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roachboy · 06-30-2005, 12:12 PM

i tend to see this "different perspective" as devolving onto the pollyanna each and every time it involves conservative folk viewing the effects of a conservative administration.

this kind of dont worry be happy nonsense that you hear running through the commentary of any number of right pundits, from limbaugh to bill wattenberg (who is smarter and saner than most, but when it comes down to it, the same line is a significant part of his schtick).

you see it working in different registers:

on the environment, global warming in particular: o those people are all chicken little. dont worry be happy.

on the economy: everything works out for the best because god likes capitalism (how else to explain this invisible hand except through theology?): dont worry be happy.

on taxes: these are an evil innovation foisted on us by the irrational state. the irrational state is set up in opposition to nice, ever just "free markets" in which the virtuous--like yourself, like all conservatives--flourish because that is just and right--the redistribution of wealth punishes these virtuous elect few and gives it to bad poor people who are poor because they lack virtue. eliminate taxes to the greatest extent possible and the world will magically return to justice. and then you wont have to worry. everything will be hunky dory.

on the iraq war: the vague and internally contradictory rationales for everything to do with it floated by the bush administration are necessarily correct at every point. everything is fine. dont worry.

on the invasion of privacy justified by the patriot act, for example: well "terrorists" are everywhere and so are their fifth column supporters--surveillance in all its guises is fine--if you have nothing to hide, why would it worry you? what could a person of virtue like you, like all conservatives have to fear?
dont worry about it.

on the military: everyone likes a parade. everyone likes flags. everyone likes uniforms. everyone likes weapons. everyone likes what happens when weapons are used. everyone likes a macho foreign policy when a conservative administration promulgates it. the military appears to be about order. everything should be about order. i like order. order is good. i like things that help me like order more. i think there should be more order. that this image of the mlitary does not cross in any meaningful way with the actual experience of people within the military--particularly not with the experiences of many who are on the ground in iraq right now from what i have been able to gather---all this is quite irrelevant: it is an image, an image only, and one of an ideal society. top down. lots of uniformity. everyone knows their place. none of this democratic stuff. nice to think about.

so you see, everything is basically cool in rightwing land...any and all distortions to this basic coolness are introduced by Outsiders, those evil people who are not themselves conservatives.
but we on the Right know the Real Deal: all is well and it is made well by people like us, who are Real Americans. those who do not agree with us are a fifth column. evil foul bad whiny fifth column. they are the problem, not the system they talk about.

dont worry. everything's cool.

it is indeed a different perspective.

06-30-2005, 12:12 PM	#20 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	i tend to see this "different perspective" as devolving onto the pollyanna each and every time it involves conservative folk viewing the effects of a conservative administration. this kind of dont worry be happy nonsense that you hear running through the commentary of any number of right pundits, from limbaugh to bill wattenberg (who is smarter and saner than most, but when it comes down to it, the same line is a significant part of his schtick). you see it working in different registers: on the environment, global warming in particular: o those people are all chicken little. dont worry be happy. on the economy: everything works out for the best because god likes capitalism (how else to explain this invisible hand except through theology?): dont worry be happy. on taxes: these are an evil innovation foisted on us by the irrational state. the irrational state is set up in opposition to nice, ever just "free markets" in which the virtuous--like yourself, like all conservatives--flourish because that is just and right--the redistribution of wealth punishes these virtuous elect few and gives it to bad poor people who are poor because they lack virtue. eliminate taxes to the greatest extent possible and the world will magically return to justice. and then you wont have to worry. everything will be hunky dory. on the iraq war: the vague and internally contradictory rationales for everything to do with it floated by the bush administration are necessarily correct at every point. everything is fine. dont worry. on the invasion of privacy justified by the patriot act, for example: well "terrorists" are everywhere and so are their fifth column supporters--surveillance in all its guises is fine--if you have nothing to hide, why would it worry you? what could a person of virtue like you, like all conservatives have to fear? dont worry about it. on the military: everyone likes a parade. everyone likes flags. everyone likes uniforms. everyone likes weapons. everyone likes what happens when weapons are used. everyone likes a macho foreign policy when a conservative administration promulgates it. the military appears to be about order. everything should be about order. i like order. order is good. i like things that help me like order more. i think there should be more order. that this image of the mlitary does not cross in any meaningful way with the actual experience of people within the military--particularly not with the experiences of many who are on the ground in iraq right now from what i have been able to gather---all this is quite irrelevant: it is an image, an image only, and one of an ideal society. top down. lots of uniformity. everyone knows their place. none of this democratic stuff. nice to think about. so you see, everything is basically cool in rightwing land...any and all distortions to this basic coolness are introduced by Outsiders, those evil people who are not themselves conservatives. but we on the Right know the Real Deal: all is well and it is made well by people like us, who are Real Americans. those who do not agree with us are a fifth column. evil foul bad whiny fifth column. they are the problem, not the system they talk about. dont worry. everything's cool. it is indeed a different perspective. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 06-30-2005 at 12:15 PM..