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October 31, 2005
Al Franken: He Sounds Taller on the Radio
Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the American political system.
Al Franken made a stop in the office today as part of his book tour promoting his latest book. I managed to slip into the room for the last 20 minutes of his talk.
Now, between the origins of the company (point of trivia: RealNetworks used to be called Progressive Networks - and the "Progressive" was a political statement) and the fact that we're in Seattle, which is pretty liberal leaning city - he was mostly preaching to the choir.
Which brings me to my not-completely-related point.
I'm not politically passionate. If forced to categorize myself, I tend to lean liberal, but I can never keep the whole "right vs. left" nonsense straight in my head.
I know the republicans generally say they want to let me keep my money (which I like) and my guns (which I like, but am less concerned with than I am my money), but that they're lying sacks of shit.
I know the democrats generally say they want to use my money to help the less fortunate (which I approve of, even though it's my money), and that a woman should have a right to choose (which I care about more strongly than my guns, or my money), but that they, too, are lying sacks of shit.
I believe, fundamentally, that to achieve a position of power, such as American political office, you have to demonstrate a certain moral flexibility, shall we say, and that even playing the game gets a stink on you that all the best intentions can't wash away.
I've adopted, in the last several years, a sort of political agnosticism. I'm convinced that both sides lie, and that without firsthand knowledge of truth (as opposed to fact) it's impossible to disambiguate the lies from the truth. In other words, in most cases, people choose a set of lies^Hassertions and choose to believe it without evidence.
I pretty much refuse to play the game. I cherry pick issues where the lies are egregious (like the war profiteering going on in Iraq, for instance) and use those examples - on both sides - to justify my apathy.
So, to anyone out there reading this, especially those who consider themselves political activists on either side, I challenge you: convince me.
Convince me that this whole thing isn't just self-deception - that your chosen beliefs, and banner carriers, are shown by history to be right more often than wrong.
Convince me that for every statement one side makes, and the other side debunks, and the first side re-bunks (?) that there is, in fact, truth to any of them.
I'm willing to be convinced - but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Posted by dberger at October 31, 2005 3:04 PM
Comments
Last night I watched Scorcese's documentary about Bob Dylan - No Direction Home on PBS American Master's Series (thanks NEA)!! A few things really stuck..
1. how there seemed to be a concept of collective truth in those days.
2. how young and powerful they were as artists and political figures.
3. how concepts endured in those days.
to me, spin, more spin, distraction, outright bullshit, subtle bullshit, political speak, obsfucation and general semantic tomfoolery seem to be everywhere. the media craft, rebuff, debunk and pundit public opinion - there is no 'news', just a the sound bite that gets your desitred popint of view accross, regardless of context.
here's why you need to care.. we just gave $400m in tax relief to the industry that recorded the most gluttonous corporate profits in history.
the same folks for whom we murder over 100 000 innocent civilians overseas http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/PR_2004/Burnham_Iraq.html.. yeah - these guys who need to thin old growth to make sure the forests are 'healthy'.
the self same motherfuckers who build 50000 residential and 30000 commercial units on the last piece of green wetlands in Los Angeles (http://www.saveballona.org/) - greed and gridlock baby - you have no more say at all in your life, community, city, governance - but worry not, they'll make sure everything is just fine and hey... how about that new flat screen huh???? did you see the game last Monday?
Eminent domain? well only if you're poor and happen to have lucked into some primo real estate - otherwise, don't worry. no really!
the youth are seduced by video games (that look eerily like the real thing - Special Forces ads on ESPN) the Campus Paper at UCLA (thanks LA Times) looks like a dumbed down version of People Magazine - not one iota of rebellious, student soul searching and youthful anger - nope it's all lindsey lohan and paris you-know-who...
the landscape appears all surreal lately - maybe i'm just getting old.
Are we a secular democracy? sure feels a lot like the church is the foremost civil authority these days, and 'democracy' might be a stretch.
Public radio? Public? Underwritten by our good friends (and friends of workers everywhere) the Waltons. And those very smart folks at Archer Daniels whose high fructose corn syrup is SOOOOO yummy. Not to mention Voldemort himself (Monsanto) who unilaterally set public health policy and decide that it's ok to fuck with food genes and contaminate seed stock across the continent - it seems safe enough. no really, it does. Why label inmgredients? so unnecessary? . (p.s. Round-up ONLY kills illegal plants..... No, really.) Public fucking radio - bit of a glaring misnomer there - bastion of the left lucky that obscenly rich old folk are so generous as to allow us the luxury.....
so, i agree - both the reds and the blues are lying, theiving, corrupt, self aggrandizing sons of bitches - but that's no reason to fall asleep!!!! aight! the wicked right say freedom isn't free - they likely mean $316b to kill 'rabs peeved at our occupation - but they are right deep down - it's not free. complacency will get you what you deserve.
Posted by: grant at October 31, 2005 4:39 PM
I seem to have awoken a dragon... Good to hear from you.
You haven't solved my fundamental problem - assuming that I'm not asleep (which I generally think I'm not) - how the hell do I separate the fact from the fiction with fidelity?
Do I trust my own gut? My gut has shit for brains.
Do I trust the pundits? They're bought and paid for like so much cattle.
Do I trust the media? Please. Two words: Rupert Murdoch.
So I'm basically screwed.
I care.
But I can't convince myself that backing one party over the other solves anything - it just changes the face of the daemon I have to barter with.
Posted by: Dan at October 31, 2005 4:58 PM
>So I'm basically screwed.
No, it means you have to listen to both sides and use critical thinking skills to sort the bullshit from the accurate analysis. I used to feel as you do, that its all a pointless circus that I can't change or do anything about. Later I became something of a frothing Michael Moore following liberal. Finally I started reading some sites that genuinely opposed spin and obfuscation, regardless of the source. I still read my left wing blogs, but I also look at the right wing ones too, so i can compare how issues are viewed. When I see egregious partisan zealotry on my side I try to counter it. When i see it on the other side I tend to note and ignore it, because I'm fucking lazy. But I stay informed, because for god's sake I'm not THAT fucking lazy.
Good media watchdogs sites
http://www.factcheck.org/
http://www.dailyhowler.com/
Good site on liberalism in general and busting some of the long standing entrenched conservative myths
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/LiberalFAQ.htm
Posted by: Brad at November 1, 2005 11:35 PM
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -- Edmund Burke
Posted by: Brad at November 2, 2005 11:10 AM