Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Tea Partys, Plumbers, and Hangings? Oh my!

I try to keep this blog pretty non-controversial, but I stumbled onto a piece of good writing today that I can't help but to share (thanks Zach):

"It’s one thing to be ignorant. It’s another to take pride in it. And it’s quite another to venture b...eyond that into full-blown stupidity. It’s not often that you get to use the word “stupidity” in a non-ad hominem context, but now — with the majority of Republicans believing Obama is a socialist without having any idea what socialism is, over a third believing he is foreign-born, and featured Tea Party speakers calling for the hanging of a US senator (Patty Murray) — it’s becoming harder and harder to euphemize some of things we’re witnessing as anything but."

The rest of the article was too contentious for my taste, so I am not going to link to it- I don't want it's views to be reflected on me, and it gets a little too... bitchy, for lack of a better word.  This paragraph, though, seemed to have a kernel of truth- true, I'm not in the US any more, and I'm really not completely caught up.  In the last few days, though, I've been following a few news sites, and I'm not liking a lot of what I'm seeing.  

Why is Sarah Palin still around?  And what's more, when did so much of America become anti-intellectual?  When was Colin Powell replaced by Joe the Plumber?

I feel like we could have a field day in US World History on this one...

4 comments:

  1. ooh, I'm jealous of you for having been missing all of this, haha. There were some crazies protesting out by the mall in my town yesterday, and I was so tempted to go argue with them. Nothing good would've come of it, and I didn't have time anyway, so it's definitely better that I didn't, but...it's been a weird year.

    So I just saw your comment on my blog (I've been sticking to Wordpress), which you coincidentally posted on the same day that I heard. My mom called me in the middle of my jazz rehearsal that evening to let me know that I got the scholarship. :) I've been so tired the past few days that I'm still kind of convinced that it was probably a dream, but I am unbelievably excited.

    I most certainly owe you a huge thank-you for this one. If I hadn't stumbled across your blog seven months ago, or whenever that was, who knows what I'd be doing now? So thank you for introducing me to CBYX, being so helpful, and writing such an engaging blog. :)

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  2. Yay! CBYX rocks (I just needed to tell you that, since I got it, too, only in the other direction). Congrats!
    Yeah, Tim, I am lost with the happenings in Germany, too. What is happening? And I've been trying to figure out for a long time why Sarah Palin is still around, how Obama can be Hitler and a communist/socialist at the same time and how so many people are deeply shocked about health care even though he advocated it all the time. Additionally: have you heard what happened after the health care vote in - I think it was - February? People in Arizona threw stones into the Democratic headquarter there and many Congressmen/women got death threats.
    Don't understand me wrong, I love America. I love the freedom that is here all along. But sometimes I am still wondering what is happening here. I guess, I am me after all.

    Obviously I keep following your blog and I hope you enjoy mine just as much as I enjoy yours.

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  3. Mags-
    Where the hell did the Tea Party come from? I'm so confused!

    I heard there's a counter-demonstration in Boston coming up- every who is against the Tea Party is going to have a real tea party, complete with fancy clothes, cucumber sandwiches, and china teacups right in the middle of a Tea Party political demonstration. That's the plan, anyway... sounds kind of funny, but it makes you wonder.

    as for the scholarship... Congrats! That's fantastic! I'm unbelievably excited too... hoorah!

    Aw shucks, you flatter me. Really, though, that's a very important part of why I write this blog- more US kids ought to study abroad, it's a great experience. I'm really glad I'm having an effect!

    oh, and just as important- what instrument do you play in your jazz band? ;)

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  4. Tim, I honestly don't know where they came from. I kind of ignored them at first, until it became clear that they were a pretty tenacious bunch. I'm pretty sure that they were spawned by Faux News, though. (oops, freudian slip there.) I'm honestly worried by how pervasive this movement is...I read a few days ago that the members are mainly older, better-educated, wealthier, white, married, Republican men. The part of this that I find surprising and scary is that these supposedly well-educated people can honestly believe some of this stuff. It's truly astounding sometimes.

    Emily, your question about Obama reminded me of this picture:
    http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0wfba6wqu1qzxcmso1_400.jpg
    and here's another, for good measure:
    http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0zo4d0Eg01qzxcmso1_400.jpg

    okay, on to the less-contentious portion of this comment.
    in jazz band, I play the tuba, haha. This means I spend a fair amount of time not-playing, since it's a somewhat unusual instrument to have in a jazz group and really doesn't fit in on most Ellington tunes, for example. I'm actually playing a cello solo in one of our songs, too. I've become something of a specialist in playing jazz on unexpected instruments. (they're both a really inconvenient size to carry to Germany, though. I'm considering getting someone to teach me flute in the next few months so I'll have a nice, portable instrument.)

    have you settled on any plans for next year, by the way? you must be as sick of that question by now as I am, haha, so feel free to not-answer.

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