THE ELEPHANT RUNS AMOK
CAUTION TO READERS, MAINLY TO FREEPERS, TROLLERS, etc. : The following article is merely a rant. I cite no links, because I don't care. Go ahead and agree with the rant, criticize it, whatever. I am purposefully making blanket generalizations, trying to play on readers' emotions, portraying myself as an authority, and using countless other argumental fallacies in an effort to get you to bypass your critical thinking skills en route to adopting my way of thinking. I have listened to right wing pundits and have read their books enough to know how to do some of these things. From visiting various weblogs, I see those of you of the Republican persuasion have also been paying attention to your pundits and learning these skills. If you are reading this, you know who you are. And if it appears I have virtually nothing good to say about the POTUS? Well, you are correct. I DON'T! You will quickly notice I don't even like to type his real name. Anyway, I hope you have found my disclaimer both enlightening and entertaining. Now, please proceed to the enlightening and entertaining article below. Thank you!
Snave
THE ELEPHANT RUNS AMOK
I find it amazing how so many people are willing to simply give the POTUS a behavioral blank check when it comes to social security, education, invading other countries and pursuing an arrogant foreign policy among many other things... and how so many claim him to be such a wonderful "leader". Why is this? Is it because they are "devout" Republicans? It must be. How else could they be so blind to the diminishing of Constitutional rights they cherish? So blind to the way nearly every single thing this administration does is a bald "power play"? How the word "compromise" is virtually nowhere to be found in the new GOP dictionary? I daresay most Republicans will also give him a behavioral blank check if information should surface that he had an affair or used drugs.
Some of us who appear from our comments and opinions to be rabid Democrats aren't necessarily thrilled with the Democratic party. The Democrats seem to be nearly as consumed by the almighty dollar as the GOP is. I tend to be much more anti-GOP than I am pro-Democrat. It just happens the Democrats are currently the only viable alternative to the GOP, so the Dems get my support. This is because I believe missing nukes, N. Korea with nukes, Iran developing nukes, Islam, Red China, etc. aren't the biggest threats to world peace today... I think the biggest threat is the neonconservative movement within the GOP right here in America. American religious fundamentalism and nationalism are right up there too. The Republican party is being taken over by handfuls of religious fanatics and by apoplectic nationalists while the party's members snooze away in bliss.
"Pax Americana"? Many on the right would probably have little or no idea about what that is. If they try a Google search, they will learn how neocon think-tanks in the early 90's decided the U.S. should basically take over the world in light of the fact the Soviet Union no longer existed as such. If you are the only real "superpower" left in the world, it shouldn't be too tough to take over the world, right? Better strike while the iron is hot!! But does the ultimate goal of world dominance necessarily lead to friendly participation in the international community? If this wasn't the ultimate foreign policy goal of the administration, I don't think other countries would be so mad at us today.
Right-wingers decry the fanaticism of America-hating Muslims while through their ignorance they aid in the promotion and development of our own brand of mindlessly fanatical religious fundamentalism/nationalism here at home... and the POTUS is an adherent to this religious/nationalistic hard line. He says he talks to God... What if a voice he thinks is God tells him to nuke somebody? I have always thought one sign of a good leader was the ability to take information and opinions from a variety of sources, and to put that all together to make coherent decisions. A POTUS who ignores or disses facts, information, science... and instead pays attention to his gut feelings or to little voices he thinks are God speaking to him... is not a good leader, in my opinion. Maybe the POTUS actually thinks HE is God, and the little voices he hears are merely him talking to himself. If this is the case, I'm not surprised.
When 9-11 happened, I grieved for the loss of life first and foremost. Because of my love and concern for America, I was angry that 9-11 happened and I feared such acts might be repeated against our country. I also feared the United States would behave like a wounded or mad elephant running amok, lashing out with airstrikes and bombs, and making foreign policy decisions based on gut reactions and/or obsessions rather than on facts. My worst fears were confirmed when Bush got into his repeated "either for us or against us" remarks and when America invaded Iraq. True to his sorry form, the POTUS missed a huge opportunity to use what happened on 9-11 for our country's advantage. There was a major outpouring of sympathy and friendship from around the world, but today the world is more unsettled than ever, largely because... he's an inept divider, not an adept uniter. And maybe if he isn't doing his part to help fulfill the Biblical prophecies of Armageddon... he just might not think he's doing his job.
