No longer operative
Today Greenwald dismantles a Times OpEd whitewashing Gitmo.
The OpEd is of a piece with every other Orwellian absurdity we are fed on a daily basis. What the Bush team says is again contradicted by what it does, and by what it said yesterday. But they have been getting away with this crap for years.
Last night Jon Stewart pointed out yet another core contradiction, juxtaposing Cheney's current "I don't have to comply with an executive order b/c I'm not part of the executive branch" with his previous "I don't have to comply with GAO/Congressional will re: the Energy Policy Task Force b/c of executive privilege."
It no longer matters. Logic is no longer operative, at least where it counts. The basis for a functional feedback loop -- a belief in logic and an abhorrence of hypocrisy -- has gone Elvis on us, and left the building.
When the press acquiesces in (and even aids and abets) the "all men are Socrates" nonsense about how everyone we kill in Iraq is al Qaeda, they are dancing on the grave of reason. Every time one Friedman Unit flows into another without objection or acknowledgment, reason is denied. Every Greenwald post is really an exhibit in an overwhelming case for the proposition that IOKIYAR has replaced all other measures of argumentation. But how do you apply reason against those who no longer adhere to it? What do we gain by pointing out the hypocrisy of those who are utterly untroubled by inconsistency?
I may be taking too short a view, and may be too pessimistic in my outlook. But I am appalled at how little has changed. I am gobsmacked at how unaffected the Administration has been by the 2006 election, and how pliant the press remains. Congress may be slowly, slowly, rising, but the courts now seem to be taking up the slack - witness yesterday's Supreme Court decisions.
We fight on, but it is hard to escape the feeling that the outcome is no longer in doubt. The water in the pot keeps getting warmer, and the frog has no interest in getting out.
Have a nice day.
The OpEd is of a piece with every other Orwellian absurdity we are fed on a daily basis. What the Bush team says is again contradicted by what it does, and by what it said yesterday. But they have been getting away with this crap for years.
Last night Jon Stewart pointed out yet another core contradiction, juxtaposing Cheney's current "I don't have to comply with an executive order b/c I'm not part of the executive branch" with his previous "I don't have to comply with GAO/Congressional will re: the Energy Policy Task Force b/c of executive privilege."
It no longer matters. Logic is no longer operative, at least where it counts. The basis for a functional feedback loop -- a belief in logic and an abhorrence of hypocrisy -- has gone Elvis on us, and left the building.
When the press acquiesces in (and even aids and abets) the "all men are Socrates" nonsense about how everyone we kill in Iraq is al Qaeda, they are dancing on the grave of reason. Every time one Friedman Unit flows into another without objection or acknowledgment, reason is denied. Every Greenwald post is really an exhibit in an overwhelming case for the proposition that IOKIYAR has replaced all other measures of argumentation. But how do you apply reason against those who no longer adhere to it? What do we gain by pointing out the hypocrisy of those who are utterly untroubled by inconsistency?
I may be taking too short a view, and may be too pessimistic in my outlook. But I am appalled at how little has changed. I am gobsmacked at how unaffected the Administration has been by the 2006 election, and how pliant the press remains. Congress may be slowly, slowly, rising, but the courts now seem to be taking up the slack - witness yesterday's Supreme Court decisions.
We fight on, but it is hard to escape the feeling that the outcome is no longer in doubt. The water in the pot keeps getting warmer, and the frog has no interest in getting out.
Have a nice day.
posted by bluememe at 6/26/2007
3 Comments:
Oh c'mon! Are you teasing me? You TRYING to get an "I told you so" from me? Oh, well...
When you are really ready to see the next three moves, drop me a line.
TA
It's called despotism. Other synonyms are dictatorship, totalitarian state, tyranny. The rule of logic, the rule of law are gone because Bush and Cheney are now the law and arbiters of what is logical.
Seigh Heil der Bush!
Heil Bush!
Heil Bush!
Sheigh Heil! Seigh Heil!
Then again, to expect Bush to comprehend logic or the law is a bit much considering, Laura is still struggling to teach him to tie his shoes. We'll skip over mentioning toilet training.
Until I read the comments, I thought for sure that TA was guest blogging on this post.
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