I Might Be Starting a Minor Riot :D

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Permalink Reply by Emekan A'dem on September 26, 2009 at 12:27pm

He hasn't replied yet. Unless he's out waterboarding himself, I declare him a chicken!

Muahaha. I'm waiting for more students to jump in on this.

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Permalink Reply by ThorsDecree on September 26, 2009 at 12:29pm

There was a similarly poorly-written article in the University of Mississippi's newspaper recently by some idiot who dropped a Spanish class because some of the videos shown about Spanish culture were a bit too R-rated for our poor sheltered reporter. She complained that she didn't need to know about the darker parts of a society to know its culture -- as if the dark parts don't shape the culture more than any other influence!

So, forgive me if I can't bring myself to fully read this. I don't think I need to get that angry yet today. Just a note, though, about socialism, for those who see it as a bad thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RwPpbX6GO8

It's a great laugh.

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Permalink Reply by Emekan A'dem on September 26, 2009 at 12:47pm

No worries, I only read it because I haven't gotten rightfully pissed off in a while.

I'm stunned by the Spanish student. I would have loved to see her react to Lucia y el Sexo.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Doli on September 27, 2009 at 8:19am

I liked the youtube video. But of course the people that watch it are dismissing it because he used the word socialist instead of socialistic... Way to miss the point!

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Permalink Reply by tom arcaro on September 26, 2009 at 12:45pm

IMHO

I apologize for not having gone through all the posts yet, but one of my many responses to that opinion piece has to do with the rhetoric of "freedom." Let's make this clear: "freedom" is an illusion and a conceptual wasteland devoid of any coherent meaning; it is a word variously used to defend selfishnesses all sorts.

We are all interconnected environmentally (share ONE planet), economically (!!), culturally and, increasingly via the Internet, we have become, functionally, one global culture; we are all citizens and have all the rights and responsibilities attendant to that status. We are not 'free' in the sense that we ALL depend upon a reciprocity with others (both locally and globally).

To play the "I love freedom" card is another way of saying that I abrogate my responsibility as a local, national and, indeed, global citizen. To put it in other words, "freedom's just another word for nothing else to lose." [thanks, Janis]

Yes, of course, we need certain freedoms ( from religion, of expression, etc.) but I do not believe these are the freedoms being referred to by that opinion piece writer.

My $.02.

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Permalink Reply by Emekan A'dem on September 26, 2009 at 12:54pm

This is brilliant insight. Thank you.

People like to invoke the word "freedom" when they feel their power's being encroached upon, and when they aren't getting their way. In many ways, the people who fling around the word most are the people who are irresponsible, reckless and utterly childish.

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Permalink Reply by mthoreau on September 26, 2009 at 12:56pm

Why is this article so offensive? I voted for Obama, but what has he done so far that could be called "change" or "progress". Anyone can spend money, and he's done that.

However, it takes a leader to shut down Guantanamo, withdrawl from Iraq and Afganhistan, persecute the criminals of the Bush administration, punish companies like AT&T for being complicit in the Patriot Act, stop compromising with Republicans enough to push through something better than the Baucus bill and prevent the cap and trade laws from being neutered before they are even born, or even redistribute income along more egalitarian lines.

During the Bush administration we saw one of the greatest redistributions of wealth to the highest earners sense the gilded age. How have the past 9 months been anything other than more of the same? As someone who used to self identify as a socialist I feel compelled to warn my fellow leftists to be wary of the same dogmatism and identity based ideology that we hate so much in our opponents. Indeed, I've frequently found the political "right"(economically speaking) to have a more malleable ideology than much of the "left".

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Permalink Reply by Emekan A'dem on September 26, 2009 at 1:05pm

I don't even see this from a leftist perspective. Just the sheer logic of the article pissed me off royally.

If you take a gander at some earlier replies, you'll see why the article is considered to have some fightin' words. If you focused on economics, I can't really say very much because my understanding of current Administrative policy is weak. However, I know enough to say all the bitching and moaning about Obama spending more than Bush and trying to restrict the free market is unfounded.

I still agree with you in that we don't have a leader right now. He's very eloquent, but we keep getting banana cream rather than mince pies.

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Permalink Reply by mthoreau on September 26, 2009 at 1:25pm

I don't even see this from a leftist perspective. Just the sheer logic of the article pissed me off royally.

Yes, logic can be quite infuriating to someone trapped in an ideological straight jacket.

Tom,
"freedom" is an illusion and a conceptual wasteland devoid of any coherent meaning; it is a word variously used to defend selfishnesses all sorts.

I'm glad that most people in our society would find such a statement as this to be horrifying. This is the kind of thinking that results in gas chambers (<-Godwins Law) and gulags.

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Permalink Reply by Emekan A'dem on September 26, 2009 at 1:29pm

Mm when I said "logic" I meant the reasoning behind his statements...not the fact that he used logic at all. Just so we're clear.

Essentially, he claims that socialist ideas will ruin American freedom.






...Which is an illogical statement. At best.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Spicer on September 26, 2009 at 1:34pm

Right, I think you meant to say "...the sheer illogic of the article...", which I would agree with.

And Tom perhaps overstates the case, but I think it's fairly clear that when Libertarians and Republicans talk about freedom, they basically mean the freedom to be greedy and irresponsible to their fellow citizens.

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Permalink Reply by tom arcaro on September 26, 2009 at 1:40pm

yep, that was my point.

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