The invasion of Iraq happened at a time when our people, including most of our politicians, were especially weak, softened by 9-11 and the fears it generated. The POTUS was saying things like this:
"The recession -- no question, I remember when I was campaigning, I said, would you ever deficit spend? And I said, yes, only if there were a time of war, or recession, or a national emergency. Never thought we'd get -- (laughter and applause.) And so we have a temporary deficit in our budget, because we are at war, we're recovering, our economy is recovering, and we've had a national emergency. Never did I dream we'd have the trifecta. (Laughter.)" April 16, 2002
I believe that while the POTUS may not have had complete foreknowledge or what was to come, once 9-11 happened he knew it was a blessing in disguise for the pursuers of Pax Americana... because the American people, including many politicians, would be cowed into submissively agreeing with whatever he said, due to their being so full of fear.
I'm not saying the POTUS is glad 9-11 happened... for him to be glad, he would have to be a truly evil man. (I don't necessarily think he is evil, but I think there's a good chance he is mentally ill.) I'm saying he has used the situation to his own political advantage in a rather sad way. He now believes he has carte blanche to spend however much he wants because of our country's involvement in a war, a war entered under dubious circumstances with 9-11 being used as an extremely tenuous link for the war. National emergencies don't appear to be such a bad thing to some people, especially if such emergencies help to further a political agenda.
To illustrate, this is another of my favorite POTUS quotes:
"But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." -the POTUS summing up his first year in office, Washington, D.C., Dec. 20, 2001
That remark was made only several months after 9-11-01. How did this fellow get to be so blind, so callous, so self-absorbed?
The mad elephant is running amok in the circus we call the world. I don't advocate euthanizing the elephant, but I think a strong tranquilizer should be administered to stop it from trampling more people than it already has. At the very least, I think it would be highly beneficial for the elephant to modify its behavior, but when it's mad and running amok that can be a pretty tough thing to work on, and time may be of the essence. Quick decisions are needed. Someone get the tranquilizers, now!
Is there any way to give the POTUS a wake-up call to which he would pay attention? What would it take? To think globally, we need to act locally, and getting the POTUS to wake up to reality might be the only way to get millions of his devout followers to wake up too... so many Americans seem so content to just let him run wild, trusting his every word and deed as if it was God talking to them and showing them the way.
The rest of the world is brewing a strong pot of coffee, but the POTUS has yet to wake up and smell it. Some drunks claim that coffee helps them wake up, but when they're drunk on power, strong coffee probably isn't enough to lift them from their blind stupor.
Getting the POTUS to pay attention and to see around his blind spots might be the biggest problems we face as a nation today. With his cadre of handlers constantly at his side, I won't be holding my breath that he will start paying attention any time soon.
Snave
THE ELEPHANT RUNS AMOK
I find it amazing how so many people are willing to simply give the POTUS a behavioral blank check when it comes to social security, education, invading other countries and pursuing an arrogant foreign policy among many other things... and how so many claim him to be such a wonderful "leader". Why is this? Is it because they are "devout" Republicans? It must be. How else could they be so blind to the diminishing of Constitutional rights they cherish? So blind to the way nearly every single thing this administration does is a bald "power play"? How the word "compromise" is virtually nowhere to be found in the new GOP dictionary? I daresay most Republicans will also give him a behavioral blank check if information should surface that he had an affair or used drugs.
Some of us who appear from our comments and opinions to be rabid Democrats aren't necessarily thrilled with the Democratic party. The Democrats seem to be nearly as consumed by the almighty dollar as the GOP is. I tend to be much more anti-GOP than I am pro-Democrat. It just happens the Democrats are currently the only viable alternative to the GOP, so the Dems get my support. This is because I believe missing nukes, N. Korea with nukes, Iran developing nukes, Islam, Red China, etc. aren't the biggest threats to world peace today... I think the biggest threat is the neonconservative movement within the GOP right here in America. American religious fundamentalism and nationalism are right up there too. The Republican party is being taken over by handfuls of religious fanatics and by apoplectic nationalists while the party's members snooze away in bliss.
"Pax Americana"? Many on the right would probably have little or no idea about what that is. If they try a Google search, they will learn how neocon think-tanks in the early 90's decided the U.S. should basically take over the world in light of the fact the Soviet Union no longer existed as such. If you are the only real "superpower" left in the world, it shouldn't be too tough to take over the world, right? Better strike while the iron is hot!! But does the ultimate goal of world dominance necessarily lead to friendly participation in the international community? If this wasn't the ultimate foreign policy goal of the administration, I don't think other countries would be so mad at us today.
