Yet Another Map
This one really illustrates the urban-rural split. Of America's major cities, only Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Denver went red; 32 of the top 50 (by my unofficial count) were blue. (A Tip o'the Hat to Social Tonic).
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Friday, November 12, 2004
The Lighter Side of the Insurgency
Juan Cole, after discussing incidents all over Iraq yesterday:
Juan Cole, after discussing incidents all over Iraq yesterday:
On a lighter note, it is hard to avoid observing that al-Baghdadi castigated Bush's administration as "fundamentalist" and "right-wing." When even the Sunni Salafis of Mosul consider you too fundamentalist and right-wing, you have probably gone too far.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Sore Winners: The Winner
This loathsome, bile-spewing rant takes first prize. Money quote, as the avatars of the hate brigade like to say:
Memo to the rest of us: It's ok - in fact it's a sign of a thinking adult - to loathe both Ann Coulter and Barbara Streisand, to dismiss both the Swift Boat liars and Michael Moore, to reject both Fox News and IndyMedia, and, especially, to condemn bigoted cretins like this creep.
This loathsome, bile-spewing rant takes first prize. Money quote, as the avatars of the hate brigade like to say:
If anyone needs to work to “bring the country together” it’s those on the left who have divided it so badly. Those who sought to destroy this great man should get down upon their knees and beg the victors for mercy. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll let a few of them linger on for the simple reason that they amuse us. My life’s goal is to see the Democratic Party virtually obliterated and left as a rump of people like Stephanie Herseth who both mostly agree with us anyways and are easy on the eyes.
That’s the future of the Democratic Party: providing Republicans with a number of cute (but not that bright) comfort women.
Memo to the rest of us: It's ok - in fact it's a sign of a thinking adult - to loathe both Ann Coulter and Barbara Streisand, to dismiss both the Swift Boat liars and Michael Moore, to reject both Fox News and IndyMedia, and, especially, to condemn bigoted cretins like this creep.
Sore Winners, A Continuing Series...
Here's a two-for-one special. Courtesy of Matt Welch, who's convinced me to wear my coastal elitistism as a badge of honor.
Here's a two-for-one special. Courtesy of Matt Welch, who's convinced me to wear my coastal elitistism as a badge of honor.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Maps
Electoral maps are all the rage these days. But the very best one (aesthetically speaking) can be found at one of truth and beauty's favorite rest stops, the always compelling 101-365.
Electoral maps are all the rage these days. But the very best one (aesthetically speaking) can be found at one of truth and beauty's favorite rest stops, the always compelling 101-365.
Monday, November 08, 2004
Moral Fashion
The right-wing meme o'the week last week, coming from everyone from Rush Limbaugh to Instapundit, was that this election was not about gay-bashing. It was about morals and values, and the American people picked the candidate who embodies those morals and values - one of which just happens to be that gay marriage is a threat to the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and the nuclear family.
And the right's spin does indeed contain a grain of truth. A key differentiator in this election was the acceptance or rejection of a certain set of values. The exemplars of those values are right-wing Christian extremists, who've won a propaganda war that asserts that their values are morally superior and everyone else's are morally inferior. And propaganda is exactly the right word; the assertion of moral superiority has been sold, using all the techniques of large-scale public relations and advertising. And it has found a very receptive audience in a group of people looking for certitude in an era they find increasingly incomprehensible.
Paul Graham, in an essay entitled What You Can't Say, writes:
Neither Graham nor I am suggesting that imprisonment or death is the consequence of the latest moral fashions. What this is really about is a struggle for power, as was the English Reformation or the Thirty Years War or our new, modern-day Islamic Reformation. Dressing it up as a struggle between God-fearing Christians and atheistic, homosexual-loving, liberal moral relativists is a more than convenient rationalization tailor-made for a segment of the elite that seeks to gain unencumbered political control.
I'm not trying to trivialize anyone's faith. I've a deep respect for the truly devout, who actually try to live their lives according to Christ's/Yahweh's/Mohammed's/Buddha's teachings. But, like Ken Layne, I've seen and known too many people whose trumpeting of their faith was a cover for the hypocrisy of their daily lives.
The cure for fashions that lack real aesthetic or moral values is to repudiate them. Hold them up to the light of day, examine them, criticize them, and (especially) mock them. If there is anything good and true hidden inside the ephermal mores of the moment, it will emerge all the stronger for the being challenged. And what is dishonest and false will be consigned to history's dustbin.
The right-wing meme o'the week last week, coming from everyone from Rush Limbaugh to Instapundit, was that this election was not about gay-bashing. It was about morals and values, and the American people picked the candidate who embodies those morals and values - one of which just happens to be that gay marriage is a threat to the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and the nuclear family.
And the right's spin does indeed contain a grain of truth. A key differentiator in this election was the acceptance or rejection of a certain set of values. The exemplars of those values are right-wing Christian extremists, who've won a propaganda war that asserts that their values are morally superior and everyone else's are morally inferior. And propaganda is exactly the right word; the assertion of moral superiority has been sold, using all the techniques of large-scale public relations and advertising. And it has found a very receptive audience in a group of people looking for certitude in an era they find increasingly incomprehensible.
Paul Graham, in an essay entitled What You Can't Say, writes:
What scares me is that there are moral fashions too. They're just as arbitrary [as consumer fashions] and just as invisible to most people. But they're much more dangerous. Fashion is mistaken for good design; moral fashion is mistaken for good. Dressing oddly gets you laughed at. Violating moral fashions gets you fired, ostracized, imprisoned, or even killed.
Neither Graham nor I am suggesting that imprisonment or death is the consequence of the latest moral fashions. What this is really about is a struggle for power, as was the English Reformation or the Thirty Years War or our new, modern-day Islamic Reformation. Dressing it up as a struggle between God-fearing Christians and atheistic, homosexual-loving, liberal moral relativists is a more than convenient rationalization tailor-made for a segment of the elite that seeks to gain unencumbered political control.
I'm not trying to trivialize anyone's faith. I've a deep respect for the truly devout, who actually try to live their lives according to Christ's/Yahweh's/Mohammed's/Buddha's teachings. But, like Ken Layne, I've seen and known too many people whose trumpeting of their faith was a cover for the hypocrisy of their daily lives.
The cure for fashions that lack real aesthetic or moral values is to repudiate them. Hold them up to the light of day, examine them, criticize them, and (especially) mock them. If there is anything good and true hidden inside the ephermal mores of the moment, it will emerge all the stronger for the being challenged. And what is dishonest and false will be consigned to history's dustbin.
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