he would have much idea what to make of Obama or the sort of people who are entranced by him. But I really, really don't get the feeling that NPR is to send old John digging after Obama's dirt any time soon. He's plenty electable.
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