Right-wingers decry the fanaticism of America-hating Muslims while through their ignorance they aid in the promotion and development of our own brand of mindlessly fanatical religious fundamentalism/nationalism here at home... and the POTUS is an adherent to this religious/nationalistic hard line. He says he talks to God... What if a voice he thinks is God tells him to nuke somebody? I have always thought one sign of a good leader was the ability to take information and opinions from a variety of sources, and to put that all together to make coherent decisions. A POTUS who ignores or disses facts, information, science... and instead pays attention to his gut feelings or to little voices he thinks are God speaking to him... is not a good leader, in my opinion. Maybe the POTUS actually thinks HE is God, and the little voices he hears are merely him talking to himself. If this is the case, I'm not surprised.
When 9-11 happened, I grieved for the loss of life first and foremost. Because of my love and concern for America, I was angry that 9-11 happened and I feared such acts might be repeated against our country. I also feared the United States would behave like a wounded or mad elephant running amok, lashing out with airstrikes and bombs, and making foreign policy decisions based on gut reactions and/or obsessions rather than on facts. My worst fears were confirmed when Bush got into his repeated "either for us or against us" remarks and when America invaded Iraq. True to his sorry form, the POTUS missed a huge opportunity to use what happened on 9-11 for our country's advantage. There was a major outpouring of sympathy and friendship from around the world, but today the world is more unsettled than ever, largely because... he's an inept divider, not an adept uniter. And maybe if he isn't doing his part to help fulfill the Biblical prophecies of Armageddon... he just might not think he's doing his job.
The invasion of Iraq happened at a time when our people, including most of our politicians, were especially weak, softened by 9-11 and the fears it generated. The POTUS was saying things like this:
"The recession -- no question, I remember when I was campaigning, I said, would you ever deficit spend? And I said, yes, only if there were a time of war, or recession, or a national emergency. Never thought we'd get -- (laughter and applause.) And so we have a temporary deficit in our budget, because we are at war, we're recovering, our economy is recovering, and we've had a national emergency. Never did I dream we'd have the trifecta. (Laughter.)" April 16, 2002
I believe that while the POTUS may not have had complete foreknowledge or what was to come, once 9-11 happened he knew it was a blessing in disguise for the pursuers of Pax Americana... because the American people, including many politicians, would be cowed into submissively agreeing with whatever he said, due to their being so full of fear.
I'm not saying the POTUS is glad 9-11 happened... for him to be glad, he would have to be a truly evil man. (I don't necessarily think he is evil, but I think there's a good chance he is mentally ill.) I'm saying he has used the situation to his own political advantage in a rather sad way. He now believes he has carte blanche to spend however much he wants because of our country's involvement in a war, a war entered under dubious circumstances with 9-11 being used as an extremely tenuous link for the war. National emergencies don't appear to be such a bad thing to some people, especially if such emergencies help to further a political agenda.
To illustrate, this is another of my favorite POTUS quotes:
"But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." -the POTUS summing up his first year in office, Washington, D.C., Dec. 20, 2001
That remark was made only several months after 9-11-01. How did this fellow get to be so blind, so callous, so self-absorbed?
The mad elephant is running amok in the circus we call the world. I don't advocate euthanizing the elephant, but I think a strong tranquilizer should be administered to stop it from trampling more people than it already has. At the very least, I think it would be highly beneficial for the elephant to modify its behavior, but when it's mad and running amok that can be a pretty tough thing to work on, and time may be of the essence. Quick decisions are needed. Someone get the tranquilizers, now!
Is there any way to give the POTUS a wake-up call to which he would pay attention? What would it take? To think globally, we need to act locally, and getting the POTUS to wake up to reality might be the only way to get millions of his devout followers to wake up too... so many Americans seem so content to just let him run wild, trusting his every word and deed as if it was God talking to them and showing them the way.
The rest of the world is brewing a strong pot of coffee, but the POTUS has yet to wake up and smell it. Some drunks claim that coffee helps them wake up, but when they're drunk on power, strong coffee probably isn't enough to lift them from their blind stupor.
Getting the POTUS to pay attention and to see around his blind spots might be the biggest problems we face as a nation today. With his cadre of handlers constantly at his side, I won't be holding my breath that he will start paying attention any time soon.
3 Comments:
Great rant. You should take Dennis Miller's place now that he's gone to the dark side.
Thanks JM! I don't know if I'm anywhere near being in that league, but I do love to rant. And the way I'm feeling lately, there is plenty more invective where this came from.
I agree to every word of it. Excellent rant.
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