[Curly Ripe Meat] "Reality" TV & Presidential Speeches - a National Addiction?
Yesterday, I posted the following rant in response to a post about
Obama’s firey BP speech. Responses were either, “FINALLY, Obama gets
tough!” or disillusioned cries of “bullshit” from those convinced
Obama’s evil, since things aren’t going spectacularly. The owner of the
original comment wisely calmed the fires before any flame-wars broke
out on his facebook (SMART THINKING, @Michelangelo!), but I’m kinda
curious to see if anyone agrees with me.
I am suspicious that the nation has become addicted to media bursts. It
seems like every time Obama makes a speech, folks get in a huff about
it being a sign that either A. He’s finally doing his job, or B. This
just proves he’s a liar, and he’s doing exactly the opposite of his job.
It seems to me that people interpret Presidential PSA’s as the signal
that actual work is being done, rather than…. you know; the possibility
that work involves sitting quietly at your presidential desk, and not
making reality TV for everyone to get fired-up about.
Here was my comment:
“To start - this sucks; BP blows, the government has been overrun by
OIL for ever. (Why can't we run our cars on corn ethanol?)
However... I can't help feeling that everyone's gotten addicted to the
Republican's over-dramatized Presidential Pep Talks.
Just because Obama's not on TV saying "We'll get those BP Guys!!" every
day like GWB was with Bin ... See MoreLaden, there seems to be an
assumption that he's picking his nose instead of... ida know; learning
how drilling works, organizing a website to accept solution
suggestions, rounding up volunteers from across the country, hiring
scientists to imagine future damage & solutions, talking with the
industry in local meetings or on the phone, learning about the problem
from people on the ground, rather than the white-collars who are paid
to say "everything is going to be okay; you don't know anything, so
just truuuuust us," .... stuff that happens in your office. Doing a
press conference is, frankly, less worth our time than him doing his
research. He's a lawyer; he will research; that's how you win lawsuits
that force companies to be culpable.
“Ida know, guys; what *exactly* could've happened faster? I can't help
but relate this to watching your sick animal at the vet; they can only
do a biopsy before they give the drugs that may work or may just ruin
the biopsy, they can only do the surgery if the drugs fail... stuff
like that that gives everyone a sense of helplessness, but just goes to
show that there is still a long way to go in technology.
It's not likely, they can physically do more to the well than they are
at a time, right? Plug it and drill a hole in the side to maybe bypass
it -- but perhaps side-drilling will weaken the chances that the plug
will work (didn't anyway, but...)
And it's not like we can sue them for damages before we know how bad
it's going to be. And it's not like Obama's able to supervise each
cleanup employee, and know who's working hard enough and who's
understaffed... all of this stuff just takes time, and I don't think
the government was necessarily supposed to be able to physically handle
this task faster/better than BP.
“Yes, it FUCKING SUCKS. But I don't think I can get behind the
assumption that Obama's been slacking, just because he hasn't been
giving these war-speeches on TV all the time.”
Obama’s firey BP speech. Responses were either, “FINALLY, Obama gets
tough!” or disillusioned cries of “bullshit” from those convinced
Obama’s evil, since things aren’t going spectacularly. The owner of the
original comment wisely calmed the fires before any flame-wars broke
out on his facebook (SMART THINKING, @Michelangelo!), but I’m kinda
curious to see if anyone agrees with me.
I am suspicious that the nation has become addicted to media bursts. It
seems like every time Obama makes a speech, folks get in a huff about
it being a sign that either A. He’s finally doing his job, or B. This
just proves he’s a liar, and he’s doing exactly the opposite of his job.
It seems to me that people interpret Presidential PSA’s as the signal
that actual work is being done, rather than…. you know; the possibility
that work involves sitting quietly at your presidential desk, and not
making reality TV for everyone to get fired-up about.
Here was my comment:
“To start - this sucks; BP blows, the government has been overrun by
OIL for ever. (Why can't we run our cars on corn ethanol?)
However... I can't help feeling that everyone's gotten addicted to the
Republican's over-dramatized Presidential Pep Talks.
Just because Obama's not on TV saying "We'll get those BP Guys!!" every
day like GWB was with Bin ... See MoreLaden, there seems to be an
assumption that he's picking his nose instead of... ida know; learning
how drilling works, organizing a website to accept solution
suggestions, rounding up volunteers from across the country, hiring
scientists to imagine future damage & solutions, talking with the
industry in local meetings or on the phone, learning about the problem
from people on the ground, rather than the white-collars who are paid
to say "everything is going to be okay; you don't know anything, so
just truuuuust us," .... stuff that happens in your office. Doing a
press conference is, frankly, less worth our time than him doing his
research. He's a lawyer; he will research; that's how you win lawsuits
that force companies to be culpable.
“Ida know, guys; what *exactly* could've happened faster? I can't help
but relate this to watching your sick animal at the vet; they can only
do a biopsy before they give the drugs that may work or may just ruin
the biopsy, they can only do the surgery if the drugs fail... stuff
like that that gives everyone a sense of helplessness, but just goes to
show that there is still a long way to go in technology.
It's not likely, they can physically do more to the well than they are
at a time, right? Plug it and drill a hole in the side to maybe bypass
it -- but perhaps side-drilling will weaken the chances that the plug
will work (didn't anyway, but...)
And it's not like we can sue them for damages before we know how bad
it's going to be. And it's not like Obama's able to supervise each
cleanup employee, and know who's working hard enough and who's
understaffed... all of this stuff just takes time, and I don't think
the government was necessarily supposed to be able to physically handle
this task faster/better than BP.
“Yes, it FUCKING SUCKS. But I don't think I can get behind the
assumption that Obama's been slacking, just because he hasn't been
giving these war-speeches on TV all the time.”