De Rigeur Without Rigor.
Recently I was defeated by a moment of television absurdity... introduced, on the catwalks of Paris no less, was a ludicrously expensive bauble for an even more ludicrous clientele.De rigeur this season, the designer Remote Alcohol Monitor anklet.
Go ahead, take a moment.
Now this warrants a blog entry of its own, but how to satirize something beyond parody?
It does, however, serve as an excellent segue... I happen to be excited about reading Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness, by Neil Postman. Many of his most salient points regarding our image-based culture and the lack of a typographical context, are here illustrated.
The trivializing effect of presenting serious, or grave information as entertainment, is here depicted by the electronic shackle of some vacuous starlet, who's neurotic self-indulgence has led to addiction and shame, now accessorized by a prominent design house.
Don't let's waste mental horsepower on fame and fashion here, except to say it represents the reductio ad absurdum of medium as message and metaphor. What gets more purchase here, so to speak, is this same effect on political discourse particularly during the US presidential contest.
There is a complete lack of substance and content in their communication, despite the ridiculous degree of scrutiny on their lives. Not for any substantive ideological analysis, but more for any discernible politically incorrect gaff, or maybe an indication of uncertainty like a hesitation or maybe a pause to think... that is always considered disastrous. Obama was repeatedly shown sneezing today. I wonder how it will poll?
Imagine that we have reached the point where if a public figure, the stature and import of a presidential candidate, is not flawless with their crafted and rehearsed demagoguery, if they actually betray a real opinion, that it is considered a liability or mistake that could alienate voters? Indeed, this type of bizarre inversion actually does influence voters.
Yet the appetite for meaningless information, or disinformation, is not sated until
we have literally stared up John McCain's colon. Picture a room full of so-called journalists pouring over images of a man's intestinal tract, with limited or no knowledge of what they are seeing, just to find out if he has the shelf-life to be president; never mind what exactly he will, or will not be alive to actually do or decide... that seems much less important.
Is this trend irreversible? Is the freefall into moronic, bleating culture death unavoidable? Moreover, is it complete, 'cause I want, at least, to enjoy the temporary rebound when the body hits bottom and bounces.
Continue here >>
McCain's Pyrrhic Victory Dance
McCain's campaign, desperate for attention during Obama's accession tour, is reduced to hammering away on the tiny little point of the Surge and acknowledging that it was "successful".
Successful by what measure and according to whom seems to matter less than the rhetorical arm twisting to get Obama to say 'uncle' on this issue.
Now,the context here is an illegal and heinously immoral war fought on false pretense, that has cost thousands upon thousands of lives and half a trillion dollars, which Obama opposed from the outset... but the surge, the surge, the surge.
The chickehawks in Washington have applied the insane logic of using the same methods while waiting for a different result long enough that, during this temporary lull in violence, they are tripping over each other to claim some kind of "victory".
If a small, temporary, relative decrease in violence, bought with apocalyptic destruction and hellish suffering, is celebrated as some kind of progress then we really should be cheering "Pyrrhus for president! Pyrrhus for president!
( See Pyrrhic Victory )
For the (Broken) Record
In an interview today, McCain repeated his mantra of "I know how to win wars." Let's explore the events that inform that unproven "knowledge".Before anyone gets the wrong impression, I do not take McCain's internment lightly; his time in Hanoi was hellish. We know he was savagely beaten regularly for five and half years. So much so that he reached his personal "breaking point" making an anti-American confession, and actually tried to take his own life. His suicide attempt was stopped by guards. He required months of rehabilitation upon his return to the US but remains, effectively, physically crippled by his ordeal, unable to raise his arms above his head.
No one in their right mind can remain unmoved by his story, nor blame him for his reaction to his tormentors. I know I would have broken much sooner under such circumstances. That much is sacrosanct.
Having said that, when does experience become a liability? John McCain's body and spirit were broken by torture; his body bears the signs and scars. What about his mind? He claimed that he forgot all that 45 minutes after he was back. Is that reasonable, believable or even plausible?
Referring to his captors: "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." Understandable, but belies permanent effects on his psyche.
Besides the natural resentment, he has also expressed guilt and remorse for some of his own actions in that insane conflict: “I am a war criminal,” McCain said on “60 Minutes” in 1997. “I bombed innocent women and children.”
Are these the words of a man unaffected by his intense past? Is he likely to be someone who can put it all behind him and make level-headed and judicious decisions in times of conflict and war?
Back in America after his release, his marriage failing due, by his own admission, to his several affairs, he quit the navy when it became clear his poor annual physicals would preclude his ever making admiral. He refused the rank of rear admiral and left soldiery behind.
Just some of the details that never enter the dialogue around his war hero status.
Today when he was speaking with Wolf Blitzer, he assumed the attitude of able warrior and capable commander-in-chief when he claimed that IF he was elected president he would ensure the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Guaranteed it in fact. Said he knew how he could do it. When pressed for details he pulled the old I'd-love-to-tell-you-but-I'd-have-to-kill-you routine. Trust me, he said, I know.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
That's some kind of campaign promise. He possesses the knowledge and capabilities to capture America's Most Wanted man, but he'll only do it if elected. Why not share that information with the current administration? What kind of leader holds the nation's security ransom for political ambition?
Oh yeah, all of them.
Continue here >>
we have literally stared up John McCain's colon. Picture a room full of so-called journalists pouring over images of a man's intestinal tract, with limited or no knowledge of what they are seeing, just to find out if he has the shelf-life to be president; never mind what exactly he will, or will not be alive to actually do or decide... that seems much less important.
