Apathy- a Daily Dirt redux - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

QuasiMojo · 04-23-2004, 07:01 PM

www.dailydirt.com

Well folks, yer old pal Jerky's throwing in the towel. Keeping Dirt readers up to date on the multiple torrents of bullshit emanating out of Washington - and wherever else one finds Republicans - has officially become impossible. It's blasting at us from all sides now, a desperate frenzy of lies, distractions, bafflegab, disinformation and spin, spin, spin. Every news story yer old pal Jerky reads these days sends his thoughts plunging into a roiling mass of dimly-remembered names, characters in dubious entanglements, vague intimations of ominous import.

It has actually begun to feel claustrophobic down here under the crushing weight of all these stories. These are stories that should be widely known, but they remain the exclusive domain of activists, die-hard news junkies and other delvers into more esoteric informational realms. The connections that remain unmade, the history that remains hidden in plain sight, half of all Americans believe Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks, nearly as many believe WMD have been found in Iraq… This kind of stubborn ignorance in the face of the facts, this insane denial of truth, it's all too much, it's all too depressing.

And this breeds frustration. Which breeds apathy. Which breeds disengagement. Which breeds a vacuum. Which nature abhors. Which leads to activist minorities - the few who are, as Yeats said, "full of passionate intensity." Which leads to the situation in which we currently find ourselves.

These slimy fuckers don't even bother trying to finesse things anymore. They just do whatever they damn well please with total impunity. And why shouldn't they? They've been getting away with murder for years now, and the pink tutu Democrats take it with an "aw shucks" shrug.

In the face of ever-escalating attacks on their patriotism, honor and sanity - by a bunch of sick, hypocritical thugs who only half-believe their own shrieking hyperbole - the Democratic response has been a near unanimous: "Thank you sir, may we have another! Here… feel free to hack into our e-mail servers and spy on us for a year and a half, then let that frickin' Utard Orrin Hatch - who knows a thing or two about spying on Democrats - unilaterally short-circuit the Judiciary Committee's abortive attempts to get to the bottom of this criminal subterfuge. For the good of the country, we won't raise a fuss… we swear!"

And people wonder where the Republicans - who depend so much on the ostensibly non-partisan, untaxed support of scores of billionaire/CIA/military-industrial-complex-funded think tanks and advocacy groups - get the balls to call up TV stations to threaten to get their licenses pulled if they don't stop running ads which aren't illegal yet, but which soon may be if they succeed in ramming through that emergency legislation they cobbled together at the last minute to insure the permanence of their decade-long 10-to-1 soft money advantage, the shameless fucking pigs.

They wonder where John Ashcroft gets the balls to pull that profoundly irresponsible and dishonest stunt during his testimony before the 9/11 Commission last week, wherein he all but laid the blame for the terrorist attacks on panel member Jamie Gorelick. Maybe if her name was Bushlick, the Witchfinder General would have refrained from putting her life at risk. Only in a nation where End Times fundamentalist zealotry and a taste for backyard wrestling can coexist in so many people's skulls could Ashcroft's near-pathological behavior elicit anything other than howls of condemnation and calls for his immediate ouster.

But that's the point, isn't it? Things wouldn't be so bad if we didn't let things get so bad.

Slowly but surely, yer old pal Jerky is re-learning all the things he knew during childhood, but forgot about during those high-school/secondary/finally-on-your-own years. Bullies rule the world. Do-gooders talk a good game, but are helpless to stop the bullies. The system ostensibly set up to protect you/me/us from bullies is an illusion, at best. At worst, it's a trap set by the bullies to trick you into revealing your true feelings about them. Everything is rigged. The meanest people always win. And sometimes, the mere fact of your presence is enough to provoke a surprise pounding, just because.

Ah, who am I kidding. I'll never be able to quit picking at these scabs. I'll scratch my opinions into my prison cell walls with my fingernail if I have to. Now, pardon my broken record...

*** **** ***
Apathy kills (from some 70's slogan)

Lebell · 04-23-2004, 11:06 PM

QuasiMojo,

So what is YOUR take on that?

