The Thelma and Louise Administration

[bain_sidhe]

This is my new "meme" (apologies to those who hate the word, but it's the best word for this, IMHO).

This is the Thelma and Louise Administration. And, as just about anybody knows, "staying the course" is absolutely the wrong thing to do when you're driving over a cliff.

Think about it: Thelma and Louise were ordinary housewives, constrained and limited by their situation. Then they broke out and empowered themselves... and then went crazy - threw all caution and common sense to the wind... and ended up driving over a cliff.

Hard right neocons were ordinary politicos, constrained and limited by the Clinton Administration and the limits on what the country would accept. Then, they got into power, ending the constraint of the Clinton administration, and then were freed by 9/11 from the limitations of what the country would accept - and they went crazy, and ended up driving the country over a cliff. From bu**sh** to Rummy to Ashcroft to Delay, they all went NUTS with their newfound "freedom" to do whatever the hell they wanted, everything they'd ever dreamed of doing but couldn't.

Spread it!

[ProfessorPlum]

1. That's a fairly good analogy

But I would note that T&L were fighting against their oppression by the world around them, whereas this administration is imposing oppression on the rest of the world. An important difference - and one that makes their "going crazy" inexcusable.

[bain_sidhe]

3. Good point... still, the term itself

conjures up that final scene of that car heading off the cliff, does it not?

Yes, their going crazy IS inexcusable. But I like leaving people with the image of that car heading alone toward that cliff, Thelma's scarf blowing in the wind...

"Thelma and Louise Administration"!

[mairceridwen]

4. no, it doesn't conjure up that scene

so stop calling it that.

[mairceridwen]

5. a better analogy

would be the SNL skit with toonces the driving cat who went over the cliff.

see that's what you get when you let a cat drive a car.

[mairceridwen]

2. Bush and Co.

were not, in ANY way, constrained by their situation. They have access to many resources, technological and otherwise. They were already empowered, they could have done it differently. I don't mean that their job was easy and that there wasn't immense pressure...but give me a break. I mean, There was no pressure to go to Iraq until they started squaking about it.

What a crock. Don't insult T&L like that.

[Demit]

6. gotta agree. Thelma and Louise were sympathetic. * is just pathetic.

[bain_sidhe]

8. Gotta disagree... I didn't find T&L sympathetic

I didn't mean to get into a debate on the meaning of the movie anyway. Just the image of driving over a cliff, coupled with the tag that "staying the course" is the wrong thing to do in that situation.

However, I have to say that I hated the movie... I mean, what's the message, that when women are "freed" from their oppression they go crazy and then kill themselves? I don't THINK so!

[mairceridwen]

9. who said they were freed?

they were empowered, if only for a few moments.

it was symbolic. there was no other way OUT given their particular situation. they were supposed to be "legendary"

that kind of thing


ain't nuttin symbolic about bush and co.

AND you know that Bush and Co, would find a way out of the proverbial care and let the rest of the country take the fall


I also don't think you can take that scene and separate it from the context in which it emerged.

toonces the cat. better scene. more appropriate

[bain_sidhe]

10. "Toonces the cat. better scene. more appropriate"

But nobody's ever SEEN it. Ok, I guess I mean I'VE never seen it. I don't watch SNL, and it's been losing ratings for decades. I just don't think it's universal enough. If you say the "Toonces the cat administration," MOST people won't know what the hell you're talking about.

otoh, who in our culture DOESN'T know that "Thelma & Louise" drove off a cliff? Even people who've never SEEN the movie know that. They may not get into philosophical discourses about the meaning of T&L, but they KNOW how it ended.

[mairceridwen]

11. I think there are plenty

of folks younger than us who are less and less familiar with the film

um...toonces...that...was...a...joke

[MSgt213]

7. Staying the course is absolutely not an absolute you should tie your self

to during war time. Certainly you have certain objectives that you want to achieve (winning, keeping down the loss of life etc.,) no matter what and you don't change those ever. But war is fluid, in motion and your tactics and methods and mode have to be constant motion and rethought all the time.

It's simple really why this is. The enemy watches what you do then changes their tactics to over come your strengths. When you are too big, cumbersum and slow to make changes it benefits him.................... During WWII and other wars entire regions and areas were by passed and never even attacked by all sides, even though the original intention was to take them. Almost all sides struck military deals they either didn't honor or were betrayed on. Many of Hitler's generals were captured or killed simply because Hitler couldn't understand there were times when you have to retreat to move forward. Hitler couldn't understand either that having allies he couldn't trust to lay down their lives for him put him at great risk even though his generals risked execution trying to explain this to him. Lastly Hitler couldn't understand that treating the civilian population like crap gets you a civilian army to fight against in addition to the uniform one.

We are now 100 times removed from the issues of WWII. Fighting today and in the future will never look like that again. We can't bomb entire cities without worring about civilian deaths nor can we just execute the insurgents and wipe them out like we did with the Nazi die hards in WWII.

Clinton pulled out of somaila in 1993, because he knew even though we lost a bunch of troops in a tragic and humiliating way. Staying the course meant loss of more troops and then the sole responsiblity for a country full of starving and fighting people which would gain us no new friends. The gains for us out weight the losses by far. We are going to have some battles we can't win in spite of our might.

[gottaB]

12. too bad the director's cut never made it to theatres

It's a good response to "staying the course," but Thelma and Louise are regarded by many as sympathetic characters.

May I suggest, in honor of the vice president, the "Basie-moi administration."