I’ve awakened from a nap and had a chance to actually watch Sarah Palin‘s resignation “speech” — another trainwreck of colossal proportions. It honestly makes you wonder how anyone ever took Palin seriously enough to elect her to public office. She seems too flighty for the Wasilla school board, let alone a position of responsibility in state or federal government. Between Palin and Mark Sanford, I’m starting to wonder what percentage of GOP leaders have diagnosable mental illnesses. I mean, just watch:
Maybe she’ll blame the media for this, too?
I’m not what you’d call an “insider” or anything, but of the elected leaders I’ve personally witnessed, it’s the ones on the Right who are the most boneheaded. Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t flaky progressives or whipsmart conservatives, but to my mind, there’s a trend. I’ve been getting interested in the sociology of political affiliation lately, and plan to write a series on neo-neo-Conservatism. This movement — part Obama backlash, part unemployment-driven reactionism — will also be youth-driven, but decoupled from the wedge issues favored by the previous generation of GOP culture warriors. What I’ve seen so far reminds me of Scientology, but with Ayn Rand replacing L. Ron Hubbard as Godhead.
I will be decoupling Objectivism/neo-Libertarianism from the “convenient conservatism” of current GOP pundits. Mostly, I’ll examine how today’s white, educated right-leaning youth rely on absolutist word shields like Liberty and Truth, while evincing ideological thought-patterns more consistent with fascism than the freedom (or Individualism) for which they so fervently advocate.
So there’s something for you all to look forward to.
Can I get a “hell yeah?”
Hey Nick — I’ll definitely be pinging you to discuss. Thanks for the comment!
Hell Yeah!
When my children ask me about 9/11, I will tell them about how our dipshit, chickenshit president got on camera at the end of that horrible day to let us know that “Freedom has been attacked.” Horseshit! Can I say shit again? These word shields are fascinating to me in this context, and I look forward to you examining them. Personally, I identify with words like “Patriot,” “Chastity,” “Hawk,” though obviously not in the same way that the neos do. I think I’d have a heart attack if I heard Cheney utter the words “spirit animal.” But I would not be surprised if he aimed for a duck and shot a bald eagle.
I’m really interested in this stuff – if you want vague notions/pointers/conversations, drop me a line.
If you haven’t already, google George Lakoff, Powell Manifesto etc. I’ve been collecting links on this subject for quite a while, but haven’t done any specific searching recently. That talk by Jonathon Haidt on Ted where he misguidedly tried to hold an olive-branch out to conservatives is interesting as well – his conclusions are wrong, but his research is fairly pivotal to understanding things like… why climate-change-denialists when finally beaten, suddenly become zealots for nuclear power. Why lying for “your side” is part of the game.