WE KNOW THAT FRAUD, SELF-DECEIT and false consciousness run rampant in our world. That these exist is more evident than that a traditionally conceived God exists. Fakery and reasoning on the basis of premises false to fact but accordant to wish or agenda is as common as fiat money. They have similar standing and use. Their usefulness is, of course, not equally beneficial to all, nor ultimately to any.
In an Aug. 2 blog post, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote: “… Republican leaders are about to reap the whirlwind, because they haven’t had the courage to tell the base that Obamacare is here to stay, that the sequester is in fact intolerable, and that in general they have, at least for now, lost the war over the shape of American society. As a result, we’re looking at many drama-filled months, with a high probability of government shutdowns and even debt defaults.”
Krugman indicates that because of the escalated craziness of the GOP, the country is nearly ungovernable. He sees no clear way to recovery from the extremities of self-righteous, far-right unreasonableness. Denying objective science and common sense, the not-new Republicanism retires ever further into fixation on its delusion-inspired program of obstruction. It retires further without going deeper or gaining better intelligence. We may well ask why this has been happening. What causes this kind of abject madness?
Step aside with me for a moment to consider the mental case of Ariel Castro. Infamous for kidnapping three young women and holding them captive on the upper floor of his home, where they lived in complete subjugation to his sexual whims, for which at least one of them bore a child, he displayed in the courtroom astonishing lack of grasp or remorse for his crimes. His viewpoint was totally self-excusing and blaming of anyone or anything else to play himself as victim of society and his own uncontrollable urges. Experts analytically described his ill-conceived view of world and self as sociopathic.
What becomes evident is the machinery of alienated self-justification that reinforces one’s own sense of freedom and power from the authority of law and morality, one’s superiority to culture and its implicit sanctions against antisocial behavior. But criminal psychopathology isn’t confined to mobsters and the clinically insane who endanger us. Just as Ariel Castro becomes a Society-Unto-Himself, so political factions can shrivel down into mental isolation and spiritual alienation from the greater, human surround.
This is what has happened to tea party “patriots” and arch-conservatives. They will not know how to respond aptly and intelligently to comparison with Ariel Castro, whose very name contains allusion to an American tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, a tragedy the ultra-right seems hell-bent on bringing to our nation and the world. But the similarities are hard to deny, and vital to raise.
People on the political right must waken to the inaccuracy and inadequacy of worldviews foisted on them by family and prominent opinion makers. Will it happen? Not without being forced to see themselves in brilliantly unforgiving light.
Robert Shelby was poet laureate of Benicia from 2008-10.
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The current civil war in the GOP is caused by their lying to themselves and their base. They lost on Obamacare, in Congress and in the courts. They are delusional if they think this president, any president, is going to agree to be blackmailed into repealing his signature legislative achievement. Threats to shut down the government or cause a debt default are nothing less than political terrorism. Remember what Ronald Reagan said about negotiating with terrorists?
Generally speaking, half of the GOP’s elected officials are Tea Partiers living on Planet Kookoo. The other half are afraid of being primaried by those same Tea Partiers, The ones that don’t believe in the lunacy of the TP’ers (Obama’s a Kenyan, Science isn’t real, Obamacare will kill you, austerity leads to growth, etc.) have to pretend they do or find another line of work. Thus, the party is on a pathway to destruction. What is necessary is for somebody sane within the party to stand up to the TP’ers and the hate talkers on radio and Faux…political career be damned. But, don’t look for any profiles in courage anytime soon.
Perhaps I was wrong about a profile in courage. Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI), at a recent town hall meeting: ‘Fox News doesn’t tell the truth’. This, from a guy who in 2010 said he didn’t know if Obama was born in the US.
He must have taken his moment of talking points from the Montana democrat. You know who I mwean. The train wreck guy.
Benician being you do not watch Fox News you apparently are not aware of what is going on in the Republican Party. Start watching Fox News and get a real true source of what is really happening. Then someone might pay attention to what you are saying.
That you watch Faux at least partially explains your ignorance. Studies confirm the more one watches Faux, the less they know about newsworthy events (for example, a poll released yesterday finds more Louisiana Republicans blame Obama for the government’s response to Katrina than blame Bush. Stunning, isn’t it?). As a result, one of the following must be true:
1) Watching Faux makes one stupider.
2) Stupid people are more inclined to watch Faux.
Please enlighten us with the correct answer.
Benician we are on different political sides. We will never agree. But I will be right about 2014. Maybe you can tell me if the Democrats will retain the Senate and take back the house. Like to hear your predictions on 2014. I will not call you ignorant just not well informed on politics.
You’ll be right about 2014 as you were in 2012? Because we have President Romney and a Rethug Senate? Despite the nationwide effort of Rethugs to keep Dems from voting, the Dems will keep the Senate and close the gap in the House, unless the Rethugs force a government shutdown, which will result in the Dems winning the House. Please enlighten us with your predictions. Afterward, I’ll run to Vegas to bet the other side.
Livesay, we saw an example of your wonderfully predictive information last time. Locally, too. Elizabeth cleaned your clock, but that couldn’t shut you down, nosiree-bob.
