Forget the sci-fi conceit of the internet reaching critical mass and becoming a living, breathing entity, their human creators regarded as a cancer and then summarily enslaved by the newly sentient, infinite bandwidthed omni-being (oh Allah, how I miss MST3K).
The far more scintillating premise is one that has actually occurred: certain humans realize that by eliminating The Conscience, they have free rein to do anything (duh!).
Big shorters and line cutters have nothing on these refudiators (sic) (sick!) of regulation; to them, dividends are merely piddling recompense for mundane economic ventures, still slaves to the machine, woefully, pitifully earthbound. No, these folks have much higher, more profitable aims: they want to re-create reality.
And to do that, they co-opt history. Rewrite it. Re-cast it. And then recount the newly born, newly skewed narrative -- the one which favors the them -- as if it's how it's always been.
Their original epiphany (that there is no conscience and, by extension, no laws and no governing body whatsoever. And "God"? Ha!) allows them to detach from history and all its lessons. And then, gleefully discard them altogether.
By taking the Ayn Rand brand of malignant narcissism and breathing life into the shallow, selfish myth of libertarianism they took the next step and casually jettisoned that part of humanity which keeps it from boiling over and swamping the entire species into a shrieking, pathetic extinction. But before that would happen, their pockets must, of course, be filled. They gotta eat, you know.
Don't believe me? The hackneyed sci-fi premise posited earlier reveals itself daily in the form of Roger Ailes' media homunculus, Fox News.
Actually, less an "homunculus" and more an incubator for such unnatural, conscience-free creations. At any given moment, one can find slithering from its moist, gestational chamber a parade of unfair, imbalanced emissaries who spread the gospel of unfettered, malevolent profit in the form of a trusted format.
And of all Ailes' demon babies, the chalk-wielding chucklehead Glenn Beck has emerged as the most audacious.
For, as he will soon bestride the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in a mockery of a touchstone moment in modern American history, his real mission is to seize that moment and wring it out disdainfully at the feet of his heartbreakingly porous followers, and take another iconic, ingrained American idea and refurbish it so that it wears his company's brand.
How this kind of thing has happened is, at this point, moot. America will always find a way to give big personalities a spotlight. And history would naturally provide the comparison needed to place those big personalities in their rightful contexts.
But as America has more or less given away most of its pride to somewhat less than reverent and responsible parties, more and more of the tenets and traditions that lay in the hearts and minds of Americans as sacrosanct will be similarly discarded and perverted by extremists clad in mainstream clothes.
The angry man that Beck has embodied is but a character from his "morning zoo" radio days, as much a shallow construct as the twaddle he spews (with the aid of another co-opted icon, the teacher's blackboard).
And like those 1950's sci-fi movies that begin with a stern warning about how these things could happen, well, these things ARE happening. One look at the goings on at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th will confirm that.
Next on our program, we have Fred Phelps's "God Hates Fags" coven buying air time during the Super Bowl. And then who's to say it wasn't always that way to begin with?
Follow Steven Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@TheStevenWeber
You should be on TheYoungTurks w/ this....man, you give Cenk a run for his money.
Either way it's a great idea to get more 'light' on your views & your talent to express them.
The people(especially young people) need to hear your uncanny ability to drop science on our 'ignant' asses in such an engrossing & entertaining manner.
I am further enlightened on things I already knew, yet could not acticulate the 'why of the why'. Sociopathy.....yeah, is rampant in The WH.The trademark of the Neocon artist.However you make it so easy to explain.
Continue breakin it down 4 us fam! Mad love4 these blog posts.
(...made up totally by accident...sigh)
mmh
I have a scheme: That one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, but Republicans are created more equal."
I have a scheme: To change the debate and accuse the left of doing the exact things that I do so that eventually no one will be able to think for themselves ever again.
I have a scheme: That the Lord shall be revealed through me, His personally picked prophet, the Noah of Zoo radio.
I have a scheme: To restore the values of my political and philosophical Revolutionary forefathers: The Tories.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a scheme. It is a scheme deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a scheme that everyone will purchase gold from Goldline. Call: 1-800-Glenn-Beck."
[In regione caecorum rex est luscus.]
Desiderius Erasmus
What a truth it is indeed that so many conservatives, suffer from 'malignant narcissism' and the 'shallow, selfish myth of libertarianism.' All kept alive by the masters of those conditions, the right-wing tools. It is certainly a mockery of a 'touchstone moment in modern American history' when one of those most afflicted by the sickness of out-of-control egotism and a con artist extraordinaire claims he will help 'restore honor.'
All of this might be laughable if it weren't so dark and frightening. Monstrous individuals throughout history have all shared certain things in common. One of these was they spun stories so crazy and so twisted it would seem no one would believe them. And it seemed implausible anyone would become a follower. Robespierre, Idi Amin, Ivan the Terrible, Stalin – and countless more – all told fantastic lies, manipulated emotions and brainwashed enough people to get their dirty deeds done.
Sociopaths don't care how they get their way. They are not concerned with morals or facts. Their sick minds create the 'facts.' That is reality to them. There have always been enough soft or equally twisted minds to buy it all and become their corrupt minions.
I submit that you speak the truth and that your words are incredibly buff.
to be an American for the first time. I have hung my head when I found out about sins committed by my country in the past - but this......i remember watching mccarthy on box the size of my refrigerator with a 8 inch circle in the middle - didn't think i'd ever see the likes of that again. Like Olbermann, I too have watched Lonesome Roads appear in the flesh instead of the stage or silver screen........where is Patricia Neal when we need her.....Where is our "national"Morrow when we need him the most. What the world must think of the "greatest power on earth". - rome during Cagligula perhaps.........
But beyond that, you have utterly hit that proverbial nail. These days I am contantly reminded of those lines from Yeats:
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Why, Steven, Why?
Thank you for your posts--they remind me that the best can be passionate and intense as well.
"Nihilists! F@#$ me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos."
Speaking of nihilists, how about a little something on the Koch brothers next?
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The real danger of Lakoff 's analysis is that it reinforces Democrats' favorite excuse -- that Republicans have succeeded by pulling the wool over Americans' eyes, and that we'll start winning as soon as we learn the same dark arts...What he doesn't realize, however, is that the whole notion that words matter more than reason is the Republicans' frame, and it's the wrong one for the country's future...
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=127&subid=171&contentid=254080
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Obama's Chief of Staff FALSELY frames Lakoff and framing in general. Words and frames ARE how we reason. He fails to mention (lying by omission) the critical difference between false and truthful framing. Through lies and deception, Republicans use false framing to distort people’s perceptions of reality away from the truth. As progressives, we can use framing and facts to bring our fellow citizens’ perception of reality closer to the truth. That's the difference Emanuel would prefer we not know.
Rahm and Bruce are DLCers. Who's on the DLC's executive council? The Koch brothers! The very people spending millions of dollars to tear down the Obama administration. Now, who took the crazy pill here? Think how reassuring it is to know that Rahm is the guy whispering into our president's ear.
http://www.americablog.com/2010/08/koch-industries-gave-funding-to-dlc-and.html
The DLC is a cancer on the Democratic party that has metastasized itself into the White House.
- Tom
"Please, sire, more drippings from your t***t!", they snarl.
Does Glenn Beck think he is like Stephen Colbert? Because he's not.
Sorry, I'll continue reading now.