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bain_sidhe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 08:01 PM
Original message
Pogo was right.
Edited on Mon Jan-10-05 08:04 PM by bain_sidhe
I started blogging about a week ago, as part of my New Year's resolution to write more. So far, the blog is just a mish-mash of musing about books, politics, and life, but I just wrote one I thought people here might find interesting...

Pogo Was Right

In perhaps the most famous quote from a cartoon character, Walt Kelly’s Pogo once announced, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!” Oh, I don’t mean me, and probably not you, if you’re reading this (unless you’re here to gather material for hate mail.) I mean the Me-ist ‘Murkins who populate this country in ever-increasing numbers.

I look at George W. Bullshit, and I see, not the modern day Trilby of Karl Rove’s modern day Svengali, nor the epitome of evil decried by some of my fellow progressives, not even the dim-witted but politically marketable puppet of the neocons that some moderates see; no, when I look at George W. Bullshit, I see the incarnation of an unpleasant - and growing - segment of the American public.

George W. Bullshit is every jerk in a traffic backup who drives along the shoulder to get to the front of the line, because after all, his time is ever so much more important than your time. He’s every cretinous denizen of the supermarket who parks his shopping cart in the middle of the aisle while he blathers away on his cell phone, oblivious to your efforts to get by. He’s every moron who pulls out in front of you in traffic because, after all “you have plenty of time to stop,” and your right of way has less moral force than his need to get out of the driveway, side street, parking lot, or whatever, right now.

George W. Bullshit isn’t trying to hurt the poor, or the middle class, or the soldiers, or the liberals, or the environmentalists, or anybody else he appalls with his policies. If his actions hurt them, it’s not by design or purpose, but simply because he’s oblivious to the existence of anyone but himself. He just doesn’t notice them trying to get by, with their malnourished kids, or Pell-grant applications, or unarmored humvees, or shrinking greenspace, or deciding whether to pay for food or medicine. After all, his needs, or wants, or rights are ever so much more important than their needs, or wants, or rights.

I run into (and afoul of) these people every time I leave the house. They seem to have reached critical mass. So, I really no longer wonder why Bullshit got re-elected. After all, the pundits keep telling us people prefer to vote for someone who is “like them.” So they did.


If you want to see the blog, it's at http://www.webfaerie.com/faerie_bytes/

I'll be back later, but right now, I'm off to watch 24!
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WildEyedLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 08:08 PM
Response to Original message
1. Great post
You know, every time I run into someone like that, I think, "Bet he/she voted for Bush." You make an interesting observation... maybe all these people voted for him because they genuinely don't give a shit about anything that doesn't immediately, directly impact their lives in any way. Sad times when America has been reduced to a majority of apathetic fools.
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bain_sidhe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 10:38 PM
Response to Reply #1
7. I really think they did...
Edited on Mon Jan-10-05 10:58 PM by bain_sidhe
maybe all these people voted for him because they genuinely don't give a shit about anything that doesn't immediately

Of course, it's only natural that we're *most* concerned with things that hurt us personally, but still, it seems to me that "civilization" (not to mention courtesy) requires that - at some level - we take harm to others "personally" as well.

**edited the subject because it looked like I was agreeing with your "great post" subject line instead of the message in the body, :) **
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trotsky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 08:23 PM
Response to Original message
2. Interesting? That's absolutely RIGHT ON.
Wow, great job. Those merge-at-the-last-second drivers, the grocery cart morons, all of them - yes, they just typify the Boosh mentality. You should have started blogging a long time ago if this is what you have to offer! Into my bookmarks you go...
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bain_sidhe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 10:56 PM
Response to Reply #2
8. I used to write more
In fact, I used to write a weekly article for About.com while I was the Women's Issues guide. I've gotten away from writing in the past couple of years, and I've begun to suspect it's had a real impact on my mental health. There's something about putting my thoughts down on paper ... er, screen, now... that helps keep my head on straight, somehow. Hence the resolution. Hope it helps, because I really need to snap out of this sense that there's no point in trying anymore.
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UdoKier Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 08:25 PM
Response to Original message
3. Excellent post, right on target.
Pretty depressing, though.
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bain_sidhe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 11:02 PM
Response to Reply #3
9. Sorry, didn't mean to depress you too.
I've been feeling kinda depressed myself... but, strangely, this realization (in the blog entry) actually made me feel a little better. I'm not quite sure why... maybe it's the realization that it's not that we (progressives/Democrats) didn't try hard enough, or that all of the people who voted for Bullshit hate us, they probably didn't even *notice* us.

Then again, that's not so wonderful either...
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Demeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 09:58 PM
Response to Original message
4. The Ugly Americans--Millennial Edition
Same old, same old narcissism with a side of idiocy and a frenzy of religious idolatry. One of those non-biodegradable designer chemicals that destroy the psychic atmosphere.
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bain_sidhe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 11:04 PM
Response to Reply #4
10. Sigh, yeah, they've been around awhile...
but why is it that there seems to be so many MORE of them lately?
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bemildred Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 10:10 PM
Response to Original message
5. Pogo is always right.
"I think there is just no quick, easy way out. We're going to
have to live through our whole lives, win, lose, or draw."
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bain_sidhe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 10:28 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. *snarf* - good one
That Pogo sure was smart, wasn't he? Had it right there too.
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