(Untitled)
The following was posted by byzantinespy:
While I was there we all watched President Bush conduct his much anticipated televised news conference. My first thought was that the press was asking him especially hostile questions. "Don't you think you should apologize?" and "Can't you think of any mistakes you have ever made?" seemed almost catty. But I was also ( Read more... )
While I was there we all watched President Bush conduct his much anticipated televised news conference. My first thought was that the press was asking him especially hostile questions. "Don't you think you should apologize?" and "Can't you think of any mistakes you have ever made?" seemed almost catty. But I was also ( Read more... )
1. Bush does reflect a problem that ideologues always suffer: he has a distinct inability to step outside of his own frame of thinking and analyze the world from the opposite (or simply alternative) viewpoint.
2. I think that it's a mistake to think of Bush as a stupid person because it leads us down a path where we lower our defenses against what we come to view as the idle rich. I was reading an article about that show "The Simple Life" with Paris Hilton that discussed the way the media often portrays the rich as idiotic, naive, and out of touch with the world. We can't dwell on that aspect of these people and neglect the fact that there are some very astute individuals out there who know exactly what they're doing and have their sights set on specific goals. Bush is smart enough to have surrounded himself with some very capable people. That's his corporate philosophy - which breaks down, of course, when his handlers can't be with him. Note that he and Cheney are going to jointly testify before the 9/11 commission.
3. I definitely agree that we can't make Bush a scapegoat and let the ideology off the hook. However, I don't think that most votes against Bush will be votes against capitalism - I wish they were, but I think that people are, at this stage in history, unable and unwilling to make that kind of a connection.
Reply
Reply
When people get to a point where they are ready to reject capitalist economics, they'll just do so.
Reply
Reply
Reply
I should have been more careful since my point about Bush isn't necessarily that he's an oblivious or ignorant rich person, but rather that he lacks certain cognitive capacities... he's just plain dumb. Sure, he's surrounded by smart people, but that is probably more because his dad gave him advice on who to put in those positions.
With the whole vote against capitalism thing, I didn't really mean that it would be an intentional thing with people going into the voting booth trying to uproot the political system. Since Bush embodies the limits of capitalism, with all of its blatant disregard for the underclasses and exploitation of human life in general, that to vote against him is to vote against those things. Whether they like it or not, this election is ideological--this is not to say that Kerry is not a proponent of capitalism, but whenever there is a tempering of the capitalist ideology by something else, there is an implicit charge being made that capitalsm is somehow inhumane or inadequate to provide a good human life.
These, are, of course, just my thoughts on the matter. I make no claims at objectivity or universality. I'm just happy that Bill Frist is retiring and I get to help put someone else in his place!
Reply
Leave a comment