The cult of Optimism.
The thing that stuck me about the debate last night – other than Rudy looked very uncomfortable and that Chris Matthews is a simpering ass (and by the by Evolution doesn’t give a shit if you believe in it or not – Question makes as much sense as asking if one believes in gravity – you can say “I don’t believe in this” all the way down but you will accelerate until you got splat – ah well ) is that somehow a) Ronald Reagan was the greatest president ever and b) we need to be optimistic.
In a way I can understand the current GOP’s love affair with Reagan, he wasn’t a failure like Bush Sr. or a total failure like Bush Jr., a place holder like Ford, a crook like Nixon, or a man of uncomfortable real principles like Ike. – So by default Reagan is the man. Still we saw the foul legacy of Ronald Reagan when New Orleans drowned and all of a sudden people realized that for all of Ronnie’s stupid “the most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’ falls to pieces when the water is rising and there is nobody coming because the government agency that would have been coming is run by people who don’t believe that government works and are only using this as a resume booster before going on to the private sector and in the mean time steering government money to well connected companies who are good at getting government contracts but little else.
However I have to say this optimism thing makes me crazy – frankly I’ve never quite understood the cult of optimism – it reads too much like denial to me –
“Captain we’re heading right for that ice berg”
“Now now let’s not have any of this negative talk, it’ll upset the captain.”
“But the ice berg”
“Now now you don’t want to upset the captain do you? And think of the passengers. You don’t want to upset the passengers do you?”
“Well if the damn ship hits the ice berg and starts to sink don’t you think they are going to be a trifle upset.”
“And that’s just the reason not to disturb them”
“Huh?”
“There aren’t enough lifeboats for everybody.”
“The hell”
“Lifeboats cost money son. Money is more important than anything. Besides we have the legal number of them on board – most of the rich will get off safely and that’s all that matters.”
“But then shouldn’t we tell the captain about the iceberg so maybe we could avoid smashing into in and kill all those people?”
“I keep telling you not to spout that negative talk.”
CRUNCH – Ships sinks, thousands die and we rejoin our two on a raft.
“Now see what you did with that negative talk”
I just find this quest for optimism right now to be utterly insane – it’s like the black Knight in Monty Python and the Holly Grail with both arms and one leg lopped off still attacking Arthur yelling “The Black Knight is Invincible!”
Arthur’s response (before he lopped the last leg off) was “what are you going to do bleed on me?”
Before I wander off to another part of this rant – I have to make note of some gibberish Rudy spouted before sticking his head in the ground to kiss the decayed ass of the corpse of Ronald Reagan “we have the finest medical system in the world”
Akkkkk. Sorry wrong, thanks for playing; however, you’ll get a copy of our board game.
The thing is while we have the most EXPENSIVE medical system in the world we (as of 2005 and god knows it can’t have gotten batter) rank 36th in the world in infant mortality. Singapore (Hi Linda) ranked first with 2.28 deaths per 1,000 live births – the US rate was 6.63 on a par with Cuba, Taiwan and Croatia (and none of them have a reality show called Beverly Hills Surgeon or whatever the hell it is).
What has happened here is that optimism has come to mean “pretending we don’t have any problems” – and it’s that kind of thinking that lead us right where we are now.
One other thing – I found it sickening to hear white male after white male come out and say how much they hated abortion (like that was a choice that was ever going to happen to them)– I remember one saying when roe vs. wade is overturned it would be a great day in America. Made me mean junkyard dog angry in a nasty kick someone in the balls kind of way.
Birth is a process – hell 2 out of three fertilized ovum never make it anyway (they don’t manage to attach to the uterus wall or some such, scientists really aren’t sure) and at the end of that process you end up with a child that needs to be fed and taken care of and raised. None of this mattered to these guys. This was the patriarchy singing its song as pure as you wanted to hear it.
I really don’t think men; especially these repellant clowns have the right to tell a woman what the hell to do with her body. They get all gooey about the little clump of cells and talk about choosing life – but hell that cuts both ways – Charles Manson’s mom chose life as well. But they don’t give a shit about women really, as far as they are concerned a woman is merely some kind of magic vessel who’s only job is to turn sperm into male children. Which is why they are so against abortion – or birth control (it’s pretty much an open secret that the anti- abortion folks have birth control in their sights as well – witness all this recent gibberish about pharmacists (and to a man, men) REFUSING TO FILL A DOCTOR’S PERSCRIPTION FOR BIRTH CONTROL – because, they (like it MATTERED), didn’t believe in it) Arggggggggg.
It’s the insanity of this that gets to me – this insane sperm worship linked with the idea that women don’t know what’s good for them and therefore need to be controlled (I’ve found in my experience that women are, well, actually shock, people with their own desires and wants and needs and dreams and wishes. And some of them are on the ball and some of them can’t tie their shoes without help – just like men oddly enough.)