04-23-2004, 07:01 PM	#1 (permalink)
QuasiMojo King Knave Location: Lancaster	Apathy- a Daily Dirt redux www.dailydirt.com Well folks, yer old pal Jerky's throwing in the towel. Keeping Dirt readers up to date on the multiple torrents of bullshit emanating out of Washington - and wherever else one finds Republicans - has officially become impossible. It's blasting at us from all sides now, a desperate frenzy of lies, distractions, bafflegab, disinformation and spin, spin, spin. Every news story yer old pal Jerky reads these days sends his thoughts plunging into a roiling mass of dimly-remembered names, characters in dubious entanglements, vague intimations of ominous import. It has actually begun to feel claustrophobic down here under the crushing weight of all these stories. These are stories that should be widely known, but they remain the exclusive domain of activists, die-hard news junkies and other delvers into more esoteric informational realms. The connections that remain unmade, the history that remains hidden in plain sight, half of all Americans believe Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks, nearly as many believe WMD have been found in Iraq… This kind of stubborn ignorance in the face of the facts, this insane denial of truth, it's all too much, it's all too depressing. And this breeds frustration. Which breeds apathy. Which breeds disengagement. Which breeds a vacuum. Which nature abhors. Which leads to activist minorities - the few who are, as Yeats said, "full of passionate intensity." Which leads to the situation in which we currently find ourselves. These slimy fuckers don't even bother trying to finesse things anymore. They just do whatever they damn well please with total impunity. And why shouldn't they? They've been getting away with murder for years now, and the pink tutu Democrats take it with an "aw shucks" shrug. In the face of ever-escalating attacks on their patriotism, honor and sanity - by a bunch of sick, hypocritical thugs who only half-believe their own shrieking hyperbole - the Democratic response has been a near unanimous: "Thank you sir, may we have another! Here… feel free to hack into our e-mail servers and spy on us for a year and a half, then let that frickin' Utard Orrin Hatch - who knows a thing or two about spying on Democrats - unilaterally short-circuit the Judiciary Committee's abortive attempts to get to the bottom of this criminal subterfuge. For the good of the country, we won't raise a fuss… we swear!" And people wonder where the Republicans - who depend so much on the ostensibly non-partisan, untaxed support of scores of billionaire/CIA/military-industrial-complex-funded think tanks and advocacy groups - get the balls to call up TV stations to threaten to get their licenses pulled if they don't stop running ads which aren't illegal yet, but which soon may be if they succeed in ramming through that emergency legislation they cobbled together at the last minute to insure the permanence of their decade-long 10-to-1 soft money advantage, the shameless fucking pigs. They wonder where John Ashcroft gets the balls to pull that profoundly irresponsible and dishonest stunt during his testimony before the 9/11 Commission last week, wherein he all but laid the blame for the terrorist attacks on panel member Jamie Gorelick. Maybe if her name was Bushlick, the Witchfinder General would have refrained from putting her life at risk. Only in a nation where End Times fundamentalist zealotry and a taste for backyard wrestling can coexist in so many people's skulls could Ashcroft's near-pathological behavior elicit anything other than howls of condemnation and calls for his immediate ouster. But that's the point, isn't it? Things wouldn't be so bad if we didn't let things get so bad. Slowly but surely, yer old pal Jerky is re-learning all the things he knew during childhood, but forgot about during those high-school/secondary/finally-on-your-own years. Bullies rule the world. Do-gooders talk a good game, but are helpless to stop the bullies. The system ostensibly set up to protect you/me/us from bullies is an illusion, at best. At worst, it's a trap set by the bullies to trick you into revealing your true feelings about them. Everything is rigged. The meanest people always win. And sometimes, the mere fact of your presence is enough to provoke a surprise pounding, just because. Ah, who am I kidding. I'll never be able to quit picking at these scabs. I'll scratch my opinions into my prison cell walls with my fingernail if I have to. Now, pardon my broken record... * * Apathy kills (from some 70's slogan) __________________ AzAbOv ZoBeLoE

04-23-2004, 11:06 PM	#2 (permalink)
Lebell Cracking the Whip Location: Sexymama's arms...	QuasiMojo, So what is YOUR take on that? __________________ "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU! Please Donate!