Incoherent Babbling

Fun, fun, fun reading in the Houston Chronicle today. George Will used the fervor over Harvard President Larry Summers statements concerning the possible cognitive differences between men and women to push the idea that George Bush's inaugural address was a " manifesto about human nature" and to slam the left for its desire to " maximize the stakes of politics and the grandeur of government's role". And here I laugh maniacally, hahahahahaha, because the presumption is just so hysterically funny.

First let me state for the record that I believe there may very well be cognitive learning differences between men and women, and I also believe that the academic setting is an appropriate place to "encourage uncircumscribed intellectual exploration". The United States has become so repressed by political correctness that we are no longer free to express new ideas.

So for Will to use this example to put forth the notion that W is some great Socratic thinker, a champion of the Founding Father's notion of natural right and a defender of Lincoln's " 'proposition' that all men are created equal" is about a ludicrous as Asscroft covering up the nekkid lady at the Justice Dept. It just don't make no sense! And to claim the left wishes to create a "properly governed society" so it can "write what it wants on the blank slate of humanity" and that the ultimate horror of the left is "the thought that nature sets limits to the malleability of human material" WTF.

George Bush hates discussion, hates dissension. He fills his cabinet with yes men (and women) so that no one will disagree with anything Cheney says. He refuses to hold open press conferences or briefings because he doesn't want information leaking out to the wrong sort of people (that would be you and me). W brought us the Patriot Act and secret tribunals. All men are created equal, so long as they don't want to marry other men, have an abortion or question the legitimacy of an unprovoked attack on another country.

Talk about your blank slate, isn't that what the elections in Iraq resembles, trying to write Western sensibilities over the culture of another and calling it democracy building. The right has already don't a darn good job of creating a horrifying uniformity of thought here in the good old US of A. I suppose while we are exporting all of our jobs overseas, we should be willing to share our xenophobia as well. And as for the limits to the malleabitity of human material, please, don't get me started. Can you say cultural elitism.

Possibly George Will lives in the utopia of many traditional conservatives from the bygone era when the right seemingly stood for limited government intervention and the left for pork and protectionism. That was how my daddy taught me to look at the world. But times have changed, our country has changed. To paraphrase the Great Cthulhu, cognitive dissonance beats check and balances anyday.

Living in the Age of Societal Stockholm Syndrome or Why I Think Bush Was Reelected

Bubba has invited me to be a guest poster on his blog. I fear he may live to regret this kindness for any number of reasons. One of the most significant being, I'm slightly crazed, nearly insane at times. Now, as I have read the Call of Cthulhu, I understand this is no great deterrent to successful, regular posting; but it might make me a less than attractive blog partner. The other notable problem is, Bubba disagrees with me on a fairly regular basis. Which is not really a problem for me, many, many people disagree with me, however I'm not sharing blog space with any of them. So, before I put any of my reckless, ill-informed, badly written opinions/ slanderous ( libelous?) musings out there for the world to see, let me state for the record that the somnolent meanderings of stc are hers alone and not shared by the editorial board of this blog (unless Bubba agrees with me and then we are unanimous in our insanity). So without further adieu...

I was thinking about Bubba's question, "Was the Election Stolen?", and my reaction the linked article. Why are we not talking about this topic in the US? Are we too jaded, too lazy or too frightened to question the country's willingness to give away our freedom and democracy. World wide the Ukraine was cheered for standing up against corruption (and poisoning) in their recent elections, yet in the US people are unwilling to challenge some very questionable polling results. It got me thinking about the state-of-mind in this country and the Bush administration's ability and willingness to play on the fears of its citizens. Which led me to Stockholm Syndrome, naturally.

Stockholm Syndrome was first described in 1973 after hostages in a bank robbery became bonded to their captors after a few days. It has been used to explain other seemingly unnatural reactions to crises such as Battered Woman Syndrome. A search on the internet turned up these key points: 1) Perceived threat to survival and the belief that one's captor is willing to act on that threat; 2) The captive's perception of small kindnesses from the captor within a context of terror; 3) Isolation from perspectives other than those of the captor; 4) Perceived inability to escape.

Bush, Cheney and Rove have done a great job of convincing the country there is a real threat to our survival and that they alone are willing to act against that threat. Never mind that the threat is more whacked-out than a fun-house mirror, the country believes it exists, therefore it does. And for sure those Bushies have proved they are willing to ACT. Before anyone points out that the threat I refer to appears external and whereas our captors are internal, I acknowledge manipulating these definitions to suit my thesis, which is a hell of a lot more than the Republicans are willing to admit to. Next, small kindnesses are so insidious, we don't even realize they are there - how brave Bush was after 9/11, his compassionate conservatism, Laura Bush, Colin Powell, faith-based initiatives. Isolation from other perspectives - Fox News, the corporate news media, talk radio. Perceived inability to escape; They are out there, everywhere and They want to destroy the USA. Only President Bush can save us from Them.

I believe Bush was reelected because we are too afraid to ask questions. We have been convinced by our captors that they are looking out for us, when really they are only looking out for themselves. Think about the signature Bubba is currently using under the title of this site - "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." - Goethe. It is time to break free, are you ready, let's roll.