Robert not informed as usual. I never said the Mayor would lose nor did I back any one. By the way Robert everything I have said about the mayor and her agenda driven ideals is staring you right in the face. First try DTSC, then the waterfront cleanup and now the Brown act. Those are just a few. Robert I was correct in my accessment. Robert the mayor has a ring in your nose and you are a loyal follower.
Here’s a taste of what Faux viewers got to watch today…
In their endless hunt for a ‘reverse’ Trayvon Martin case, they went bonkers over the horrible murder of Australian baseball player Chris Lane in Oklahoma. Faux reported Lane was killed by three black teens, called out Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the White House for not commenting on it as they had the Trayvon Martin case, and had their WH reported carry on about it at the daily press briefing. After all, it was the same as Trayvon Martin case, except in this case, this race-motivated killing was a white man was killed by three blacks, right?
Well, no.
1) Unlike the Trayvon Martin case, the police responded professionally and the three thugs were arrested
2) The three thugs weren’t all black, after all. One is white and another is half-white
3) After killing Lane, the three thugs set their sights on another potential victim…this one black
4) It was a call from the father of the next preyed upon victim that alerted the police and resulted in the arrest of the thugs
Excellent reporting, Faux (and Drudge and Limbaugh)! Excellent fact-checking!
They’re rush to gin up the base…get them frothing at the mouth…resulted in yet another case of horrible journalism. The kind of journalism which results in Faux viewers growing more stupid by the day. Faux isn’t news, it’s GOP propaganda.
Shall we revisit the numerous false reports on the Gabby Gifford’s shooting?
Sure to be a lot of bad reporting on that one across the spectrum friend.
bad reporting on that one across the spectrum friend.
Exactly. No single network is guilty; they all are. They all have a need to sell their product to their chosen audience.
Faux is a bastion of misinformation. As mentioned before, studies confirm the more you watch Faux, the less you know. To equate their journalistic integrity to any other organization (aside from right-wing hackery sites like Drudge, Daily Caller, Breitbart, etc.) is foolish.
The Republican/Conservatives are in fine shape. I do hope you remember the Bush-McCain fight for the Republican nomination and also the Hillary-Obama campaign for the Democrat nomination. The Clintons have never forgotten that one. The real problem is not at all the Tea Party it is the President Obama regime of deceit and pure understanding on how to get the parties together. If the Dems own the Senate could we say they are obstructionist Shelby or is it only the fault of the Republican held house. I assume you know Shelby that we do have an elected Dem as President. He sets the agenda with leadership skills. The only problem he has no leadership skills. He is hurting the Dems in the Senate and the House in the up coming 2014 election. They will run from him very fast. The Tea Party folks will have no say in that or the outcome of Republican Senate or House races. Dream on Shelby just as your article has to have been a dream..
Government shutdown or big debt ceiling fight that hurts the economy changes the calculus completely. There’s a lot of time between now and Nov. 2014. And the GOP is playing with fire on immigration too. Too early to make accurate predictions — not to early to say what you HOPE will happen though.
Hard to take your article seriously when you compare a sociopath with decent law abiding people who disagree with your opinion. But not surprised cause it seems that when liberals don’t have an argument based on facts, they resort to blame and name calling.
Excellent points JLB.
It’s actually a matter of what the disagreement is. You just resorted to ad-hominem boiler-plate. It’s the very “decency” of those “law abiding people” that is in question.
Benician … You are poor at stating your points. Slanderous, hateful, and demeaning comments don’t persuade. They alienate. It is difficult to believe you consider yourself liberal and open minded.
I call them as I see them. When some people here willfully disregard the truth, I call them out, because they deserve to be called out. I’ve said nothing slanderous or hateful. Demeaning? Disrespectful? Sure…when it’s earned.
If you honestly believe the what you just posted … Nothing more needs to be said. You have clearly defined yourself.
I’m not gonna play Mr. Nice Guy when some call ‘white’ as ‘black’ or ‘up’ as ‘down’. Some people here purposely distort the truth to fit their agenda, when the facts won’t do it for them. They prey on the ignorant and uneducated to sell their point. I find this despicable and I call them out. Don’t like it? Tough. And, if you defend their practice, you have clearly defined yourself.
“Some people here purposely distort the truth to fit their agenda, when the facts won’t do it for them.”
Like this article?
JLB, you can’t even explain the “distortion,” let alone identify it better than as something that makes you uncomfortably angry. I put it to you, the shoe fits pretty well.
Matter,
It is refreshing to see someone taking a rational approach, as opposed to the extremism we see from a small segment. There are those who cannot discuss issues rationally, as well as those who cannot differentiate between what they think they know as the truth and the real truth that they have yet to realize.
My point bears repeating, though the folks it points at are too shifty for it to penetrate. The far right has driven itself crazy with very little help from center and left. All you need do is read Pugh, Lund, Livesay and their little followings of bent minded gabblers. Psychotic? No, not quite. Sociopathic? Yes. Deeply lacking in empathy as well as conceptually stunted.
Ahhh, Robert. Wouldn’t life be so much more beautiful if all people were as wonderfully enlightened as yourself?
Yes, many already fall in line. As to those remaining recalcitrant ones, a year or five in a proper reeducation facility should be sufficient to allow them to recognize their errors of independent thought.