Well things to do – flesh eaters and others this weekend. (Meant to do it now but the damn silly debate nonsense got to me.
Peace, love, Black Knights
In a way I can understand the current GOP’s love affair with Reagan, he wasn’t a failure like Bush Sr. or a total failure like Bush Jr., a place holder like Ford, a crook like Nixon, or a man of uncomfortable real principles like Ike. – So by default Reagan is the man. Still we saw the foul legacy of Ronald Reagan when New Orleans drowned and all of a sudden people realized that for all of Ronnie’s stupid “the most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’ falls to pieces when the water is rising and there is nobody coming because the government agency that would have been coming is run by people who don’t believe that government works and are only using this as a resume booster before going on to the private sector and in the mean time steering government money to well connected companies who are good at getting government contracts but little else.
However I have to say this optimism thing makes me crazy – frankly I’ve never quite understood the cult of optimism – it reads too much like denial to me –
“Captain we’re heading right for that ice berg”
“Now now let’s not have any of this negative talk, it’ll upset the captain.”
“But the ice berg”
“Now now you don’t want to upset the captain do you? And think of the passengers. You don’t want to upset the passengers do you?”
“Well if the damn ship hits the ice berg and starts to sink don’t you think they are going to be a trifle upset.”
“And that’s just the reason not to disturb them”
“Huh?”
“There aren’t enough lifeboats for everybody.”
“The hell”
“Lifeboats cost money son. Money is more important than anything. Besides we have the legal number of them on board – most of the rich will get off safely and that’s all that matters.”
“But then shouldn’t we tell the captain about the iceberg so maybe we could avoid smashing into in and kill all those people?”
“I keep telling you not to spout that negative talk.”
CRUNCH – Ships sinks, thousands die and we rejoin our two on a raft.
“Now see what you did with that negative talk”
I just find this quest for optimism right now to be utterly insane – it’s like the black Knight in Monty Python and the Holly Grail with both arms and one leg lopped off still attacking Arthur yelling “The Black Knight is Invincible!”
Arthur’s response (before he lopped the last leg off) was “what are you going to do bleed on me?”
Before I wander off to another part of this rant – I have to make note of some gibberish Rudy spouted before sticking his head in the ground to kiss the decayed ass of the corpse of Ronald Reagan “we have the finest medical system in the world”
Akkkkk. Sorry wrong, thanks for playing; however, you’ll get a copy of our board game.
The thing is while we have the most EXPENSIVE medical system in the world we (as of 2005 and god knows it can’t have gotten batter) rank 36th in the world in infant mortality. Singapore (Hi Linda) ranked first with 2.28 deaths per 1,000 live births – the US rate was 6.63 on a par with Cuba, Taiwan and Croatia (and none of them have a reality show called Beverly Hills Surgeon or whatever the hell it is).
What has happened here is that optimism has come to mean “pretending we don’t have any problems” – and it’s that kind of thinking that lead us right where we are now.
One other thing – I found it sickening to hear white male after white male come out and say how much they hated abortion (like that was a choice that was ever going to happen to them)– I remember one saying when roe vs. wade is overturned it would be a great day in America. Made me mean junkyard dog angry in a nasty kick someone in the balls kind of way.
Birth is a process – hell 2 out of three fertilized ovum never make it anyway (they don’t manage to attach to the uterus wall or some such, scientists really aren’t sure) and at the end of that process you end up with a child that needs to be fed and taken care of and raised. None of this mattered to these guys. This was the patriarchy singing its song as pure as you wanted to hear it.
I really don’t think men; especially these repellant clowns have the right to tell a woman what the hell to do with her body. They get all gooey about the little clump of cells and talk about choosing life – but hell that cuts both ways – Charles Manson’s mom chose life as well. But they don’t give a shit about women really, as far as they are concerned a woman is merely some kind of magic vessel who’s only job is to turn sperm into male children. Which is why they are so against abortion – or birth control (it’s pretty much an open secret that the anti- abortion folks have birth control in their sights as well – witness all this recent gibberish about pharmacists (and to a man, men) REFUSING TO FILL A DOCTOR’S PERSCRIPTION FOR BIRTH CONTROL – because, they (like it MATTERED), didn’t believe in it) Arggggggggg.
It’s the insanity of this that gets to me – this insane sperm worship linked with the idea that women don’t know what’s good for them and therefore need to be controlled (I’ve found in my experience that women are, well, actually shock, people with their own desires and wants and needs and dreams and wishes. And some of them are on the ball and some of them can’t tie their shoes without help – just like men oddly enough.)
Well things to do – flesh eaters and others this weekend. (Meant to do it now but the damn silly debate nonsense got to me.
Peace, love, Black Knights
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